Tyco Chemical Accident
By: Julie Musgrave
Updated: June 10, 2009
An industrial accident at the Tyco Plant leaves one man in critical condition after being exposed to dangerous chemicals.
It happened just after eleven this morning at the plant in North Lubbock. Several employees were cleaning a tank when the combination of chemicals apparently turned dangerous.
7 Tyco employees, as well as 5 first responders, were taken to UMC after being exposed to what fire officials believe to be hydrogen sulfide. One of the Tyco employees -- a 45-year-old man -- remains in critical condition as of Tuesday night.
The 911 call came in around 11-15, fire officials say once they arrived, there was a strong smell resembling rotten eggs -- they say that's a major sign of hydrogen sulfide gas.
Lubbock Fire Chief Rhea Cooper says the employees were apparently cleaning a 1500 gallon tank. The cleaning products, combined with the chemicals inside the tank, formed hydrogen sulfide gas -- which can be deadly. Emergency responders immediately began de-contaminating employees on the scene.
Rhea Cooper: "EMS also has protective blankets, we can do a gross de-contamination, knock off what we can here, wrap them in the blankets, transport them, and then do a more technical de-con at the hospital. Before they go in there, we'll make sure they're absolutely clean of any chemicals before they go into the er, we don't want any cross contamination there."
Again, a 45-year-old man remains in critical condition at UMC as of Tuesday night. The other employees and emergency responders brought here are expected to be okay.
