The source of the fumes was identified as a xylene-rich glue used to seal flooring in the liquor outlet on Tuesday night.

The Catchment Management Authority, which is the largest employer in the business centre, advised its staff of around 40 to leave after many workers reported red, watering eyes and dry throats.

Kothe’s Chartered Accountants, public services, contractors and a dental clinic were similarly affected.

None of them received notification from Dan Murphy’s or the Sapphire Marketplace’s management that the floor was being laid or to expect any disruption.

The CMA’s acting office manager, Graham Scott, said the actual impact was “severe”.

“The odour got right into the eyes and the throat, so while we didn’t order a full evacuation, we did advise our staff to work from home or out in the field,” Mr Scott said.

WorkCover has assessed the site and held interviews with Sapphire Marketplace management and the Dan Murphy’s site manager.

The findings of this assessment are unclear, but the BDN obtained a Material Safety Data Sheet on the glue used – Rokite PR.

Although classified as non-toxic, the 50-70 per cent xylene product is identified as a lung and eye irritant, which comes with a number of strict usage guidelines, including to “prevent release of vapours and mists into workplace air”.

Mr Scott said this latest disruption followed many months of high-level noise caused by the building of the Sapphire Marketplace, as well as dust and power issues.

“Some of it can’t be helped, but management’s communication has been up and down,” he said.

“We would just hope that next time we would be notified if something like this is going on.”

Sapphire Marketplace manager Richard Watkins said this would certainly be the case and apologised to tenants for the inconvenience.