Four workers died at DuPont’s chemical plant in La Porte, Texas, Saturday after being exposed to methyl mercaptan. DuPont said today it was working with local, state and federal authorities to investigate the incident. Via the Houston Chronicle, a team from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board began arriving at the plant on Sunday to conduct a review.
DuPont uses methyl mercaptan at the LaPorte plant’s crop protection unit, which takes up about half of the site. Methyl mercaptan exposure is rare — the last known fatal incident occurred in 2001 at a plant in Michigan. A representative from the Harris County Attorney’s Office said there had been at least three incidents in the past decade in which county residents became ill from exposure.
DuPont’s La Porte plant has had a number of chemical and effluent emissions violations in recent years, but state regulators consider its compliance “satisfactory.” OSHA levied a small fine against the plant in 2007 for unsafe handling of hazardous chemicals.
