Escaped gas sickens workers
BY Malcolm Hall
The Canton Repository
ALLIANCE - Regional health and safety officials are awaiting lab test results to determine what was in the gas that escaped from the Central Waste landfill earlier this week that made workers sick.
A construction crew from Beaver Excavating of Perry Township was excavating buried sludge and waste at the site and preparing to dispose of it in new burial cells when they became ill.
"There were some odors from the waste that made them feel dizzy," said Steve Roberts, project manager for the company. "As a precaution, we had them go to the hospital. We stopped work to do some investigation to determine the cause. We need to be certain we can proceed safely."
Gas samples were sent to a laboratory.
"We had 16 people down, we took eight to the hospital," Chief James Cannell of the Sebring Fire Department said. "They were all treated and released.
"They hit a pocket of some kind of gas, it smelled like ammonia."
Central Waste is in the 12000 block of Oyster Road in Mahoning County's Smith Township, about 11/2 miles northeast of Alliance. It is operated by Trans Load America of South Orange, N.J. Sebring Fire Department responds to emergencies in the township.
"There is going to be some analysis to determine what the gas was that was released," said Daniel Tolmer of Civil and Environment Consultants, a Pittsburgh company consulting for the landfill.
"It had an ammonia odor to it. It hasn't been identified as ammonia."
The Canton Repository
ALLIANCE - Regional health and safety officials are awaiting lab test results to determine what was in the gas that escaped from the Central Waste landfill earlier this week that made workers sick.
A construction crew from Beaver Excavating of Perry Township was excavating buried sludge and waste at the site and preparing to dispose of it in new burial cells when they became ill.
"There were some odors from the waste that made them feel dizzy," said Steve Roberts, project manager for the company. "As a precaution, we had them go to the hospital. We stopped work to do some investigation to determine the cause. We need to be certain we can proceed safely."
Gas samples were sent to a laboratory.
"We had 16 people down, we took eight to the hospital," Chief James Cannell of the Sebring Fire Department said. "They were all treated and released.
"They hit a pocket of some kind of gas, it smelled like ammonia."
Central Waste is in the 12000 block of Oyster Road in Mahoning County's Smith Township, about 11/2 miles northeast of Alliance. It is operated by Trans Load America of South Orange, N.J. Sebring Fire Department responds to emergencies in the township.
"There is going to be some analysis to determine what the gas was that was released," said Daniel Tolmer of Civil and Environment Consultants, a Pittsburgh company consulting for the landfill.
"It had an ammonia odor to it. It hasn't been identified as ammonia."
