Up to 23 people in St. Catharines, ON were sent to hospital after a "hazardous incident" at a THK Rhythm Automotive Canada Ltd. plant Tuesday morning..St. Catharines fire Chief Dave Upper said a contractor at the Louth Street plant hit a valve, which then leaked five litres of hydrochloric acid..While three workers at the scene were able to shut the valve off, they experienced skin and "respiratory exposures." Upper said the three workers were sent to hospital, along with nine more workers who suffered "minor exposure." .Breathing in hydrochloric acid can cause choking, chest tightness, dizziness, low blood pressure and weakness, while skin exposure can result in blisters, burns and vision loss..Not long after the leak occurred, Niagara Health advised people in the area to avoid the emergency department at the St. Catharines hospital site except for "life-threatening or critical emergency," as it was receiving patients due to the incident..Niagara Health says the emergency department services returned to normal operations early Tuesday afternoon..Niagara Health said it received a total of 23 patients starting at 10:40 a.m. .Lynn Guerriero, Niagara Health's president and chief executive officer, said the incident was an "excellent example of our health-care team coming together to handle a serious situation in a calm, efficient and professional manner.".Upper said Ontario Ministry of Labour officials are on site and Hazmat teams are working at cleaning it up, but they don't know when work might be completed.
