Dover Chemical chlorine leak brings out emergency responders

  • By Jennifer Kneuss
  • November 3, 2011
  • 651
                        
Summary: A late evening incident at Dover Chemical resulted in a chlorine leak that caused evacuation of the plant and a nearby business. An incident at Dover Chemical in Dover around 7 P.M. on Thursday, November 3 caused a significant stir, and multiple emergency personnel and vehicles responded immediately. Streets surrounding the company were closed to all traffic, and the nearby Dover McDonald’s was evacuated and closed. Area residents were not evacuated, however. The Bargain Hunter was on the scene shortly after the incident. “They just told us that there was a chlorine leak. That’s all we know. Everything was shut down. The interstate was closed,” stated a sheriff deputy who was preventing traffic from going near the factory. An employee who was not working at the time of the incident was watching the excitement from a nearby parking area. “The safety plan is pretty secure in these cases. They are always about life and safety for us in our department there. I just hope nobody got hurt,” explained the man, who wished not be identified. “When something like this happens, they suit up, make sure the leak is isolated, and make sure everything else is isolated and go through the proper safety procedures so nobody gets hurt. You can’t breathe those fumes. You have to get a respirator mask on right away,” he said, noting that the company makes chemical ingredients for all kinds of products. Danielle Western, who works at a nearby service station, said that she had heard rumors that an explosion had occurred and the plant had been evacuated. “It was a little before seven o’clock, and I heard sirens. I walked out the door, and the smell was so strong, I got an instant headache from it. I was working in here and the smell was coming through the doors. I could almost actually taste it in my mouth. It was horrible. I had to buy some Excedrin for my headache,” she said. “There were a lot of ambulances and fire trucks going everywhere.” All emergency vehicles left the Dover Chemical site around 8 pm, and the Bargain Hunter then approached Dover Chemical officials and requested a statement about the incident. An environmental engineer employee was evasive with the BH reporter initially, but then another female employee graciously escorted the BH to a conference room and gave assurance that officials would soon be available. At 10 pm, Ray Baumberger, Dover Chemical health and safety officer, and Scott Magee, plant manager, informed the BH that the company vice president would soon issue an official statement. Shortly after, vice president and director of operations Tom Freeman met with the BH and issued the following statement: “About 6:30 P.M. this evening, Dover Chemical had a release of a chlorinated paraffin solution from a process connection. We had 3 employees that were transported to local hospitals for treatment. We have been in contact with them and they are OK. Dover Chemical along with the Dover Fire Department contain (sic) the situation and coordinated with local law enforcement agencies to secure the roads, including I-77 being shutdown (sic) for a short period of time. We will be investigating this incident to understand the root cause and develop appropriate corrective actions to prevent a reoccurrence. We also understand there was an erroneous media report that local authorities had called for an evacuation of local residents. We have been in contact with the local authorities and were told that this media report was in error and that no evacuation order was issued. We apologize to our local community for the inconvenience this incident has caused.” According to the EPA, chlorinated paraffin solution is 60% chlorinated. Their site also states “Chlorine is a potent irritant to the eyes, the upper respiratory tract, and lungs.” Acute effects include: “tickling of the nose at 0.014 to 0.054 parts per million (ppm); tickling of the throat at 0.04 to 0.097 ppm; itching of the nose and cough, stinging, or dryness of the nose and throat at 0.06 to 0.3 ppm; burning of the conjunctiva and pain after 15 minutes at 0.35 to 0.72 ppm; and discomfort ranging from ocular and respiratory irritation to coughing, shortness of breath, and headaches above 1.0 ppm. Higher levels of chlorine have resulted in the following effects in humans: mild mucous membrane irritation at 1 to 3 ppm; chest pain, vomiting, dypsnea, and cough at 30 ppm; and toxic pneumonitis and pulmonary edema at 46 to 60 ppm.” (www.epa.gov) Dover Chemical officials provided no specifics on the amount of chlorine emitted during the incident. No other information was available at press time.


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