Poisoning of Firemen by Irritant Fumes

Abstract

Fourteen members of the Fire Brigade were affected to varying degrees as the result of the inhalation of fumes from a small burning bench in one of the machine shops of a Melbourne firm manufacturing motor parts. One of them died. Although it was not possible to determine with certainty the relative importance of the various ingredients of the fumes or smokes in producing the effects, the cases are of considerable interest from several points of view. The amount of material consumed in the fire was small in relation to the space in the machine shop, the severity and nature of the effects produced. Cadmium was found in the lungs of the fatal case, though there was no knowledge in the early stages of the investigation of any positive source of the cadmium. The period of exposure to the fumes was short, but these fumes included heat decomposition products of sulphonated castor oil. The first object burned was a small wooden bench which carried a lathe for machining small bearings for motor cars. The bench was approxi mately 7 feet long by 3 feet wide and was made from hardwood (eucalyptus) and Oregon pine. The machine shop in which this bench was situated was on the first floor and approximately 100 feet long by 60 feet wide, and 12 feet high. Only the bench, a small area of floor beneath it, and the articles on it, consisting of a small box of motor car bearings (which will be referred to later), and a tin containing about H pints of cutting-fluid, were burned. The cutting-fluid had the following composition :