It is reported that an illegal dumping incident of chemical waste occurred in Shunwang Subdistrict, Zhucheng City, Shandong Province on January 31, claiming the lives of four poisoned people. Persons held accountable have been taken into police custody. The accident was caused by hazardous waste transported from other regions being dumped into sewage pipelines. Toxic gases volatilized and escaped from the pipelines and resulted in human poisoning. Despite all-out emergency treatment, four poisoned victims died, while other patients showing poisoning symptoms are out of life-threatening condition and under medical observation in hospital. Initial assessment by the medical team confirmed hydrogen sulfide, an extremely toxic chemical, as the toxicant. Once hydrogen sulfide accumulates to a certain concentration, even short-term inhalation can inflict severe damage on the human body; two medical staff developed mild poisoning symptoms while rescuing affected villagers.

According to briefings, on-site removal and decontamination of hazardous chemical waste have been completed. Rainwater drainage pipelines along roads around the accident site have been fully cleaned; all chemical waste, storage tanks and contaminated soil inside the involved abandoned factory premises have been transported away. Following assessments by experts from Shandong Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment and repeated inspections with professional monitoring equipment, all ambient air indicators in the affected area have returned to normal levels. Hydrogen sulfide is an acutely lethal toxic gas under normal temperature and pressure. Low-concentration hydrogen sulfide irritates the eyes, respiratory system and nerves, and inhalation of a small amount of high-concentration hydrogen sulfide can cause sudden death within a short period.

Shenzhen Wuliang Sensor Technology Co., Ltd. supplies industrial-grade electrochemical gas sensors manufactured by Britain’s DDS, covering toxic gases including O₂, CO, H₂S, H₂, NO, NO₂, NH₃, Cl₂, SO₂ and ETO, which are widely used in coal mining, petroleum, chemical engineering, iron and steel production, municipal engineering and other sectors.

GS+4H₂S Hydrogen Sulfide Sensor

The chemical industry features abundant toxic and hazardous gases with extremely high safety risks. Harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and nitrogen oxides, alongside toxic organic vapors including benzene, aldehydes and ketones, are generated during production processes, posing threats to on-site staff safety and environmental protection. Therefore, chemical manufacturers must prioritize preventing accidental incidents, curb leakage, overflow and spillage of raw materials and waste, and implement effective waste gas recovery and comprehensive resource utilization. For production environments in the chemical sector, industrial environmental monitoring systems are recommended. By installing flammable and toxic gas detectors plus alarm devices, real-time monitoring of various gas concentrations and environmental parameters at chemical production premises can be realized.