11 workers hurt after chemical leak at Kallang Way factory

SINGAPORE – In the third major workplace accident in five days, 11 workers were taken to the hospital following a chemical leak at an electronics manufacturing factory at Kallang Way on Tuesday (July 18).

The leak, which happened in the afternoon, was contained within a sealed room in the premises, and shut off by the company’s in-built safety system shortly after.

The workers from RF360 Holdings were sent to the hospital in “conscious and stable condition”, and 10 of them were discharged by the evening.

Two fire engines, one fire bike, three support vehicles and two ambulances were despatched to 166 Kallang Way, the address of RF360 Holdings.

In an update at 2.56pm, the SCDF said the leak was contained within the factory’s sealed production room and it has been shut off.

At 3.47pm, it posted a final update on the incident, saying: “The leak was shut off prior to SCDF arrival by the in-built safety system on the premises ... SCDF HazMat detectors currently show no reading of the chemical vapour in the production room. The surrounding environment is also safe with no traces of the chemical in the air.”

It remains unclear what type of chemical had leaked out, or what caused the leak.

However, TODAY understands that manufacturers of electronic products, such as semiconductors, thin film solar cells and flat-panel displays, typically use chemicals such as nitrogen trifluoride to clean process chambers.

Contact with such chemicals can cause irritation to the skin and eyes, and when exposed to high levels of such chemicals, it can affect one’s ability to breathe.

When TODAY arrived at the factory’s premises at about 3pm, several groups of workers could be seen milling around outside the building, even as SCDF personnel and ambulances entered the premises to ferry some of the victims to the hospital.

The SCDF said the 11 workers from the factory’s production room were sent to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital in a “conscious and stable condition”.

At about 5pm, workers began to re-enter the building.

A staff at the factory later told TODAY that those sent to the hospital had felt unwell, and underwent blood tests. She declined to comment further, and would only say that investigations were ongoing.

A 38-year-old engineer, who declined to be named, said that the alarm at the factory sounded at about 12.40pm, and the leak was likely to have taken place on the third floor, which is where the production of wafers are carried out.

“I was working on the second floor then, but we were not worried… We have been trained to be prepared for such events (annually),” he said in Mandarin, adding that he could not smell anything.

The workers then began to evacuate the premises.

When contacted by TODAY, a TTSH spokesperson would only say that of the 11 patients, 10 were discharged last evening. The one who was admitted was “in a stable condition”.

The spokesperson did not specify the extent of their injuries, citing patient confidentiality.

In January this year, a chemical leak occurred at Shell’s Pulau Bukom oil and petrochemical facility, prompting the oil giant to undertake “mitigating measures” and repair work to stop the leak. No one was hurt in the incident.

A Shell spokesperson had earlier said that chemical leak occurred at a unit already closed for maintenance at its Pulau Bukom manufacturing site. The spokesperson, citing commercial confidentiality, did not say what chemical was involved in the incident.

Tuesday’s gas leak was the latest in a spate of workplace incidents. Last Friday, the collapse of an uncompleted viaduct along Upper Changi Road East killed one worker and injured 10 others. On the same day, another worker died after falling over the edge of a building at a Sembawang worksite.