BEWARE OF AMMONIA

Six die of ammonia poisoning
TheStarOnline, Wednesday August 12, 2009 By SHAUN HO and JOSHUA FOONG

TANJUNG KARANG: Six people, including a store manager who tried to save a Bangladeshi worker, died from inhaling ammonia that leaked from a faulty refrigeration system at a jetty in Kampung Bagan Pasir here. Three other Bangladeshi workers who also suffered from the gas leak have been warded at the Tanjung Karang Hospital.

Manager Lim Kian Chew, 35, collapsed after pulling out a Bangladeshi worker who had fainted while working inside a makeshift cooler tank that was used to store fish. Four other Bangladeshi workers, who joined Lim’s relative Kim Son, 58, and two of his neighbours, Sia Liang Huat, 33, and Gan Ayong, 30, in responding to calls for help, also died in the 8am incident yesterday.
The noxious ammonia was being used as a refrigerant in the cooler tank.

AMMONIA is a colourless, highly irritating gas with a pungent, suffocating odour. Eighty per cent of ammonia produced by industry is used in agriculture as fertiliser. Ammonia is also used as a refrigerant gas, which was the case in yesterday’s incident in Tanjung Karang where six people died after a leak at a refrigeration facility. Other uses of ammonia are to purify water and in the manufacture of plastics, explosives, textiles, pesticides, dyes and other chemicals. It is also found in many household and industrial-strength cleaning solutions.

How ammonia kills

Ammonia acts immediately upon contact with any available moisture in the skin, eyes, respiratory tract, and particularly mucous surfaces to form the very corrosive ammonium hydroxide. Ammonium hydroxide leads to cellular destruction, causing cell proteins to break down, resulting in inflammation.

Inhalation of lower concentrations can cause coughing, and nose and throat irritation. Exposure to high concentrations of ammonia causes an immediate burning of the nose, throat and respiratory tract. This can result in respiratory distress or failure. Ammonia’s odour is highly noticeable due to its stench but it also causes olfactory (smelling) fatigue or adaptation, reducing awareness of one’s prolonged exposure at low concentrations.

What to do if one comes into prolonged contact with ammonia? Ammonia’s effects can be treated. Wash affected skin and eyes with copious amounts of water. Ingested liquid ammonia is diluted with milk or water. Source: http://www.health.state.ny.us/