NEWS RELEASE
May 14, 2010
For immediate release
 

Contact:  City Law Director Les Landen, 513-425-7993, cell 513-267-8458
 

HIGH LEVELS OF NITROGEN GAS FOUND IN SEWER AREA

An independent testing company, hired by the City of Middletown, has reported a high level of nitrogen gas in the sewer area where Middletown Public Works maintenance worker Jabin Lakes died last Friday, May 7. Three Middletown Firefighters were also overcome as they attempted to rescue Lakes at the scene on Yankee Road in Middletown.  All three have now been released from area hospitals and are recuperating.

Testing will begin tonight to locate the possible source of the nitrogen in the area of the sewer cavity. This testing will be conducted by injecting helium tracers into the potential source. Helium is easy to detect.  If the helium appears in the sewer cavity that will reveal the nitrogen came from that potential source.
 

In addition, some oxygen depravation has been discovered  in a nearby AT&T trench line. As a precautionary measure, the AT&T conduit running along Yankee Road is being ventilated.
 

As with any incident involving air quality, the City of Middletown Fire Dept will be doing some precautionary testing and air monitoring in the area around the northern AT&T manhole in the Meadow Avenue area.  All testing to this point have shown normal oxygen levels.
 

Yankee Rd from Lafayette to Pershing will be closed until present testing is completed.
 

City Manager Judy Gilleland said, “Now that we know the element involved, we can move on to identifying the source and stop the flow of the nitrogen into the sewer area.  We are now moving from the identification phase to the remediation and mitigation stages.“
 

 “While data we have on hand is consistent with Nitrogen Asphyxiation, it is up to the Butler County Coroner’s office to determine the actual cause of death.  Their toxicology reports may shed light on the cause,“ according to Les Landen, City Law Director.
 

City of Middletown Mayor Larry Mulligan, Jr, said “The City is doing everything possible to ensure the safety of the public and our employees. We are waiting for complete answers on the situation so we can fully resolve the issue.” The City of Middletown hired Hayden Safety Engineers from Dayton to perform testing on the air in the sewer cavity. Their report from tests taken at both four feet and eight feet below the surface found the air was comprised of 92% nitrogen, less than 3% oxygen and approximately 5% water vapor. No carbon dioxide, no methane, no carbon monoxide were found. Normal air breathed by humans is 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% argon, carbon dioxide and other gases.
 

Dr Paul Jennewine, Medical Director for the Middletown Health Department, confirmed  that the lack of oxygen, coupled with high levels of nitrogen, would quickly lead to asphyxiation.  In just two or three breaths or about 15 seconds the person would become disoriented.  The affected person would be unable to function and lose consciousness in less than a minute.  Within just a few minutes, brain function, breathing and heart action would stop.
 

According to the (CSB) U S Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board’s Safety Bulletin No 2003-10-B, “Nitrogen is not a poison in the traditional sense. It presents a hazard when it displaces oxygen making the atmosphere hazardous to humans.  Breathing an oxygen deficient atmosphere can have serious and immediate effects. The exposed person has no warning and cannot sense that the oxygen level is too low. “
While unusual, there are known cases of work-place deaths due to nitrogen asphyxiation.  CSB reported 85 such incidents with 130 people involved, between 1992-2002.  Trenches and manholes accounted for 14 percent of the incidents.  Most of the others, 62 percent, were in industrial settings, 13 percent in maintenance activities – railcar cleaning, etc. Many of those affected were in open air spaces near the nitrogen source.

Nitrogen, besides being in the air we breathe, is also used commercially to keep materials free of contaminants (such as oxygen) that may corrode equipment, present a fire hazard or be toxic. One of its most important commercial uses is as an inerting agent to improve safety. Nitrogen is inert under most conditions (i.e. it does not react with or affect other material) according to the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board.
 

A preliminary test done by Hazmat screened for 5,000 hazardous elements, all were ruled out. Nitrogen was not in that test since it is an element in the air and would be expected to register in any test.
 

A second testing company hired by the City is also doing independent testing of the air quality at the site. The second report is expected early next week.