When Taylor Farms workers in Tracy arrived for the morning shift on October 15, 2015, they immediately noticed a strong chlorine smell. Twenty workers, including two pregnant women, became sick enough that they evacuated the building and called 911. According to the Tracy Fire Department, the plant’s sanitation crew had accidentally mixed two cleaning chemicals, acetic acid and chlorine, releasing toxic chlorine gas.
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The Tracy plant processes salad ingredients. Chlorine and acetic acid are used for cleaning at the plant, as they are in many food processing facilities, because they’re not toxic when ingested in small quantities. Chlorine, for example, is used to purify municipal drinking water, and vinegar and acetic acid are ingredients in many foods.
Because these two relatively benign chemicals are reactive, though, mixing them creates a deadly hazard. Do your workers know that even some “safe” chemicals, when mixed, can be a recipe for disaster?