Workers suffer injuries after a leak at a chemical plant in La. Respiratory burns

By David Mitchell
The lawyer

BATON ROUGE, La. – Four workers at a chemical plant in Baton Rouge were hospitalized Tuesday evening when a storage cylinder broke and released toxic ammonia gas, fire officials said.

The leak at the Formosa Plastics complex on Scenic Highway occurred around 8:40 p.m., emergency services said. Two of the four workers were in critical condition and suffered inhalation burns.

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Remember two things: caring for respiratory burns and treating swelling

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Investigators with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration have opened an investigation into the incident that led to the injuries, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. The agency has not reported any workplace safety violations against Formosa in Baton Rouge since at least January 1, 2019.

Baton Rouge Fire Department officials estimate the cylinder had a capacity of 150 pounds, but it is not clear how much ammonia was released. They said the ammonia gas likely evaporates quickly into the air and poses no danger to the general public.

Baton Rouge Fire spokesman Curt Monte said the cylinder failure was not part of the process equipment that resulted in a sustained leak.

Officials with the state Department of Environmental Quality said the release had no impact on the Formosa complex on the Mississippi River, north and west of the ExxonMobil refinery and chemical complex.

Ammonia is a nitrogen-based chemical and occurs naturally in extremely low concentrations in the air, water and soil. But in concentrated amounts, the colorless, pungent gas can pose a corrosive hazard when it comes into contact with moisture in the eyes, skin and upper respiratory tract, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and industry safety reports.

The Formosa Plastics complex has been in Baton Rouge since the early 1980s and produces polyvinyl chloride, a key material for consumer plastic products such as plumbing pipes and food packaging. The plant has units for producing PVC and vinyl chloride monomer and recovering hydrochloric acid from chemical processes by incinerating hazardous waste by-products from PVC manufacturing.

The plant has experienced several small leaks over the past four years, often from the human carcinogen vinyl chloride and the probable carcinogen ethylene dichloride.

Many of the recent leaks were smaller than required reporting thresholds and were unlikely to result in violations, according to a government database of business estimates. However, many years earlier, the complex had drawn the attention of state and federal regulators for alleged emissions and other violations.

The plant continues to be in violation for state high-priority air quality violations dating back to 2009, which include exceedances in carcinogenic vinyl chloride in the early to mid-2000s and failures in the company’s decades-long failure to inspect emergency relief valves, as well as federal and state law State databases include show.

It’s not clear why the company continues to violate the rules, but EPA officials say the flag may remain in place until all conditions of a settlement or compliance order are met, even after the underlying problems are corrected became. Nearly a decade and a half ago, Formosa told regulators that it had found a way to inspect and repair the pressure relief valves, which were more than 25 years old.

There was no estimate Wednesday of how much ammonia was released into the air Tuesday night.

Formosa officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

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