Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Editor’s note: Martha Kavanagh is head of corporate communications for Glanbia, the company that owns Southwest Cheese. She responded via email on Tuesday afternoon to questions from The News regarding Monday’s chemical spill that left 15 SW Cheese employees hospitalized.
Q: What kind of process was being performed when the incident took place? Was it part of the cheese-making process? A sterilization procedure? What happens in the CIP room?
Kavanagh: The CIP (clean in place) room is a collection of tanks that contain chemicals used to clean large plant equipment. Chemicals are circulated to and from the room to wash dedicated equipment in production areas.
Q: You said in a news release that a mechanical failure led to the chemical overflow. Can you be more specific?
Kavanagh: Our initial assessment is that a mechanical failure led to a tank overflow. We are conducting a full root cause analysis of the incident.
Q: Has the mechanical failure happened before in Clovis? If so, when was the last time?
Kavanagh: No, this issue has not occurred before.
Q: You said the area was cleared to return to production by late morning Monday, but when did it return to production? Or has it?
Kavanagh: The area returned to production by late (Monday) morning.
Q: How many people work in the immediate area where the mechanical failure took place? Was everyone in the area impacted? Was anyone outside that immediate area ever in danger?
Kavanagh: The affected area of the plant is adjacent to the main production area. Over 200 employees were onsite (Monday) morning with 24 people impacted by the incident. The team and emergency services acted swiftly to contain the incident.
Q: Does SW Cheese regularly have any medical personnel on site in Clovis? If so, how many and what are their specialties?
Kavanagh: Yes, we have a full-time nurse on site who assessed employees initially and who liaised with emergency services.
Q: What happens next? Will state and/or federal environment or safety officials make a report about what happened? When might their investigation be completed?
Kavanagh: The incident has been notified to relevant authorities including OSHA. We will work closely with the authorities from here.
Q: When was the last time a SW Cheese associate was injured on the job and what happened? How many, if any, SWC associates had been treated for workplace injuries during 2024 prior to today?
Kavanagh: SWC is committed to maintaining the highest standards of health and safety. We prioritize a culture of safety and our goal is zero harm. We maintain the highest possible global safety standards and use a range of metrics to measure this. This week’s incident is the most serious we have had at the plant this year.
