Hanover Park beauty school believes chemical fumes made students sick

A Hanover Park beauty school will be taking more safety measures after nine students were transported to area hospitals Wednesday, a beauty school spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The Hanover Park Fire Department was called to Empire Beauty School, 1166 Lake St., at about 2:30 p.m. for a report of possible carbon monoxide fumes after students became ill.

The department determined that carbon monoxide was not the reason why students got sick, said Maureen Pinchock, public relations manager for Pennsylvania-based Empire Education Group.

Although it's still under investigation, the most likely cause was poor ventilation coupled with nail or hair spray chemicals, which the students inhaled, she said.

The classroom had no windows and the door was closed when the incident happened, she said.

The students were taken to the hospital as a precaution and all are now doing fine, she said.