Deaconess Workers Treated After Spill

Two Deaconess Medical Center employees were being treated late Thursday for exposure to a toxic chemical following a laboratory accident.

A lab technician spilled a quart of acetonitrile, prompting the hospital’s second-floor toxicology department to be sealed off at 6:50 p.m., according to spokeswoman Priscilla Gilkey.

The department was reopened about two hours later.

Gilkey said the two lab workers had contact with the chemical on their hands and wrists. Twenty-three other employees near the spill were examined and cleared by doctors.

There were no reports of patients being exposed.

“As a precautionary measure, we shut down the emergency room before it was determined the area hadn’t been exposed to the chemical,” Gilkey said. “During the entire time the hospital remained fully operational.”

Acetonitrile, a derivative of methyl cyanide, is a solvent that has been used to produce nerve gas.

, DataTimes