AN employee died while his co-worker was brought to a hospital after they were exposed to ammonia that leaked from a tank of a cold storage facility in Mandaue City yesterday dawn.
The City Government shut down Big Blue Logistics Corp. on Zuellig St. yesterday. It will remain closed until it is declared safe for its employees.
At 2:07 a.m. yesterday, the City Government, through the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO), was alerted about the ammonia leak in the liquid receiver tank, which the company keeps in its engineering room.
Ammonia, a colorless gas consisting of hydrogen and nitrogen, is the primary source of refrigerant in Big Blue’s cold storage facility at the North Reclamation Area.
Joseph Baguion, 33, a refrigeration technician, died from suffocation while his co-worker, whom the company did not name, was rushed to the hospital after they inhaled the ammonia.
Investigation
Right after the incident, Mandaue Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing went to the cold storage facility to check what happened.
A team from the CDRRMO also responded to the area to check the cause of the leak.
In a press conference, lawyer Mae Elaine Bathan, executive secretary to the mayor, said the City was investigating the incident.
“The City issued a temporary closure order for the purpose of ensuring that the building is cleared by the City and by the national agencies that we tapped to assist us,” Bathan said.
Carlo Cabahug, research and planning officer of CDRRMO, said 18 employees were on duty when the leak happened.
Everyone evacuated but Baguion went back inside to check the area.
Cabahug said members of the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (Eruf) checked the vital signs of Baguion, but he no longer responded.
Baguion was brought to a private hospital where he was declared dead.
Company’s assurance
Big Blue assured that the incident will not happen again, as they continued to investigate the incident and implement corrective measures for everyone’s safety.
The company apologized for what happened and ensured that “all the products maintained at this cold storage are unaffected.”
Cabahug said ammonia is transmitted from the source tank to the liquid receiver tank, where valves are installed to release ammonia any time there is high pressure.
In a press release emailed by Big Blue, the company explained that the pressure relief valve, which is installed in all equipment that deals with high pressure, discharged an irregular amount of ammonia at that time.
Ammonia
“The pressure relief valve is installed to disperse small amounts of gas from our equipment in case of high pressures to avoid a major catastrophe, and to automatically close when a safe pressure is reached. In this rare case, too much of the substance was released, though the pressure relief valve closed itself immediately to prevent any further discharge. Sadly, in a valiant effort to try to mitigate the problem, one of our engineering staff lost his life,” the company statement said.
Big Blue said ammonia is the primary source of refrigerant in their facility, the same refrigerant used by majority of the cold storage and warehouse facilities around the world.
If handled with the use of properly designed equipment and safety protocols, the company said the use of ammonia is safe.
However, when it is inhaled in massive quantity and for a long period by anyone exposed to it, it would result to severe health effects, according to Big Blue.
“Though protocols were set in place for such events, it is thought that in his panic, our staff had forgotten certain safety procedures before attempting such an activity. Joseph Baguion, 33 years old, father of 2 children to Josephine Baguion passed away tragically,” the company statement said.
Clearance
Once the area is safe for the employees to resume work, Bathan said the City will lift the temporary closure order.
With the help of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of Labor and Employment, she said the City can expedite the clearance to reopen.
Bathan said it is presumed that the permits have been complied with because the company has been operating.
Cabahug said the City will also require the company to submit a safety plan, which will be assessed by the CDRRMO.