Seafood factory evacuated after possible chemical leak

Emergency services attended the incident at Macrae Edinburgh, part of Young’s Seafood, on the Starlaw Park industrial estate in Livingston at about 2:30pm.

The Scottish Ambulance Service dispatched one ambulance, a manager and its special operations response team to the scene.

During the incident, two of Young’s employees sustained minor injuries and were been taken to St John’s Hospital for treatment. A further two admitted themselves to hospital later in the day.

‘Evacuated and fully cordoned off’​

A Young’s Seafood spokesman said: “The site has been evacuated and fully cordoned off, as a precautionary measure, and will remain as such until we have received confirmation by the Fire and Rescue Service that it is safe for our employees to re-enter the building.​

“We are currently liaising with the Fire and Rescue Service and implementing our investigation plan and cannot comment further until we have concluded our investigation.”​

Young’s expected production at the site to resume tomorrow and was providing support to its employees while investigations continued.

The past two months also saw chicken firm Moy Park and value-added vegetable processor Axgro Foods evacuate workers from their factories, following chemical incidents.

Incident at the chicken plant​

In October, workers were evacuated from the Moy Park factory​ in Ashbourne in Derbyshire and two were hospitalised, after a possible chemical incident at the chicken plant.

Paramedics treated 35 workers at the factory, while two patients were taken to Royal Derby Hospital with minor ailments by a non-emergency ambulance.

Meanwhile, last month, bosses at Axgro insisted health and safety was their “number one priority”​ after a chemical incident hospitalised 11 staff.​ An accidental mix of chemicals, believed to be cleaning fluids, was said to be behind the incident.