Near Miss: Oxygen Deficient Atmosphere
Here is this week's installment of a near miss from the National Fire Fighter Near-Miss Reporting System.
This incident happened in an MRI room at a local hospital.
We opened the door to check the exam room and noticed that the whole room was shimmering like a mirage. We realized that there was a helium leak in the room. I told my driver to close the exam room door and had the entire crew exit the building, ~1200sq.ft. My voice had that squeaky helium pitch to it. We re-entered with SCBA and a 4-gas monitor to ventilate and check O2 levels. The oxygen level just inside the door was 14%. A few steps into that atmosphere could have caused asphyxia.
Does your local hospital have MRI equipment? Are your firefighters educated on the hazards associated with this equipment?
Posted November 3, 2005 11:16 AM · Link
· Near Misses
