![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_Port-Sunlight-Unilever-evacuation.jpg\")
The Unilever factory in Port Sunlight (Image: Liverpool ECHO)<\/p>\nHealth and Safety Executive launches investigation as business confirms incidentThe Unilever factory in Port Sunlight (Image: Liverpool ECHO)<\/p>\n
An investigation has been launched after two workers at a famous Merseyside industrial site <\/a>were hospitalised after a vapour cloud was unexpectedly released while they were unloading items from a delivery. Sources suggest the two men suffered burns to their throats after inhaling the chemical.<\/p>\n The Health and Safety Executive has confirmed to the ECHO it has been notified about the incident at Unilever’s factory in Port Sunlight<\/a> in Wirral<\/a> on September 3. The government agency is now investigating the circumstances of what happened.<\/p>\n Sources informed the ECHO of the incident, suggesting it came about because of the release of caustic soda on the site – which is used for a range of industrial uses. The two injured employees are said to have inhaled the substance and burnt their lungs, with the source suggesting the two men remain off work.<\/p>\n We put these claims to Unilever which confirmed such an incident had taken place and did not dispute the details above.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Unilever said: “We can confirm that a safety incident occurred at our Port Sunlight factory site earlier in September where, during unloading of an ingredient delivered to site by lorry, a small vapour cloud was unexpectedly released in the unloading area, which then quickly dispersed.<\/p>\n \u201cTwo employees working nearby received appropriate first aid checks on-site and, as a precaution, were taken to hospital and kept under observation for 24 hours. We remain in close contact with them and are committed to providing the necessary support.<\/p>\n The statement added: \u201cThe safety of our employees is our top priority, and a thorough investigation is ongoing with full support of the Health & Safety Executive and both internal and external safety experts.<\/p>\n “Our processes and procedures are being reviewed in detail, and we will be ensuring that any necessary steps are taken to prevent this from occurring in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Health and Safety Executive said: \u201cWe have been notified about the incident and are in the process of investigating.”<\/p>\n Unilever’s Wirral plant is the historic home of the global company, which now employs an international workforce of 127,000 people.<\/p>\n William Lever opened what was his first soap factory in Port Sunlight back in 1888, with the model village surrounding it built to house the workers.<\/p>\n Unilever was officially formed in 1929 and in 1951 the Port Sunlight site became its main research laboratory.<\/p>\n The multinational company is now headquartered in London, but retains a strong presence in Wirral which is set to get stronger.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, Unilever announced major plans to build a new fragrance facility in the area.<\/p>\n This will include a fragrance research and innovation lab, a compounding facility where new fragrances will be blended and developed, and evaluation suites where products will be tested to assess performance and preference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health and Safety Executive launches investigation as business confirms incidentThe Unilever factory in Port Sunlight (Image: Liverpool ECHO)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,16,15,8881],"class_list":{"0":"post-500526","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-wirral"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115376228660163930","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/0_UnileverPort-SunlightWirralPic-Andrew-Teebay.jpg\")
The model village of Port Sunlight sprung up around William Lever’s Unilever factory(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n