Georgia Clorox plant makes production safer

By Jeffry Scott

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 The Clorox Co.'s production plant in Forest Park will change the way it makes household bleach "some time next year," plant manager Kelvin Hill said Monday, as part of a company-wide effort to make bleach manufacturing safer.

The Oakland, Calif-based company said it eventually will stop  shipping chlorine gas in railroad tanker cars to its seven U.S. bleach plants, including Forest Park, which has been operating since 1967.

Instead, chemicals will now be be shipped to the plants by truck, and those chemicals will be combined to make household bleach, which will then be shipped to stores. That will eliminate the danger of toxic, potentially deadly, chlorine leaks from the 90-ton tanker cars.

Clorox said it will begin the changes at its Fairfield, Calif. plant, and that will about six months. The company said the changes won't affect the size of its work force. Hill would not say how many people are employed at the Forest Park plant.