By Kelly Jackson
The Chattanooga Times Free Press
DALTON, Ga. — Dalton fire officials discovered a number of safety violations at the Vericol plant site here and temporarily have closed down the facility.
Vericol was a chemical and adhesive manufacturing plant on Coronet Drive off the North Bypass.
Dalton Fire Department Capt. Jeff Dugger, city fire marshal and safety coordinator, said Vericol operated in Dalton for several years but since has closed. Chemence Inc. has operated a nail product production company at a building on the site for about a year.
He said that company was the only operation under way at the time of a routine pre-incident survey Monday when the violations were discovered.
Capt. Dugger said the safety violations include improper storage of hundreds of chemical containers up to 200 gallons in size and electrical, emergency lighting and emergency exit issues, as well as an inoperable sprinkler system. He said samples revealed chemicals were leaking onto building floors. In response to all of the safety concerns the buildings were condemned and utilities for the buildings were ordered to be turned off on Wednesday morning.
“What that does is effectively close the location until certain situations can be corrected,” Capt. Dugger said.
He said he was not sure what the chemicals are at the site, but they were left there from Vericol. He said they are a combination of unused chemical products, waste and wastewater.
Capt. Dugger said the violations span the entire plant complex, which is composed of several buildings and encompasses more than 10 acres.
He said Vericol and the nail company are different entities but fall under the parent company Chemence Ltd., which has a lease/purchase agreement on the site with owner Rhodia International. There are about 10 employees of the nail company, he said.
Steps taken so far this week will be the first in an ongoing and lengthy investigation to include representatives from Georgia’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, Capt. Dugger said.
OSHA spokesperson Mike D’Aquino said in an e-mail that “the agency has opened an inspection and has up to six months to complete it and produce a public report.”
Capt. Dugger said Chemence has been cooperative, and officials have worked out an arrangement that will allow the company to make initial corrections and continue operating the nail production company while issues throughout the complex are addressed.
“The business that is operating now has nothing to do with the chemicals that are onsite,” he said.
Capt. Dugger said electricity will have to be isolated to serve the building for the nail product company, chemicals will have to be removed from that building and the sprinkler system will have to be fixed in order for power to be turned on again. Then the company will have to start working on other safety concerns in the building, he said.
Within the next 30 days Chemence will be required to inventory all chemicals found on the site and move those to a central location on the complex. Within months all chemicals will have to be moved off of the premises entirely, Capt. Dugger said.
Bob Wilson, corporate council for Chemence Inc., said the company hopes to have “manufacturing back up as soon as possible” and will “deal with issues as they arise.”
Capt. Dugger said the safety concern at the site relates to employee safety and safety concerns that could arise in the event of a fire. There is no danger to the public, he said.
Copyright 2009 Chattanooga Publishing Company