JUNE 30, 2015
RICHMOND, VA (WRIC)
A frightening Tuesday for workers at a Richmond trucking company after an unexpected spill forced the Hazmat team to come in.
It happened at Central Transport Trucking on North Hopkins Road.
According to Lieutenant Chris Armstrong with Richmond Fire, workers were moving a tote of concentrated vinegar from the dock to the truck, when it started to leak.
“We had the Hazmat team already in route, they suited up, went in, they were able to stop the leak,” says Armstrong.
But by then, eight people had already been exposed to the pungent vinegar, a product that needs to be watered down before it can be used in food.
Worker Douglas Whitlow says the odor was overpowering.
“It just smelled like ammonia. Some people’s nose bled,” says Whitlow.
He and most of his coworkers’ exposure was from breathing in the fumes.
The Hazmat team had to also make sure none of the workers had any vinegar on their bodies because it’s possible it could burn their skin.
“They put us in a decontamination and sprayed us down with water,” explains Whitlow.
Emergency crews took six people to the hospital to get checked out. They are expected to be ok.
A man inside the trucking company tells 8News they went back to work within a couple of hours of the spill.