Accidental Deaths
Accidental nitrogen asphyxiation is a possible hazard where large quantities of nitrogen are used.
Accidental nitrogen asphyxiation causes about eight deaths per year in the United States, which is asserted to be more than from any other industrial gas. For example in 1981, shortly before the launch of the first Space Shuttle mission, two technicians lost consciousness and one of them died after they entered the Orbiter aft compartment which was pressurized with pure nitrogen as a precaution against fire.
A laboratory assistant died in Scotland in 1999, apparently from asphyxiation, after liquid nitrogen spilled in a basement storage room.
Read more about this topic: Nitrogen Asphyxiation
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