A man was taken to hospital on Monday morning following a chemical incident in Rainham.

Emergency services were called to Hornett Brothers & Co. – which makes additives for industrial lubricants - after reports of a person overcome by hydrogen sulphide.

Fire fighters used emergency decontamination equipment to wash down the man and the building after the call at 10.55am on Monday.

A spokesman for the fire brigade said: “We wouldn’t normally used decontamination equipment on a gas leak, but we did because of the residue that was on the man’s clothing.

“He had also been sick on his clothes.”

An ambulance service spokesman said that a 46-year-old man was taken to Queen’s Hospital as a priority after ‘feeling unwell’.

John Hornett, a director of the company, declined to comment on exactly what happened.

But he told the Recorder: “We did have an incident on site it was contained by our internal procedures, part of which include informing the relevant authorities.

“I can confirm that the gentleman is fine and he was home the same day. I believe he will be back at work soon.”

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) spokesman said that initial enquiries were still taking place to see whether they needed to launch an investigation into the incident.

As well as the ambulance, police and HSE investigator, fire crews from Dagenham, Barking, Romford and Hornchurch attended the scene, and equipment was also brought to the scene from Millwall and Poplar.