The accident investigation below was opened on Thursday, November 30th 2017 by OSHA representitives in Anaheim, CA at Walt Disney Parks And Resorts U.S. Inc.. A 45 year old Machinery maintenance occupation had been injured when the
Accident Date2017-09-07
Accident DegreeNon Hospitalized injury
NarrativeThe employer is an amusement park/resort that operates multiple cooling towers on its property. An existing cooling tower (CT2), and a newly constructed cooling tower (CT4), were brought back online for intermittent operations and mixing of waters, for adjusting. During this time, the employer was not effectively performing weekly bacteria inspections and had several days and weeks where the cooling towers were taken off line for maintenance. At 3:30 p.m. on September 7, 2017, Employee #1 was performing his duties as a cook, in his normal workplace, within 200 feet of the cooling towers. His normal path of travel during his day took him near and around the cooling towers. Employee #2 was performing his duties as an operating engineer who operated a steam locomotive amusement ride, within 50 feet of the cooling towers, at an elevated location near the fan exhaust of the cooling towers. Employee #3 was performing his duties as a maintenance laborer, within 200 feet, with travel back and forth next to the cooling towers. All three employees became ill and were diagnosed with Legionnaires Disease. Prior to employee illnesses, the old cooling tower (CT2) had been drained, but not the pipes underneath the tower, and the water became stagnant and infected with Legionella bacteria. All three employees were exposed to airborne Legionella on or about the August/September 2017 timeframe. Employees #1 and #3 were admitted to the hospital for treatment for more than 24 hours and Employee #2 was treated in the emergency room and released.