Laundry Employees Evacuated After Spill
An Aramark plant in Sacramento, CA, recently experienced a spill of sodium hydroxide, a substance used in the making of alkali for wash aisle processing. No one was injured; nor was there environmental damage. Production resumed later that day, according to news reports and a statement from the company.
“On the morning of Sept. 9, we learned of a sodium hydroxide spill at our laundry processing facility in Sacramento that was largely contained to a retention area inside the facility,” the news release said. “As a precaution, we immediately evacuated the facility and contacted the authorities.”
Local firefighters responded around 7 a.m. Upon arrival, they donned hazardous-materials protective gear after roughly 1,000 gallons of the chemical entered a containment area in the plant, according to news reports. Between 100 and 200 gallons of the chemical also spilled onto the floor of the plant. Firefighters contained the spill, the reports said.
Aramark staff followed emergency protocols in dealing with the spill. “We followed our response procedures and were able to clean up the impacted area and get the plant fully operational later that same day without an interruption of service,” according to the statement. Click here to learn more.
To learn more about how companies can deal with such incidents safely and work to prevent them, consider the following resources on chemical safety, OSHA compliance, emergency planning and related issues:
OSHA Implements Hazcom Standard
TRSA Webinar on Hazcom Training