About 21 employees at Keybrand Foods, a Kitchener food processing facility, were treated for carbon monoxide exposure on Friday afternoon.
The workers started showing up at Grand River Hospital around noon.
Doctors at the hospital say they were showing signs of acute carbon monoxide exposure.
“In this case it was mostly headache, nausea, chest pain,” says Dr. Paul Hosek, medical director for the intensive care unit.
The workers were put on oxygen and were closely monitored by hospital staff.
Emergency crews weren’t called to Keybrand Foods, at 1326 Victoria Street North, until after employees started arriving at the hospital.
Investigators say a problem with the ventilation system caused an increase in carbon monoxide levels inside the plant.
“It was pretty clear the damper had fallen off and all these toxic gases had been emitted back in the building,” says Doug Voisin, Kitchener Fire Platoon Chief.
Forty employees still inside the plant were ordered out.
Levels inside the plant were measured at ten times above industry standards.
“[Carbon monoxide] can be fatal within four hours,” says Voisin.
The Ministry of Labour and officials with the Technical Standards & Safety Authority are assisting with the investigation.
Voisin says the fire department will be conducting regular air quality tests inside the plant to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
