Links to details available at
us_ok: Fatal oil site explosion sparked by
cigarette
Oklahoma - WELEETKA, Okla. (AP) - Okfuskee County
authorities say an April 14 oil tank explosion that killed a Weleetka
man was sparked by a lit cigarette. Twenty-one-year-old Zachary Pangle
died Friday at a Tulsa hospital from what the state medical examiner
described as "thermal injuries. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board is
investigating the blast and will hold a news conference on Friday.
Undersheriff Darrell Summers says investigators determined about a
half-dozen people had gathered for a pasture party on private property.
Pangle and 25-year-old Jonathan Pruitt ventured over to the nearby oil
tank battery and climbed on a walkway. Summers says Pangle was smoking
and opened a hatch on one of the tanks. Pruitt suffered burns on his
arms. Summers says the area was marked clearly with warning signs and
that partygoers were trespassing. --- Information from: The Oklahoman,
http://www.newsok.com
us_ny: Chemical leaks at Eastman Business Park - RocNow.com
Workers
were offloading a delivery of ammonium hydroxide to Champion
Photochemistry when the driver noticed that a small amount of the
product was leaking from a valve into a catch basin, according to a news
release from the Rochester Fire Department.
The Kodak
Park Fire Department investigated and requested a hazardous materials
response from the Rochester department.
Ammonium
hydroxide is a corrosive material and is considered a health hazard.
Because the total amount of chemical in the tanks was 5,700 gallons, the
event was upgraded to a Level 1 incident, according to the
release.
The Champion Photochemistry building was evacuated,
and crews were able to successfully disconnect the hoses without any
further spill, according to the release.
The total
amount of product released was approximately one quart, which the Kodak
Park department successfully cleaned up, according to the
release.
us_wa: UW chemistry building evacuated,
Haz-Mat team called
The
University of Washington chemistry building was evacuated early Thursday
afternoon after students felt ill from vapors.
The Seattle Fire Department haz-mat crew was called
about 1 p.m. to the 3700 block of Okanogan Lane
Northeast.
"There was no spill or leak, but there
were three people exposed," department spokesman Helen Fitzpatrick
said.
No students were being taken to hospitals, according
to fire officials.
Fitzpatrick said the three students were alert shortly
after the incident.
The incident sent dozens of students wearing white lab
coats into the street.
Fire crews at the scene said the incident involved
bromine, a liquid that can be volatile at room temperature. Bromine
vapors are toxic.
Canada: Chemical Safety: Trimethylsilylacetylene
Explosion
We would like to report an explosion that occurred in
our laboratory last year while performing an oxidative coupling of
trimethylsilylacetylene (TMSA) in a Glaser-Hay reaction. The explosion
ruptured the 2-L reaction flask and seriously injured a
researcher.
This reaction has been routinely used in our and many
other laboratories to prepare 1,4-bis(trimethylsilyl)butadiyne-1,3 on a
large scale (>100 g), and no dangerous or unusual behavior was
previously noted.
The procedure involves purging oxygen through a
solution of TMSA in acetone in the presence of a copper(I)
chloride:tetramethylethylenediamine complex catalyst at room temperature
as described by Andrew B. Holmes et al. (Org. Syntheses 1993, Coll. Vol.
8, 63).
