Inside Whanganui Hospital’s management of a chemical spill in dangerous goods bunker

A chemical spill at Whanganui Hospital that resulted in the evacuation of a daycare also raised concerns over explosive substances.

Emails between Whanganui Hospital staff obtained by the Whanganui Chronicle through the Official Information Act have revealed more details about the cause of the February 12 spill.

Six fire trucks and 30 firefighters worked to contain a chemical spill at Whanganui Hospital on February 12.

An audit and inspection of a dangerous goods storage bunker at the hospital led to the discovery of hazardous substances in “a degraded condition”.

“One container was leaking inside the bunker, but the leak was contained within the storage facility,” a Health NZ report sent to WorkSafe said.

“Given the nature of, and degraded state, of the chemicals and their proximity to a neighbouring childcare centre, and staff car parks, [Fire and Emergency NZ] elevated the response to an emergency to ensure public safety.”

Health NZ Whanganui group director of operations Katherine Fraser-Chapple told staff it was decided to involve emergency management because of the nature of the stored chemicals and concern over possible fumes.

Whanganui Hospital emergency management lead Simon Ward said in an email to Fraser-Chapple that Fire and Emergency had to contact the bomb squad over “concerns that one of the substances was explosive”.

This was cleared by the bomb squad, he said.

Hospital management paused all afternoon surgeries and evacuated a nearby childhood daycare — Hundred Acre Pre-School on Heads Rd — with the children relocated to the Te Puna Ora building.

Fire and Emergency established a 50-metre safety cordon and remained on-site until 7pm, removing the chemicals.

Removal of the chemicals had been planned for the following day and was to be carried out by specialist hazardous waste disposal company, 3R Group.

Names of chemicals kept secret to safeguard hospital

Alongside the OIA response, Health NZ said it had withheld information on chemical listings on the grounds of health and safety.

On February 12, a staff member asked in an internal email, in response to media questions, “Would we normally publicly name the chemicals?”.

Another staff member said, “We don’t name chemicals, this is not information we want out in the public domain”.

Health NZ said advising in detail where the chemicals were located posed a risk to staff and the public in the hospital environment.

“To provide specific details of chemicals stored at various facilities within the hospital campus is a security risk.

“This may heighten interest in people looking to obtain these chemicals, pose a safety risk for these storage facilities being targeted, these are not simple chemicals — they are large quantity hospital grade chemicals which in the wrong hands and circumstances could be extremely harmful.”

Fraser-Chapple thanked all staff for their collaboration in the response and said the feedback had been overwhelmingly positive.

“I would like to thank everyone who responded rapidly and ensured the safety of our patients, staff and team at Pooh Corner [Hundred Acre Pre-School].”

Health NZ notified WorkSafe of the chemical spill.

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.