Fifteen workers from a North Lawrence commercial food shipping plant were treated for exposure to carbon monoxide gas Monday, with seven of them sent to area hospitals, authorities said.
Joseph Sperber, chief of the Lawrence-Cedarhurst Fire Department, said those sent to the hospital did not appear to have life-threatening conditions, he said.
At about 3 p.m., firefighters were called to the plant on Lawrence Avenue because of an unknown odor in the building, which led to people complaining of headaches, nausea and dizziness, he said.
Wearing self-contained breathing apparatus, firefighters entered the building with gas monitoring meters and within an hour pinpointed the source of the gas -- a defective forklift. Firefighters then ventilated the building with high-powered fans, he said.
Also called in to assist were the Nassau County fire marshal's Hazardous Material Unit, as well as ambulances from fire departments in Inwood, Woodmere, Hewlett and Valley Stream.
Copyright 2012 - Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
