title: Runaway chemical reaction exposes community to highly toxic chemicals.
abstract: The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) conducted a comprehensive investigation of a runaway chemical reaction at MFG Chemical (MFG) in Dalton, Georgia on April 12, 2004 that resulted in the uncontrolled release of a large quantity of highly toxic and flammable allyl alcohol and allyl chloride into the community. Five people were hospitalized and 154 people required decontamination and treatment for exposure to the chemicals. This included police officers attempting to evacuate the community and ambulance personnel who responded to 911 calls from residents exposed to the chemicals. This paper presents the findings of the CSB report (U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), Investigation Report: Toxic Chemical Vapor Cloud Release, Report No. 2004-09-I-GA, Washington DC, April 2006) including a discussion on tolling practices; scale-up of batch reaction processes; Process Safety Management (PSM) and Risk Management Plan (RMP) implementation; emergency planning by the company, county and the city; and emergency response and mitigation actions taken during the incident. The reactive chemical testing and atmospheric dispersion modeling conducted by CSB after the incident and recommendations adopted by the Board are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, 2175 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20037-1809, United States. mark.kaszniak@Csb.gov
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaszniak
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vorderbrueggen
mesh_terms: D003666:Decontamination; D004189:Disaster Planning; D004630:Emergencies; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D015386:Hazardous Substances / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D015386:Hazardous Substances