Read updates on the DuPont story on the Sustained Outrage blog.

Related story: DuPont worker dies

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two federal agencies are considering conducting detailed safety reviews of DuPont Co.'s Belle chemical plant following a series of incidents, including one toxic leak that went undetected by the company for nearly a week and another that left a worker hospitalized after he was sprayed with poison phosgene gas.

Officials from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board were seeking more information Sunday from DuPont about the four incidents reported Friday and Saturday at DuPont's sprawling facility about 12 miles from downtown Charleston.

"The CSB is concerned about these reported incidents involving phosgene and other hazardous materials," said Daniel Horowitz, a board spokesman. "We'll be contacting DuPont today to gather more information."

At the same time, inspectors from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration were discussing launching a wall-to-wall review of safety issues at the Belle plant.

"It will be a topic of conversation," said Jordan Barab, deputy assistant labor secretary for OSHA.

On Sunday, DuPont plant officials said they were in the early stages of a "safety check" that state regulators were told would idle most of the facility's manufacturing processes for two weeks or more.

"We are meeting to determine just where we stand with things and to move things in the right direction," said plant spokesman Roger Hess. "The operators are basically going over the processes, checking them over and making sure things are right."

Late Friday afternoon, Kanawha County emergency officials revealed that DuPont had earlier in the day reported a release of about 1,900 pounds of toxic and extremely flammable methyl chloride from a unit that makes hexazinone, an herbicide DuPont sells under the name Velpar.

The leak had gone on for up to five days without being detected by plant officials. Plant manager Bill Menke has declined to speculate on how that could have happened or to describe what monitoring equipment DuPont has in that area of the plant and whether it was working properly at the time.

Then, at about 7:45 Saturday morning, DuPont reported that it has released "less than 20 pounds" of sulfuric acid from its "spent acid recovery process."

And later Saturday, shortly before 2 p.m., an employee was sprayed with phosgene -- a chemical building block that was used as a weapon during World War I -- that leaked from a transfer hose. DuPont said the hose was not in service when the leak occurred, "but did contain a small amount" of phosgene from an earlier use.

DuPont said in a statement that the worker was hospitalized for "observation as part of the standard protocol for exposure to this material."

But Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said the employee, who has not been identified, was in intensive care and in "very serious condition" Sunday afternoon.

Read updates on the DuPont story on the Sustained Outrage blog.

Related story: DuPont worker dies

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Two federal agencies are considering conducting detailed safety reviews of DuPont Co.'s Belle chemical plant following a series of incidents, including one toxic leak that went undetected by the company for nearly a week and another that left a worker hospitalized after he was sprayed with poison phosgene gas.

Officials from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board were seeking more information Sunday from DuPont about the four incidents reported Friday and Saturday at DuPont's sprawling facility about 12 miles from downtown Charleston.

"The CSB is concerned about these reported incidents involving phosgene and other hazardous materials," said Daniel Horowitz, a board spokesman. "We'll be contacting DuPont today to gather more information."

At the same time, inspectors from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration were discussing launching a wall-to-wall review of safety issues at the Belle plant.

"It will be a topic of conversation," said Jordan Barab, deputy assistant labor secretary for OSHA.

On Sunday, DuPont plant officials said they were in the early stages of a "safety check" that state regulators were told would idle most of the facility's manufacturing processes for two weeks or more.

"We are meeting to determine just where we stand with things and to move things in the right direction," said plant spokesman Roger Hess. "The operators are basically going over the processes, checking them over and making sure things are right."

Late Friday afternoon, Kanawha County emergency officials revealed that DuPont had earlier in the day reported a release of about 1,900 pounds of toxic and extremely flammable methyl chloride from a unit that makes hexazinone, an herbicide DuPont sells under the name Velpar.

The leak had gone on for up to five days without being detected by plant officials. Plant manager Bill Menke has declined to speculate on how that could have happened or to describe what monitoring equipment DuPont has in that area of the plant and whether it was working properly at the time.

Then, at about 7:45 Saturday morning, DuPont reported that it has released "less than 20 pounds" of sulfuric acid from its "spent acid recovery process."

And later Saturday, shortly before 2 p.m., an employee was sprayed with phosgene -- a chemical building block that was used as a weapon during World War I -- that leaked from a transfer hose. DuPont said the hose was not in service when the leak occurred, "but did contain a small amount" of phosgene from an earlier use.

DuPont said in a statement that the worker was hospitalized for "observation as part of the standard protocol for exposure to this material."

But Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said the employee, who has not been identified, was in intensive care and in "very serious condition" Sunday afternoon.

Kathy Cosco, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said her agency plans to send inspectors to the DuPont plant "early" this week for follow-up investigations.

Gov. Joe Manchin has praised DuPont for its "safety check" and urged the company to quickly correct any problems.

"The safety of plant employees and the surrounding community must always be the No. 1 priority at Belle or any work site," Manchin said. "Our environmental protection and emergency management officials are working cooperatively with DuPont to manage the current situation.

"I believe the voluntary safety check that DuPont officials are taking is a responsible measure and I am hopeful that any potential problems can be identified and resolved."

But just as DuPont began the safety check, Saturday evening, the company reported a "small electrical fire on a pump tank" containing sulfuric acid. The company later said the incident, at about 7:40 p.m., was not actually a fire.

DuPont said an operator conducting an inspection "observed electrical arcing on wiring going to an outdoor light."

"The shift electrician, who is part of our response team, responded to the scene and immediately pulled the breaker at a lighting panel which in turn shut down the power supply to this outdoor light," DuPont said. "The operator pulled the fire alarm as part of our standard protocol when something like this is observed in order to get responders to the scene. At no time was there a fire during this incident."

DuPont is the 17th-largest private employer in West Virginia, with a huge facility outside Parkersburg along with the one in Belle.

The Belle plant once employed more than 5,000 workers, but now has a little more than 400 DuPont workers. The plant makes specialty chemical intermediates, plastic monomers and agricultural chemicals.

On Saturday, Manchin's homeland security director, Jimmy Gianato, said DuPont was "going to basically shut down most of their processes and do a complete review to make sure everything is operating the way it should be."

Menke, the plant manager, said the units where the incidents occurred were already shut down and would stay that way until DuPont figures out what caused the incidents and fixes any problems.

"I'm going to do everything I have to do to make sure that every unit will be operated safely," Menke said. "If I have to shut down units to do that, I will do so as needed."

Carper said he believes such a plant-wide safety review by a Kanawha Valley chemical company is "unprecedented."

The closest thing to it might have occurred in 1984 and 1985, when then-Institute plant owner Union Carbide stopped production of methyl isocyanate for five months following the Bhopal disaster in India.

Reach Ken Ward Jr. at kw...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1702.