Chemical spill at hospital lab leads to evacuation

A chemical spill at a hospital lab in Australia led to dozens of people having to be evacuated from the facility.

Workers on the sixth floor of the Harold Stokes building at the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg had to leave the building as a result of emergency procedures due to a formaldehyde leak in a pathology lab.

Hospital spokeswoman Taryn Sheehy stated there were no injuries and no people were affected by the fumes of the chemical, which is a highly toxic gas capable of causing death if it is inhaled in large quantities, reports the Age.

"It wasn't a serious breach ... essentially it's an incident we have dealt with," she said, while 15 firefighters took almost 45 minutes to bring the spillage under control at the facility.

The Austin Hospital was reopened in 2005 after a major regeneration project at the location, with the facility housing one of the state's largest adult emergency units.