GAS ESCAPES AT HELLABY’S

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31080, 8 June 1966, Page 18

GAS ESCAPES AT HELLABY’S

13 Affected; Union Stops Work (New Zealand Preu Association) AUCKLAND, June 7. Three men were taken to hospital and 10 other people were treated on the spot when ammonia fumes escaped at the Otahuhu freezing works of R. and W. Hellaby, Ltd., at 10.45 a.m. today.

The works are now at a standstill after 10 days of industrial disharmony during which the ammonia alarm has been sounded at least four times. There was an earlier alarm this morning.

More than 1000 employees are idle because the Auckland Freezing Workers’ Union is dissatisfied with safety precautions taken by the works management.

Mr A. Hellaby, managing director of the company, said the ammonia had escaped because a valve had been accidentally opened by an engineer.

The three men injured are Claude Keesing, of 20 Devon road, Manurewa, Norman Harris, of 15 Meadow street, Otahuhu, and Norman Ernest Jones, of 28 Arthur street, Ellerslie.

They suffered the effects of inhaled ammonia. Mr Keesing suffered a fractured jaw

when he fell while running to safety.

After being kept under observation at the Middlemore Hospital, Messrs Harris and Jones were discharged late this afternoon. Mr Keesing was admitted. The ammonia, which is used in the freezing and chilling process, escaped into the works yard from a control point near the engine-room, which is part of a section of the works containing the canning, slaughter and freezing blocks.

Works Evacuated Within seconds the 600 people employed in these departments were pouring from all exits, including stairways from upper floors.

The rest of the works was quickly evacuated as firemen

from seven brigades rushed to the danger area. Some firemen donned respirators and entered the buildings' in search of anyone who might have been overcome by fumes. One workman said later: “You can see fumes coming like a blue haze. They grab you by the nose and throat. Take one breath and you have to move fast—take another and you can’t move at all.”

A Department of Agriculture meat inspector, Mr H. Crossley, said he was working on the offal floor when he was hit by a blast of gas. “1 knew we had to get out,” he said. “I saw a chap staggering beside me and we helped each other to safety.” The all-clear was sounded at 11.45 a.m. but instead of returning to work employees held a union meeting at which they decided to cease work until the plant was declared safe by Marine Department or other Government inspectors.

Earlier Leak

After an ammonia leak on May 27 sections of the works staff walked off their jobs and did not return until last Wednesday. This morning union officials were discussing the previous walk-off when the ammonia alarm was sounded at 10.15 a.m. Employees were just returning to their jobs when the escape occurred. The secretary of the Auckland Freezing Workers’ Union, Mr T. P. Kelly, said later that after the series of ammonia escapes the men were scared. The union was not satisfied with safety measures taken by the company. Mr Hellaby said this afternoon that the circumstances of the ammonia escape today were being examined and precautions were being taken to see that the same thing did not occur again through a human mistake.

“The Marine Department has been out and inspected the works,” said Mr Hellaby. “The union is holding a meeting tomorrow morning and we hope that work will resume after that. “No meat has been affected because the concentration of ammonia fumes inside the buildings was very low.”