COVID-19 cleaning product use led to incident at New Balance Factory in Skowhegan

SKOWHEGAN, Maine (WABI) -

Employees are back to work at the New Balance facility in Skowhegan, and the company says they’ve identified what led to the hazmat incident that happened there last week.

New Balance officials say the building reopened Thursday morning, it was closed for a week.

On October 22, six people were taken to the hospital after having trouble breathing and burning eyes while on the job.

After investigating officials say that a COVID-19 cleaning product came into contact with certain equipment, causing an adverse reaction for a large group.

70 people were decontaminated on site in hazmat tents.

The company says that product has been removed from all factories.

“New Balance Skowhegan safely reopened today following a comprehensive investigation into the cause of last week’s incident. In cooperation with third party experts, we have identified that a COVID-19 cleaning product came into contact with certain equipment causing an adverse reaction. The product has been removed from all factories. We are confident in the extensive measures we have taken to confirm the safety of our operations and have updated our associates on our findings. We are grateful for our associates’ patience and support during this process.”

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