Cape Mail was evacuated on Friday morning after workers became ill and emergency calls were made to report a possible gass leak, the Cape Town disaster risk management centre said.
“Reports were received of persons that overcome by an alleged smell of gas and resulted in vomiting,” said centre spokesman Wilfred Solomons-Johannes.
He said in a statement that city activated the necessary emergency response agencies to the incident in order to establish the source of the smell and to administer medical treatment.
The HazMat teams from the fire and rescue services established the smell was caused by broken ink cartridges and other items that were undelivered and not collected, and returned to Cape Mail, he said.
The fire and rescue, disaster risk management centre, Metro EMS, SAPS, Netcare, ER24, and Discovery Life were present at the scene.
Solomons-Johannes said the ambulance crews treated patients on-site for respiratory problems.
Two male adults and five females were transported to the N1 City Hospital for observation because they inhaled some of the vapours.
“The occupants (workers) were evacuated to safety and been kept at the assembly area. The fire and rescue services ventilated the building to eliminate the smell from the building.”
Annette Naude, the city's specialised head of solid waste disposal,
inspected the items and confirmed that it did not further and concluded that the area was no longer dangerous as the items were removed from the building to a secure area.
She implemented the necessary arrangements for the items be transported to the Vissershok Landfill site where it would be disposed of in the correct disposal procedures.
Solomons-Johannes declared the area safe at noon and access to the building was allowed.
He said the city's disaster risk management centre would review the emergency plan and procedures for the Cape Mail distribution centre following the incident.
“The procedures with dealing with suspicious packages and unidentified objects, and items will also be reviewed, and including the handling of hazardous material that might be dangerous.”
Cape Mail is a division of the South African Post Office and is responsible for the distribution of postal articles.
The distribution centre sorts mail to various post offices in the Western Cape and services 4,3 million people and 236 post offices.
The department of labour would investigate the incident. - Sapa