A worker at the Mosaic fertilizer plant in Riverview was taken to a hospital early Wednesday after being burned with acid.
According to Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, Robert Pinkston suffered burns over a large percent of his body. He was taken to the burn unit at Tampa General Hospital.
Workers at the plant, located at 8813 U.S. 41, called 911 when the accident happened at 3:30 a.m.
Plant Manager Robert Fredere, Jr. said a 12 foot by 12 foot tank full of phosphoric acid was being prepared for maintenance when Pinkston fell into it.
"The temperature of the phosphoric acid in the process can be about 170 degrees. So he received some pretty significant burns," said Richard Ghent, with Mosaic.
He was immediately pulled out and had the acid washed off as other employees called 911, Fredere said.
"Anytime we have an incident, we do an investigation," Fredere said. "We try and leverage lessons learned and share whatever we find in an investigation with our other facilities.
"It's like a family here and other employees obviously are concerned about his condition."
Pinkston is in critical condition. He is a married father of three and has worked the same job for the last 12 years at Mosaic.
Pinkston’s family didn’t want to talk about the incident on camera and asked for their privacy.