Two injured from ammonia leak at Tyson Food plant
One worker taken to hospital after incident prompted evacuation
An anhydrous ammonia leak injured two contract workers at the Tyson Food plant in South Hutchinson on Thursday morning and prompted evacuation of the plant.
One of the workers was treated at the scene and released, while the other was transported to the hospital by ambulance, said South Hutchinson Police Chief Scott Jones.
The names of the injured and the condition of the transported person were not available.
“There was an ammonia leak in our South Hutchinson prepared foods plant early this morning,” Caroline Ahn, Manager External Communications for Tyson Foods in Chicago, stated in an email. “The plant was quickly evacuated and all Tyson team members were accounted for. One contract worker was taken to the hospital for treatment. We’re grateful for the internal and external response teams who assisted the plant to care for the contractor employee and secure the leak.”
Officials did not release the names of the injured workers, their conditions or how they were injured.
A manager at the South Hutchinson plant declined to comment.
The call to 911 about the leak came in at 8:48 a.m., Jones said. A perimeter was set up around the plant, but the leak was quickly contained, Jones said.
The plant, which produces pepperoni, precooked hamburger, sausage crumbles and meatballs, employs several hundred people.
Employees stood around on the lawn in front and back of the plant in several large groups waiting for permission to re-enter the large building complex at 9 S. Washington st.
The plant uses anhydrous ammonia as a refrigerant.
Tyson Food paid a $3.95 million civil penalty in April 2013 for eight incidents between 2006 and 2010 involving accidental releases of ammonia, including an Oct. 31, 2006, accident in South Hutchinson that killed a plant worker.
In that incident, 51-year-old Michael Wiebe of Haven died after breathing in the chemical from a pipe rupture as he and employee Bill Mumford, 55, were testing the system for leaks. The spray left chemical burns on Mumford’s left arm and upper body.