Destruction of the chemicals is slated to begin next year. However, Calhoun County officials earlier this month rejected the Army's proposed plan for dealing with accidental gas releases. The proposal includes ordering some residents to shelter in place during a leak. The incident took place at the Borden Chemical plant in Sheboygan, Michigan. The worker was measuring the temperature of the highly caustic chemical phenol when some of it splashed on him as it was being unloaded from a railroad car.
Phenol is transported as a solid or in gel form.
It had to be heated to be removed from the rail car. The accident happened as a rail car full of the chemical was being transferred into a building at the plant. Zambia's only oil refinery, was gutted by fire a day before the refinery was to begin operations after undergoing repairs following a 1999 blaze. One of the three furnaces that are instrumental in oil processing has been damaged by the fire, and would take weeks to fix. Currently Zambia is a net importer of petroleum products.