Re: I was working in the lab, late one night ....
have a coworker that had a bit of an incident with an N2 leak. He was even wearing a canary (O2 monitor) and had done some checks. All seemed clear. While checking for loose connections he ducked into the back of a cabinet. And almost immediately blacked out and fell back out where he quickly came around again. Turns out the back of the cabinet was badly ventilated and there was an N2 leak back there. He had inhaled right as he had bent down and stuck his head in. And if you're breathing absolutely pure N2 with NO oxygen there's basically no hypoxia effects apparently. It's just straight to lights out. The O2 monitor clipped to his chest never even went off.
Had a lucky escape that he fell straight back out without injuring himself any further and had coworkers on hand with knowledge of the effects of N2 to catch him and make sure he was alright. Came off as far as anyone can tell no worse for wear.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
