Chemicals Injure Boeing Workers

A hazardous chemical reaction Friday sent at least 117 people to hospitals and forced shutdown of The Boeing Co. fabrication division.

Two people were in serious condition from the noxious fumes.

The problem arose at mid-morning, when about 300 gallons of mixed nitric and hydrofluoric acid were piped from a tank in the 1768 Building, Boeing’s Emergent Manufacturing Facility, to a portable waste-treatment tank outside, said division spokesman Tom Koehler.

All of those who received medical attention came into contact with the highly toxic chemical outside the plant, Koehler said. The acid apparently was used as a cleaning agent in an area where spare parts for airplanes are made.

The division usually has a work force of about 8,000 people but is down to about 2,300 because of a company-wide Machinists union strike that began Oct. 6. Roughly 50 people were in the area where the reaction occurred, down from 200 to 300 normally, Koehler said.

The episode was being investigated by the state Department of Labor and Industries.

Cause of the reaction remained undetermined. Koehler said he did not know when the waste tank or pipe had last been used, what substances had been in them or when they were last flushed.

The acid might have found its way past a protective membrane lining in the outside tank and come into contact with the metal, said Peter Conte, another spokesman.

Low concentrations of nitric hydrofluoric acid fumes can irritate the nose, throat, eyes and respiratory tract, and even brief exposure to higher concentrations of vapor can cause severe burns.

Daniel Pulciani, 38, of Algona, and James Halikas, 44, hometown not available, were in serious condition and receiving oxygen at Harborview Medical Center in nearby Seattle, hospital spokesman Larry Zalin said.

Zalin said 117 people were checked by medical personnel at the scene and sent to various hospitals in Seattle and its south suburbs. Most were released later in the day.

An unknown number of other people went to hospitals without being checked at the scene, he said.

Eighteen people were sent to Harborview, which has the state’s largest civilian trauma center, and seven were admitted. All were in satisfactory condition except Pulciani and Halikas, Zalin said.

Others went to Virginia Mason Medical Center, Auburn General, Valley General in Renton, Good Samaritan in Puyallup, St. Francis in Federal Way, Highline in Burien, Children’s in Seattle and Tacoma General hospitals, Zalin said.