Wife Says Husband Stayed To Help Fellow Worker

Channel 5, Cincinnati

CINCINNATI -- A man who was injured in a chemical plant accident died over the weekend.

William Cromer had been an employee at Rohm and Haas Chemicals LLC for nearly 30 years. He was hurt when fumes believed to be hydrogen sulfide leaked out of a piece of machinery on Wednesday morning, and the plant manager said Cromer never came out of a coma.

His wife said that Cromer stayed behind to help another worker.

"Then my husband tried to help him out ... He had to crawl under because he'd become wedged between 2 pipes. Smelling those chemicals all those minutes, he passed out," Wanda Cromer said.

That worker, Richard "Dicky" Clark, was released from University Hospital on Saturday night.

Eleven workers were taken to hospitals for exposure to the fumes, though nine were treated and immediately released.

The plant manager said the company is still trying to figure out the cause of the leak, and the section of the plant where it occured remains closed.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is also conducting its own investigation in the accident. OSHA has investigated Rohm and Haas only once in the past, after a worker complained he didn't have access to air quality records at the plant. The company said it's since taken care of the problem.