The manager of a dry-cleaning company at the centre of a chemical leak today said measures were in place to ensure it will not happen again.

All 80 workers at County Linen in Springfield Road, Chelmsford, were evacuated and more than 20 were treated at Broomfield Hospital's accident and emergency department after six to ten litres of the cleaning chemical perchloroethylene leaked out on Friday.

Police cordoned off the road for more than two hours which caused chaos as shoppers tried to make their way into town. Two fire engines went to the scene.

A spokesperson for Chelmsford fire station said: "Firefighters donned chemical protection suits and cleaned up the area following basic chemical spillage procedures."

Broomfield Hospital was on alert as nurses waited for the company's staff to be brought in. They treated 21 people suffering the effects of breathing in the chemical - an agent used in dry cleaning.

The workers were treated for nausea, headaches and dizziness and kept under observation for an hour. None of the patients were admitted into the hospital.

Production manager for County Linen John Moore said: "The equipment had not been cleaned out properly the night before and the chemical overflowed on to the floor.

"We cleaned it up and sent four of our people to hospital to be checked and later another 15 decided they wanted to be checked as well.

"It was an operator error and all that we can say is that we'll make sure it won't happen again."

Fire crews dealt with a chemical spillage in a Stansted Airport warehouse on Saturday afternoon after hypochlorite leaked from packaging.

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