CHEMICAL SPILL IN ELYRIA

Elyria Fire Department and LifeCare Ambulance responded to J.T. Container on Woodford Ave. this afternoon for a reported Chemical Explosion.

Elyria Fire Department Captain Bob Donofrio said when they arrived they quickly determined that the situation wasn’t as serious as first believed. “The victim suffered a head injury but it wasn’t as a result of the chemical explosion. When he turned to run from the container he struck his head on something. His injuries did not appear to be serious.”

LifeCare Ambulance Paramedics treated and transported the victim to Elyria Memorial Hospital.

The owner of the company, John Tribaso, said the victim was a temporary worker, 5 months on the job, assigned to removing residue from the plastic 300 gallon tote containers. The product that was supposed to be removed from the containers was a latex paint residue; a second container was moved to the area for the product removal that contained a small amount of concentrated hydrochloric acid residue. Due to the incompatible nature of the acid and the latex the pick up tube pressurized and exploded within the container due to the chemical reaction.

Captain Donofrio said the investigation revealed that pieces of the PVC pick up tube remained inside acid tote which was moved to the outside of the building where it was allowed to continue to off gas.

Tom Roman, the facility manager, said the acid tote was mistakenly moved to the residue removal area. Only totes containing the latex residue were supposed to be off loaded. It is not known how or who moved the acid tote to the area for residue removal. Roman said that the company will investigate how the mix up occurred.

Tribaso said that all but 4 of his employees are temporary, all have had Hazmat training and the victim had specific training pertinent to his particular job.

Fire Officials determined, after a through investigation and inspection of the building, that there were no environmental or health and safety concerns following the incident.