SEVEN employees of a Walvis Bay fish processing plant have been discharged from the hospital to which they were admitted after experiencing breathing problems during a shift at work.
The seven employees of Seaflower Pelagic Processing were admitted to a hospital at the harbour town after they had been exposed to a high level of carbon monoxide towards the end of their work shift on Thursday morning.
Four of the employees were discharged later on Thursday, while the other three – including a pregnant woman – spent the night in hospital as they were still complaining of headaches.
The pregnant employee’s unborn baby was monitored in hospital and was found not to have been affected, said the company’s chief executive officer, Adolf Burger
A high level of carbon monoxide gas was detected in a part of the Seaflower processing plant when some employees complained of headaches and breathing problems. Burger said the high gas levels were as a result of devices that are missing from the company’s newest forklifts, which are powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and not diesel.
The gas that powers the forklift produces carbon monoxide. The devices that are missing from the forklifts are supposed to help break down the carbon monoxide into water.
“Our forklifts operate on gas, not on fuel, because it is a food environment. In a food environment you have to operate with gas,” Burger said.
The suppliers of the forklifts have since ordered the devices, which are expected to be installed into the forklifts by next week.
Burger said that, apart from fixing the forklifts, “for safety precautions we are going to invest in carbon monoxide detectors for our operations, be it handheld models that our production supervisors will have to carry on them all the time or something that can be fitted in our factories, to help us detect problems earlier”.
Operations in the affected area of the factory have been suspended and are expected to resume next week once the forklifts had been fixed.
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