Chemical Spills Send 3 Workers to Hospital, Tangle Freeway

Traffic was tied up several hours on the Ventura Freeway, and three Litton Industries employees were hospitalized briefly Monday in two unrelated spills of hazardous chemicals in the San Fernando Valley.

The Los Angeles City Fire Department’s hazardous-materials team evacuated about 200 employees at Litton Industries’ Data Systems Division plant in Van Nuys about 12:30 p.m. after 150 gallons of ammonia sulfide solution leaked from an outside tank, the Fire Department said.

Workers Taken to Hospital

Three employees who may have breathed fumes from the chemical were taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center. All were examined and released without treatment, a hospital spokeswoman said.

A Litton spokesman said the chemical, used in the manufacture of printed electronic circuits, will be diluted and disposed of as prescribed by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Dean Wasson, manager of facilities planning at the Litton plant, said an employee caused the spill by turning a valve the wrong way. Wasson said the chemical was contained in a spill-retaining system and posed no hazard to anyone outside the premises, at 15901 Strathern St.

In the second incident, a truck carrying phosphoric acid spilled almost 320 gallons of the solution over a stretch of the Ventura Freeway.

Valve Broke

A California Highway Patrol spokesman said a valve apparently broke on one of two portable tanks on the truck, owned by Admiral Transport of Santa Fe Springs. Shortly before 2 p.m., a motorist noticed the escaping liquid and attracted the truck driver’s attention, Officer Kenneth Rosenberg said.

The truck driver stopped near Reseda Boulevard, where about 75 gallons of the liquid drained onto the shoulder, Rosenberg said.

The Fire Department’s hazardous materials team neutralized the spill. Traffic remained congested until 5 p.m.

Admiral Transport sent another truck to drain the rest of the tank. The 75% phosphoric acid solution was being shipped to Moorpark for use in egg cleaning, Rosenberg said.

The driver was cited for spilling cargo on the freeway, he said.