by Bernie English bernie@limerickpost.ie
ORDINARY office workers – one of whom collapsed at the scene – were among those hospitalised after a spillage at a Shannon chemical plant, it has been revealed.
A number of clerical and other staff at the Chemifloc manufacturing facility on the Smithstown Industrial Estate was hospitalised and it is understood some staff were too ill to go home for Christmas after the incident on December 20.
And the medical prognosis is that some of the affected workers could take years to recover fully from inhaling the fumes, Limerick Post has learned.
Sources close to the incident described how company clerical staff had to be evacuated from their office after a spillage of chlorine in the yard of the Chemifloc plant.
It is believed that one plant worker, who was in the immediate vicinity of the spill, also collapsed and remained in a seriously ill state for several days.
A large portion of the industrial estate was evacuated and a number of Chemifloc staff had to be hosed down as a decontamination precaution after the incident, while a radio alert went out to motorists to close their windows while driving on nearby roads. It is understood that two of the people hospitalised were quite ill but stable.
People living and working in Shannon and some of the families of injured workers are extremely angry that the plant was open and operating the following day with apparently no new safety measures in place. There was no-one from Chemifloc available to comment on the details and the company would only say that there is an internal investigation on-going and the matter is also being investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Health and Safety Authority Chemifloc was prosecuted at the Clare Circuit Court on July 22, 2009 when a jury found the company guilty of causing or permitting emissions to the atmosphere at the Smithstown Industrial Estate on May 24, 2007.
Judge Seán O Donnabháin heard details of the offence and imposed a fine of €5,000 with a further €5,000 awarded in expenses to the Environmental Protection Agency.
