Fengxian District authorities are discussing disciplinary and economic sanctions on Shanghai Hujiang Chemical Plant following a serious gas leak that left one worker injured on Wednesday morning.
The worker Liu Wei violated operational procedures and caused the accident, according to a vice director of the Fengxian District Health Supervision Agency surnamed Gu.
Liu was cleaning machinery when a long glass tube burst. Poisonous chemicals splashed onto Liu's face and he was rushed to Ruijin Hospital with burns, according to the Youth Daily.
More than 100 kilograms of poisonous gas leaked and a two-kilometer area around the chemical plant was affected.
District government officials arrived on the scene soon after receiving the emergency call and the crisis was not resolved until an hour later at 7am.
Gu revealed that officials were discussing how to penalize the plant for violating safety laws.
He said that though the plant had given out protective equipment it did not supervise its staff to see whether they were wearing them at work.
"Regulations require workers to wear special uniform, mask and gloves when dealing with chemical materials," Gu added.
Liu, who remained in critical condition yesterday, allegedly was not wearing protective gear.
This was the third incident of gas leak in Shanghai in the past week. On Tuesday afternoon a gas pipe burst on Xiupu Road, Nanhui District, and officials had to spend 1 1/2 hours to deal with the situation though there were no casualties.
Last Wednesday a leak occurred in a chemical plant in Songjiang District.
Again no one was injured.