18 Fort Worth frozen food company workers exposed to hazardous chemical, official says

[TexasTowelie]

Eighteen employees of a downtown Fort Worth frozen food manufacturing company were decontaminated Saturday after they were exposed to a potentially hazardous chemical, authorities said.

The exposure occurred during a small fire about 12:30 p.m. at the business in the 3700 block of East 1st Street. The fire was extinguished by sprinklers.

Two of the 18 exposed employees were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, a MedStar spokesman said. The others were treated at the scene.

The name of the business and the type of chemical was not immediately clear, a fire department spokesman said. There was no danger to the public because the material was contained at the facility.

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/fort-worth/article236447773.html

[dewsgirl]

1. If they had to be decontaminated, it would have be something pretty serious. I would think.

[abqtommy]

2. That's for sure. Wonder what they're using to process frozen foods? Well, I did a quick

search and came up with an OSHA violation from 2014 that listed a release of ammonia as a health violation.

https://www.osha.gov/news/newsreleases/region6/01172014

[dewsgirl]

3. Very scary.

[jmowreader]

4. Commercial food plants use ammonia as a refrigerant

It could have also been a hydraulic fluid leak. We have a lot of hydraulics at work, and the labels on the fluids we use will scare the crap out of you.

[abqtommy]

5. That's right, I'd forgotten that. And meats for export are also bathed in ammonia. Yum Not!

Do tell us more about the hydraulic fluids...