A chemical spill at KGH Thursday afternoon.

Hazmat crews were called to the scene shortly after 1pm after a small bottle of Phenol was spilled in a room in the ambulatory care treatment centre.

Health Service Director, Andrew Hughes says patient care continued, the waiting room remained opened and only one room was isolated.

"Part of the protocol is, when it first spilled, it wasn't know what the substance was. So, we just decided to take the necessary precautions and hence, you get the response."

The chemical is used for inner ear treatment.
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MILLBURY — A dozen people, mostly rescue workers, were taken to the hospital after a hazardous chemical spill yesterday at Barrday Composite Solutions, 86 Providence Road (Route 122A).

Nobody was seriously hurt, and the spill was contained with only a small amount getting into the ground, officials said. They said the public was never at risk.

“The situation is very much under control. The leak has stopped. There were very minor injuries,” Millbury Fire Chief Matthew R. Belsito said around 6 last night. “It is my understanding at this time that everyone was transported as precautionary and they will probably be treated and released.”

About 1:35 p.m. yesterday, the town’s 911 dispatcher received a call saying a Barrday worker had been doused with the chemical phenol, Chief Belsito said.

Michael E. Buck, president of the company, said a company engineer was working on an outside storage tank containing about 10,000 gallons of phenol when the accident occurred. When the worker removed a wire, the tank sprung a leak and liquid phenolic resin sprayed onto the worker’s arm, he said. Mr. Buck said the engineer and a second employee who was having trouble breathing were taken to a hospital for treatment.

When he arrived at the scene shortly after the initial call, Chief Belsito said, he immediately called Worcester Special Operations and summoned the state’s hazardous materials teams. He said the source of the leak was an approximately three-fourths-inch hole in the piping connected to the tank.

Andrew Delisio, the hazmat technician team leader on the site, estimated 5,000 to 6,000 gallons of phenol escaped.

“At no time was the public in any danger,” Chief Belsito said.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Four men go to the hospital after a hazmat situation at a West Side trucking company.

Columbus fire, police, and CFD's hazmat team were called to the USF Holland Inc. trucking company at 4800 Journal St. just after 8 a.m. on a report of a hazardous material spill.

Columbus fire told NBC4 a 55-gallon drum containing the chemical phenol alcohol was punctured by a fork lift.

Only a couple of gallons actually spilled out of the container. 

Workers at the distribution center stopped the container from spilling more.

According to Battalion Chief Mike Fowler, four male dock workers were checked out by medics were transported to Doctors West Hospital in stable condition.

A MAN has died from exposure to chemicals following an explosion at a factory in Laverton North.
MFB spokesman John Rees said the man had tried to decontaminate himself by washing the chemicals off in a shower, but collapsed and suffered a heart attack after the incident last Thursday.

Paramedic team manager Mark Collins said

paramedics treated the man for about 20 minutes, managing his airway and using IV drugs in an attempt to restart his heart. "Unfortunately the man died at the scene."

The incident at the Nufarm factory in Pipe Road was the third work-related fatality in Victoria this month, prompting WorkSafe to plead with employees and employers to continually assess their safety.

The 54-year-old man ingested molten phenol after working on an exterior pipe when a flange broke and sprayed him with the toxic chemical.

A man has died after being exposed to a toxic chemical used to make weed killer at a Melbourne agricultural chemicals plant.

Four colleagues tried in vain to resuscitate the 54-year-old when he collapsed while trying to wash off the chemical, while another man suffered a minor chemical burn to his wrist.

The dead man had been working on an exterior pipeline at the Nufarm chemical plant in Laverton North when he was sprayed with the toxic chemical on Thursday morning.

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Police said the man ingested some of the acid-based solvent.

WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt said the man was exposed to phenol, a substance used in the manufacture of herbicides.

Chemical explosion kills man in Laverton (01:22)
A worker at the Nufarm factory in Laverton, in Melbourne's west, dies after a pipe explodes and covers him with carbolic acid.
19/05/11

Patients and staff at North Country Community HealthCare evacuated the building Monday afternoon after a chemical spill.
According to information from the Flagstaff Fire Department, six units from the fire department, a total of 17 firefighters, responded to the clinic on North Fourth Street at about 3 p.m. on a report of a chemical spill of phenol.
Phenol, when it turns to a vapor, is toxic and can cause extreme cases of injury and death, according to the fire department.
Andrew Saal, chief medical officer at the clinic, said the building was evacuated once the spill was reported. Hazardous Materials crews in protective gear went into the building, isolated the spill and ventilated the building.