OSHA Fined Salem Firm In Sunday's Hazmat Spill In 2016

SALEM, MA -- Thermal Circuits, the Salem-based manufacturer where more than 20 people were sickened following a chemical spill Sunday, was fined $15,075 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The fines stemmed from a November 2016 inspection and the company's failure an emergency action plan in place, which put 147 of the more than 400 people that work at the manufacturing plant at risk. Last year Thermal Circuits reached a settlement with OSHA and agreed to pay $4,000 in fines.

The OSHA violation appears to be unrelated to Sunday's chemical spill, in which more than 20 people were sickened following a chemical release. Earlier on Sunday there had been a report of a chlorine release. Salem Fire officials were called back to the company on Technology Drive just after 9 pm Sunday night but have yet to determine if the second incident involved chlorine or another gas.

Decontamination units were set up at Salem Hospital to treat workers exposed to the gas. Hazmat teams were called to Thermal Circuits to conduct a clean-up. The company was expected to be closed Monday as OSHA officials conducted an investigation.

Thermal Circuits was founded in 1955 to make components for a wide range of heaters. In recent years the company has seen an uptick in business at its 52,000-square-foot facility in Salem as it started producing components used in electronic cigarettes to heat nicotine into a vapor. As many as 500 people work in three shifts at the Salem manufacturing facility.

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File photo by Bob Orsillo/Shutterstock.com.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).