Employee Injured in Laboratory Explosion

An employee at a laboratory on Crescent Road in Needham was injured Wednesday afternoon when a chemical reaction caused a small explosion in the building.

Needham Fire Department was called to Microwave Development Laboratories (MDL), 135 Crescent Rd., for the report of an explosion at around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 3. According to the company website, MDL manufactures and assembles components for standard microwaves, such as microwave filters, rotary switches and other parts. The site features a foundry, dip brazing shop and paint shop.

When firefighters arrived at the business, they found that the injured employee had already been taken to the hospital by a co-worker and that other employees had managed to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher, Needham Fire Chief Paul Buckley said.

“They had a small explosion, a small fire, caused by what appears to be the result of mixing two non-compatible chemicals that had a violent reaction,” Buckley said.

The fire chief said he believed the man’s injuries were non-life-threatening.

“I think it was just some burns to his abdomen area where the fire lashed at him,” Buckley said. “We have someone at the hospital now talking to him.”

Needham Police and Fire officials were still on the scene about an hour after the report came in, waiting for a HAZMAT team to arrive to handle the chemical cleanup.

“What we’re doing now is we’re keeping the building empty,” Buckley said at around 3:15 p.m. “The fire’s out. We’re waiting for a hazardous materials team to get here with some technicians that really have the knowledge to analyze what’s going on before we let anyone else go back. We don’t even want our own people going in.”

Initially, officials were concerned because of the building’s proximity to Hillside Elementary School, 28 Glen Gary Rd., which is located across the street and through some trees.

“We didn’t want the kids being let out of school if there was a chance of anything dangerous going on,” Buckley said.

He said the fire was contained to a small area and that fire damage appeared to be minimal.

“Right now the only real damage in the building is probably the smell,” Buckley said. “It could still end being costly for them if they have to have a specialized company come in and remove the chemicals.”

At this point, Buckley said the explosion and resulting fire appeared to have been caused by “human error.”

“They’re very fortunate, the person who got hurt. It doesn’t appear to be life-threatening. And only one person was hurt,” he said. “It definitely seems to have been caused by human error. It looks like they mixed things that shouldn’t have been mixed."