Workers Evacuated After Insecticide Spill
Five gallons of spilled liquid insecticide forced the evacuation Thursday of nine employees of an Oxnard trucking company at its Maulhardt Avenue warehouse, authorities said.
None of the workers were injured as a result of exposure to the hazardous material, described as a nerve agent called organic phosphate, said Capt. Rod Thorp of the Oxnard Fire Department. However, another firefighter said one employee complained of nausea.
As a precaution, workers saw a physician contracted by the company, Con-Way Western Express at 700 Maulhardt Ave., Thorp said.
About 200 yards of the 700 block of Maulhardt Avenue, which is in an industrial area one block west of busy Rose Avenue at Camino del Sol, was blocked to traffic for about five hours as firefighters investigated the incident.
The spill occurred Thursday morning as workers used a forklift to unload a truck trailer containing the chemicals, Thorp said.
The forklift operator punctured a pair of 2 1/2-gallon plastic bottles in a cardboard box. Workers then used the forklift to move the box about 140 feet across a loading dock and onto the company’s parking lot, leaving a trail of chemical Thorp said.
By the time workers reported the spill to authorities, an absorbent material had been placed on most of the spilled insecticide, Thorp said.
Firefighters placed the box inside a containment barrel and left it on-site for later pickup by a disposal company.
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