A Red Robin in Massachusetts was evacuated on Tuesday after cleaning agents caused a chemical reaction in the restaurants’s kitchen. No one was injured but at least three employees were taken to the hospital as a precaution.
The incident happened around 4:30 p.m. at the Washington Street location in Woburn, after an employee mixed two chemicals, authorities said, reported Boston 10.
A spokesperson for the restaurant said the manager on duty safely evacuated everyone from the building and called 911.
Authorities said they are still trying to determine what cleaning agents were mixed together. “All I do know is that it was a cleaning agent. We don’t have specifics on what particular cleaning agent it was,” Woburn Fire Chief Stephen Adgate said, reported WBZ4.
The employees were all released from the hospital and the restaurant reopened on Thursday after an inspection from the Health Department, according to the broadcaster.
The incident happened less than two weeks after one person died and 10 others were sent to a hospital after being exposed to a cleaning chemical at a Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in nearby Burlington.
Authorities believe the victim, who was an employee at the restaurant, was exposed to a cleaning agent called “Super 8,” a sodium hypochlorite solution, reported USA Today.
“The circumstances almost seem identical to an incident that happened in a neighboring community, so we take it very seriously,” Adgate said.
“When that initial call came in, it created great concern because there’s no doubt that the most recent incident in Burlington heightened our awareness.” he said, the Boston Herald reported. “Fortunately, this wasn’t as serious as the one there.”
“Why did it happen within two weeks? I don’t know, you’re asking the wrong guy,” said Adgate, according to Boston 10. “But what I do think is that it requires a little bit more attention paid to certain chemicals that are on-site.”
