Two Injured In Explosion At Canfor Mill

By Michelle Cyr-Whiting

Two employees from Canfor’s Intercontinental Pulp Mill were sent to PGRH after an explosion in the bleach plant area mid-morning.

Canfor’s General Manager of Community Relations, Ted Perry, was just at the hospital and says one of the injured workers has been treated and released, the other is still being held as he has a piece of material embedded in his shoulder.  But Perry says the relatively minor nature of their injuries is very, very good news given the seriousness of the situation.

Perry says a bleaching vessel ruptured in a violent fashion.  He says, "We are investigating the cause of the incident, our safety and mechanical teams are looking into the cause of the incident."

"The mill was shut down and completely evacuated," says Perry, "In those circumstances there’s a series of alarms and all employees are asked to leave the mill and go to what we call a "muster" station and they were all accounted for and, then, after the area is completely investigated to ensure there are no gases or anything of that nature, they’re allowed back in.

Perry says the employees are all back except in the bleach plant.  He says that area is being fully investigated to determine the cause of the rupture, before it’s started up again - a process expected to take several hours. 

"We certainly are anxious to determine what caused the incident because it’s a very unusual circumstance, " Perry says, "It was an area where peroxide is added to the process and it’s in concentrations that are fairly benign and certainly not volatile on their own, so we can only speculate (at this point)."

Prince George Fire Rescue crews were called out to Intercon and assisted mill workers until the hazardous materials were shut down and plans for clean-up in place.  There were no injuries involving the rescue/emergency workers.

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