5 Workers Sue County Over Chemical Exposure

Five Orange County sanitation workers filed suit Wednesday claiming they contracted hepatitis and respiratory diseases as a result of exposure to toxic chemicals at a county sewage treatment facility in Fountain Valley.

The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, was filed against the Orange County Sanitation Districts, Fountain Valley, Orange County and the State of California.

The employees, who process sludge at the plant, were exposed to toxic mixtures containing hydrofluoric acid, sulfuric acid and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether during a three-month period in 1987, according to the suit. The workers were diagnosed in December as having contracted chemical asthma, chemical bronchitis and hepatitis as a result of the chemical exposure, the suit charges.

The employees, Michael Lorey, Manuel Riveramelo, Frank R. Walton, Robert Saucedo and Jeffrey Lynn Jones, charge that the county was negligent in maintaining the site at 10844 Ellis Ave. and in failing to warn them that the chemicals could be hazardous. In addition, the suit states, the county should have required the workers to wear protective clothing when handling containers in which the chemicals were stored.

County officials could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.