TWO men were injured and around 30 people evacuated from a Kidderminster factory today (July 2) following a chemical spillage.

Firefighters were called to Hard Anodising Ltd, in Firs Industrial Estate, Kidderminster at around 12.10pm this afternoon, where a plastic tank carrying around 1,000 litres of nitric acid split.

The 30 employees who were in the factory at the time were evacuated for around two hours as a precaution while the spillage was dealt with.

Staff at neighbouring businesses were also ordered to stay indoors while the incident was ongoing while police placed a 50 metre cordon around the area to prevent access to the site.

One worker suffering nausea was treated by paramedics before being taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital as a precaution. He has since been released.

Another man was splashed with the acid and was treated at the scene by ambulance crews.

Most of the spillage was contained to the factory although a small amount of acid was released into an adjacent bank.

Philip Bayliss, Managing Director of Hard Anodising, said the company immediately instigated its protocols when the spillage was discovered to ensure it was contained quickly.

He said: "In more than 20 years of using these tanks, this has never happened before. It is a complete oddball so we will be investigating how this happened and assess the viability of using them in the future.

"Fortunately, we have our procedures in place to deal with such incidents and I'm pleased to say they worked well.

"We immediately contacted the Environment Agency, the Health and Safety Executive and the emergency services, as per the protocols, and the spillage was cleared up as soon as possible.

"Two of our guys suffered minor injuries but are both ok now and fortunately no one was seriously hurt.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience this has caused our neighbours who were also affected by this."

Bob Sproat, Kidderminster Fire Station Commander, said: “The very effective response from HWFRS and partner agencies allowed us to bring this incident to a safe conclusion.

“The ambulance service dealt with two casualties and our colleagues at the police cordoned off the area. All actions taken ensured that the incident was brought to a safe and swift close, allowing businesses in the area to continue trading.”