CANTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WJW) — A 27-year-old man critically injured in a chemical release earlier this month at a Stark County facility has died, federal safety officials confirmed to FOX 8.
Ray Sullivan, 27, of Waynesburg, was one of five people affected by a release of hydrogen sulfide on Aug. 22 at the US Ecology facility along Central Avenue Southeast in the township.
Sullivan, a West Virginia native, died Friday, Aug. 26, according to his obituary.
Canton Township fire officials earlier this month told FOX 8 that five people were taken to the hospital after being exposed to hydrogen sulfide the morning of Aug. 22 — four of whom were expected to be treated and released.
The US Ecology Canton facility converts hazardous inorganic waste into non-hazardous material, according to its website. The company uses equipment and fleet vehicles to transport, treat and dispose of hazardous and non-hazardous material.
Curious to know what the source of the H2S was. Condolences to his family and friends.
probably a sewage tank. City water is purified by flocculation with aluminum sulfate in the water treatment plants. Alumina precipitates and takes with it many pollutants. But sulfate remains, there is quite a lot of it in the tap water. It is not harmful, but in the sewage anaerobic microbes will use sulfate as a source of oxygen and generate hydrogen sulfide. If it is a closed tank, the concentration of H2S could get high enough to cause instant knockout of people who get in there, they collapse there and die if they are not pulled out fast enough. This is a quite common tragedy. The municipal workers should have been trained, there are H2S automatic sensors availaible
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