Chemical spilled at Draft plant

Several workers at a Stuarts Draft manufacturer were transported to Augusta Medical Center this afternoon following a chemical spill inside a plant lab, a state environmental official said.
A glass containing tetrahydrofuran spilled on a lab floor at Hollister Inc., prompting the evacuation of the lab around noon. Hollister manufactures hospital equipment.
Tetrahydrofuran is highly flammable industrial solvent which may irritate the mucous membranes and upper respiratory tract, and also may cause liver and kidney damage, according to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Web site.
A state Department of Environmental Quality official said this afternoon that the agency had received a report on the incident from Virginia Emergency Management. That report identified the chemical and stated that workers had been taken to the hospital as a result of the spill, the DEQ official said.
Hollister officials declined to comment. Emergency management officials could not be reached for comment.
Employees crowded outside a plant door as firefighters and paramedics descended on the facility this afternoon. Most emergency responders had left the by 1 p.m.
Neither the identities of the employees taken to the hospital nor the severity of their injuries was known.