Dry-cleaning chemical spill

Press, 9 October 1987, Page 5

Dry-cleaning chemical spill

Eight people were taken to hospital after a chemical spillage at Taylors Dry cleaning and Laundry office in Clarence Street, Riccarton, yesterday. Five women and three men who had inhaled the chemical fumes were taken by ambulance to Christchurch Hospital, but were later discharged. Fire Service staff spent two hours cleaning up the spillage, which occurred at the dry-cleaning company’s main depot, about 1.55 p.m. A lid was left off a five litre drum of sodium hydrosulphite (also known as sodium thionite), a powder used in the dry-cleaning process. Poisonous gas and heat were emitted after the powder reacted with the air and moisture, which had got into the two-thirds full drum. No danger of an explosion existed with this type of chemical, said a Health Department senior health protection officer, Mrs

Karen Brooks, who attended the spillage. The drum was taken out into the company’s backyard by the Fire Service and its contents flushed down the manhole of a sewerage drain under the supervision of Christchurch Drainage Board staff. That method of disposal was “normal procedure with certain chemicals,” and sodium thionite was one which did not upset the city’s sewerage system, said Mrs Brooks. “It was washed down with large quantities of water by the Fire Service.” No roads were blocked off during or after the accident, said a Ministry of Transport spokesman. Any action against the company was “unlikely” because of the nature of the chemical spilled, said Mrs Brooks. “It’s just one of those simple mistakes that-can occur.”