• See previous
article of August 4, 2005.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050812/NEWS01/508120339/1006/NEWS01
August 12, 2005
Poughkeepsie Journal (New York)
Report of toxic spill at Phillips plant
not needed
By Nik Bonopartis
Managers at the East Fish-kill Phillips Semiconductors plant did
not have to report the release of a fluoride chemical last month,
according to the Department of Environmental Conservation.
That's because the company said only a "baseball-size clump"
of the chemical ammonium fluorosilicate had been released into
the air. The DEC does not require companies to report incidents
involving that chemical unless 1,000 pounds or more are released,
DEC spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach said.
The chemical was re-leased July 7, when employees of the Phillips
plant were doing maintenance on an air exhaust duct, a Phillips
spokesman said.
"They gave us an estimate that it was about a cup of material,"
Rosenbach said. "We don't expect it to ever happen again.
It didn't trigger any kind of further action by us."
Chemical lands on cars
The airborne chemical was released onto a parking lot, where
it fell onto about 80 cars belonging to employees of IBM and Phillips.
Phillips was also not re-quired to report to the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration, which has jurisdiction over
workplace-related health hazards. The company would not be re-quired
to report such a chemical release unless there were three or more
workers sent to the hospital or an employee died as a result,
OSHA spokesman John Chavez said.
OSHA "has no specific standard regulating exposure to that
chemical," so there is no specific permissible exposure level,
Chavez said.
But he noted "any worker who is working with this substance
does need to wear personal protective equipment, including respiratory
protection, eye and hand, arm and body protection. So it certainly
is not good stuff to be exposed to."
An employee whose car was damaged first reported the chemical
release to company officials, according to internal IBM and Phillips
documents. Several em-ployees, who declined to give their names,
said the ammonium fluorosilicate created pitting on the windows
of their cars.
A memo to employees instructed them to notify Phillips if their
cars had been damaged. Phillips said it would replace damaged
parts.
A worker from the East Fishkill site reported the accident to
the DEC some two weeks later, complaining the company had not
provided enough information on the spill to employees who were
there that day, according to the DEC.
Health effects uncertain
Ammonium fluorosilicate damage to vehicle surfaces "would
be immediately noticeable," said Paul Connett, a professor
of chemistry at St. Lawrence University in Canton, St. Lawrence
County, and executive director of the Fluoride Action Network.
Health effects would be harder to gauge, Connett said.
"The issue is, how much did people breath into their lungs?"
he said. "How much hand-to-mouth activity would they have
had?"
If any of the employees had a serious exposure, "they would
have known about it," Connett said. He said symptoms can
include nausea and skin burning.
Connett criticized government environmental and health agencies,
saying they do not take seriously the potential side effects of
exposure to chemicals such as ammonium fluorosilicate.
A "short pulse of exposure" is unlikely to cause long-term
health effects, but he said workers at Phillips and IBM should
be concerned.
"Unless people have experienced serious health problems,
it's probably OK now," he said, "but it's not something
to be taken likely and it should have been reported."
Gerald Sliss is a former IBM senior engineering specialist at
the East Fishkill site. The plant has had similar problems with
releases of chemicals and with maintenance of the exhaust systems
dating back to when it was owned by IBM. The exhaust systems,
he said, did not have "scrubbers" to clean air ducts
until employees began filing complaints with OSHA.
"The exhaust systems were corroding and guys were getting
stuff literally dripping down on them," said Sliss, who was
laid off by IBM in 1993 after 24 years. Sliss has done some work
at the site after 1993 while working for third-party vendors who
supplied materials for the manufacturing process
Sliss said despite advances in technology, manufacturing companies
haven't found efficient and safe ways to handle and remove chemical
byproducts.
"This is an industry-wide problem," he said. "The
problem is the whole process is dirty and always has been."
Nik Bonopartis can be reached at nbonopar@poughkeepsiejournal.com