Crime & Safety

Ozone Leak Sends Six Employees to Hospital

Wednesday night ozone leak at Analog Devices was controlled quickly and employees were transported for precautionary reasons.

Six employees were transported to area hospitals following a chemical exposure that was controlled quickly thanks to the company’s emergency management plan.

John Brown, Deputy Chief, said crews received a call after 10 p.m. on Wednesday for an ozone leak at a processor inside the building. By the time crews responded to the Woburn Street scene, the building was evacuated and all chemical readings were at zero.

The six employees who were in the area of the processor when the leak was reported were transported to the hospital, but it was strictly for precautionary reasons, Brown said.

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“It was an event, but a non-event because of the systems they have in place there,” said Brown. “The response involved a lot of people and equipment, but everything that was supposed to be in place was and everything worked as it was supposed to.”

Brown said Analog Devices has a well-run detection system that includes a 24 hour emergency response team that is paged when gas monitors reach a certain level.

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The company shut down for the night after the incident and Brown said they would reassess what may have gone wrong on Thursday morning.

“If there’s one company I had to rate highly for their safety protocol, it’d be them,” said Brown. “During this situation, everything worked the way it was supposed to. Their safety methods are top notch and I’m glad to have companies like that in Wilmington.”


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