Posted on 08/03/2025 10:41:39 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Four workers have died in Japan after falling into a manhole near Tokyo as they inspected sewage pipes, authorities said on Sunday (Aug 3).
The incident comes after a huge sinkhole swallowed a truck driver near the capital in January after a road collapsed because of corroded sewage pipes, sparking a nationwide inspection.The workers - all men in their fifties - were checking pipes in the city of Gyoda, north of Tokyo on Saturday, when one fell down the manhole, followed by three more who tried to save him, the local fire department told AFP.
The department said rescuers detected hydrogen sulfide - a gas toxic in high concentrations - coming out of the manhole.
(Excerpt) Read more at channelnewsasia.com ...
That gas builds up in sewers. They should have tested the air in the hole. Gas mask won’t work. The gas displaces O2. Forced air or ventilation are the only way to enter safely. They were not trained properly or didn’t think and wanted to save a co-worker, this happens more often than people think. We used retrieval harness rope and a tripod to get our people back but we tested the hole first. RIP it’s a shame.
Many “rescuers” , thinking they must react immediately to investigate and retrieve a fallen or unconscious worker, are killed themselves.
/Confined space dangers
A Texas exec did a plea deal for a 5-month stretch over a similar mishap. The surviving kids will likely get millions. Poor consolation for losing both parents, but them’s the breaks.
True story. No oxygen kills quicker than a train. You hit the bottom of the ladder and you go down. Next guy goes to save you. He’s down. Avoidable with good training, sadly that’s not always present. Regards
Just saw this on Japanese news. Apparently tests on sulfide were 15 X the legal limit, although only two of the workers reportedly died of inhalation ? Not sure that is possible or the beginning stages of an investigation.
I can still visualize this cartoonish image of Hillary falling through an open manhole. Her huge ass stops her from dropping all the way down but then you hear the sound of it as she pops through. Look out below!
Tampon Tim demands proper manhole covers in boys’ restrooms.
I encounter H2S from time to time as part of my job and am required to wear a monitor to alert me if it is present - it (H2S) is one of, if not THE, most deadly poison gases known to man. Only consolation I could offer these families is that they died very fast, in slightly elevated concentrations you progress from loss of sense of smell to just dead in thr space of a breath or two and never know it.
If the concentration was over 20 ppm it wouldnt take very long, but it would be survivable with immediate medical care. Above that and you might as well not even bother. At 50 - 100 ppm, anyone going in without scuba gear will just add to the total. More than that and they will have no idea it happened because their death will be one or two breaths. As I do not know what the Japanese regulations are (industry standard is alarm and evacuate at 10 ppm).
Hydrogen sulfide control in sewer systems: A critical review of recent progress
Why am I still thinking of a certain scene out of the movie Volcano, though...
8+ earthquake, tsunami, volcano explodes, now sinkhole, deadly gas release… all in same region… related?
4 workers who died after falling in manhole had no protective gear
No PPE?! In Japan?!
Now I'm really wondering if there's something else going on.
See my reply #14.
Reportedly measured at 150 ppm. The odor alone must have been overwhelming.
Washington state law requires fresh air pumped into the MH, continuous oxygen monitoring, and personnel retrieval system to enter the structure. As a contractor, the cost for these systems are a helluva a lot cheaper than the fine and settlements that follow an incident like this. I don’t call it an accident because it is completely avoidable.
As a young pipefitter I had a superintendent screaming at me to enter a 30 foot deep pit to make a weld. He didn’t care that the safetyman hadn’t checked the pit per the confined space job permit. He was still yelling at me when safetyman showed up and lowered his oxygen monitor into the pit. It alarmed at 10 feet and was full of argon gas. The asshole just stuck is hands in his pockets and walked away.
I think you mean SCBA (self-contained Breathing Apparatus).
SCUBA gear is for underwater use.
Reminds me of a good joke:
A Democrat is walking home in a heavy Democrat neighborhood when he comes across a man jumping up and down on a man-hole cover yelling, “27, 27, 27 ...”.
The Democrat asked the man jumping what he was doing.
The man jumping said it was fun, but you have to try it to really appreciate it.
The Democrat wasn’t in a hurry, so he gave it a try, and started jumping up and down on the man-hole cover yelling, “27, 27, 27 ...”.
Just then, the other man pulled the cover off the manhole and the Democrat fell in. The other man then put the cover back over the manhole, stepped back on the cover and started starting jumping up and down yelling, “28, 28, 28 ...”
No need to be p3dantic, you knew and everyone else here knew what I was referring to.
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