A typical workday turned into a tragedy when 20 workers were injured during a hazardous chemical spill at a New Mexico cheese factory.
Specifically, the incident at the Southwest Cheese plant in Clovis exposed employees to toxic gas, sending 14 to the hospital, with two in critical condition.
Emergency responders rushed to the Southwest Cheese plant, located 8 miles south of Clovis, after reports of a chemical spill.
The Curry County Sheriff’s Office revealed that an equipment malfunction caused the accidental mixture of 8.67 gallons of acid with 0.61 gallons of chlorine, which released a dangerous toxic gas.
The Clovis Fire Department’s Hazardous Materials Response Team and the New Mexico State Police were called to the scene to contain and clean up the spill.
While authorities claim the leak was contained, and the surrounding area is safe, the fact that such a dangerous incident occurred in the first place is deeply troubling.
Southwest Cheese has been operational since 2005 and employs around 400 people.
The company processes over 5.1 billion pounds of milk and produces more than 588 million pounds of cheese annually.
In the aftermath of the incident, Southwest Cheese issued a statement:
“SWC has set up an incident response team on site who are working with local emergency services and the relevant authorities. The site was assessed and cleared to return to production by late morning. Our key focus is supporting our impacted employees at this time.”
For some, the fact that the factory was cleared to return to production so quickly after such a serious incident is concerning.
