Yesterday, I perhaps had the most horrific day of my life. Oh, for the most part, it was okay, but the whole near death experience at the end of the day kind of through me for a loop. Well, technically, not “near death,” but damn near enough as I’d ever like to come in one lifetime.

Those of you who are loyal readers, already know that I work as a chemical engineer in a chlorine plant. We are one of the safest plants I have ever seen. That being said, yesterday afternoon about ten minutes before I was preparing to leave work, the chlorine leak alarm sounded.

Myself, and the other two engineers looked around at each other wondering if it was a scheduled drill. It was not. I grabbed my cell phone, keys, and jacket, along with my personal protective equipment and walked out the door, behind my two co-workers.

I immediately smelled a faint odor of chlorine gas, but working next to the cell room, the building where the electrolytic reaction occurs to convert water and salt to chlorine, that smell is fairly constant. To visitors, it smells no worse than a swimming pool.

So, I descended the stairs holding my breath, only to inhale a large mouthful of chlorine when I reached the ground. It doesn’t burn, it just tastes acidic, and wrong, so I walked more quickly, and started taking shallow breaths, each breath tasting like chlorine, each breath tasting wrong.

I fumbled for the escape respirator hanging from my back pocket and inserted it in my mouth as I began running for the front gate towards the muster area, following in the footsteps of the other engineers.

We reached the guard shack at the front gate and went inside. I took off the respirator only to inhale another mouthful of chlorine. Eyes wide in horror, we all darted into the main administration building, our designated muster point.

I immediately threw down my jacket, briefcase, and miscellaneous safety equipment in the hallway as we all started to begin coughing uncontrollably. Other co-workers looked on concerned, as minutes went by, and we were unable to stop coughing.

By that time, the command center for the incident was established and people were busy with other duties of responding to the release, while we struggled to breathe, our chests tightening, allowing us to take shallow breaths.

We were given warm soda which helped a bit, as I paced back and forth to and from the bathroom, trying to rid my mouth of the taste of acid. Remember: Chlorine plus water equals hydrochloric acid.

Eventually, we were taken back to the guard shack where we donned oxygen masks and drank some more soda, pausing every few minutes to vomit the contents of our stomachs, as we rid ourselves of the chlorine.

Another co-worker, Dave, was in the guard shack with us. He was in far worse condition than us. He had been exposed for several minutes, and was laying on the floor, unable to stand, his face buried in a wastebasket, oxygen mask over his head.

Eventually, Dave got to the point where he could stand on his own, and I was given an additional oxygen mask, after vomiting in the first one. The gurgling sound of oxygen bubbling through sputum is not a pleasant one, my friends.

When all was said and done, and the nurse released us after successfully demonstrating that we could inhale without breaking into fits of coughing and retching, we were discharged, and we all changed our clothing, venturing home wearing white Tyvek jumpsuits, our clothes, reeking of chlorine, stowed in a garbage bag.

Altogether, we were on oxygen for a little over two hours. I went home, took a long shower, furiously scrubbing my body to remove any trace of chlorine smell, and sacked out in front of the TV. I vomited some more, and finally stopped coughing around 11:00 pm, seven hours after being first exposed. At that time, I was able to breathe with only a little discomfort, and I said, “Fuck it,” and went to bed.

This morning, my throat is raw and my chest is sore from coughing, and I feel like complete and utter shit. Thank God the effects from chlorine exposure are acute, and I don’t have to worry about how this will affect me ten years from now, or anything.

Anyway, I’m trying to do as little as possible today, and try to recuperate. I’m exhausted, more than anything, and glad that nothing more serious happened.

Alright, I’m done. Hope I didn’t scare you too badly. See you tomorrow.

READ THESE JOURNALS Uncle Bob SaraH

All content is copyright © Jeff Marks 2003. All Rights Reserved.
Clix Me!
Best viewed at 800x600 screen res, IE 5.5+. Diaryland