From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (14 articles)
Date: June 22, 2012 8:13:32 AM EDT
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, June 22, 2012 8:13:17 AM

A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

Table of Contents (14 articles)

MAN BEING TREATED IN HOSPITAL FOLLOWING EXPLOSION AT GAS PLANT OUTSIDE CORK CITY
Tags: Ireland, industrial, explosion, injury, gas_cylinders

POOL CHEMICALS CAUSE EXPLOSION AT HOME IN CORNERSBURG
Tags: us_OH, public, explosion, response, pool_chemicals

VAN FILLED WITH CHEMICALS CATCHES FIRE; LOCAL HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS
Tags: us_TX, transportation, fire, response, chlorine

UPDATE: WORKER INHALED CHEMICAL FUMES AT HIGH SCHOOL
Tags: us_NY, education, release, injury, cleaners

900 GALLON CHEMICAL SPILL AT 3M IN MERIDEN WILL TAKE HOURS TO CLEAN
Tags: us_CT, industrial, release, response, methanol

TOXIC CHEMICAL SPILL FORCES NORTHEAST RESIDENTS TO STAY INDOORS
Tags: us_TX, public, release, response, pesticides

OXFORDSHIRE FIRE CREWS TACKLE BANBURY CHEMICAL BLAZE
Tags: United_Kingdom, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

CHEMICALS SPREAD CHAOS AT GARFIELD PARK POOL
Tags: us_IN, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

HAZMAT SPILL IN SCARBOROUGH SENDS 3 TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_ME, industrial, release, injury, acids

TANKER LEAKS FLAMMABLE LIQUID AT RAIL YARD
Tags: us_IN, transportation, release, response, flammables

FIREFIGHTERS WORK TO PREVENT HAIFA CHEMICAL FIRE
Tags: Israel, industrial, release, response, flammables, peroxide

CHEMICAL SPILL FORCES DEKALB SENIOR HOME EVACUATION
Tags: us_GA, public, release, injury, bleach

CHEMICAL SCARE OVER THERMOMETER
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, injury, mercury

EXPLOSION KILLS MAN IN ARVIN, CRITICALLY INJURES ANOTHER
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, death, metals, waste


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MAN BEING TREATED IN HOSPITAL FOLLOWING EXPLOSION AT GAS PLANT OUTSIDE CORK CITY
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/man-being-treated-in-hospital-following-explosion-at-gas-plant-outside-cork-city-3146162.html
Tags: Ireland, industrial, explosion, injury, gas_cylinders

A MAN is being treated in hospital following an explosion at a gas bottling plant on the outskirts of Cork city today.

The man is believed to have suffered minor injuries in the incident, which occurred at Irish Oxygen Company, Waterfall in the western suburbs around 2.20pm.

Four units of the fire service, as well as HSE ambulance personnel are attending the scene.

Three units of the Cork city fire brigade responded to the alarm as well as one unit from Ballincollig, Co. Cork.

The HSA is expected to carry out an investigation.

Irish Oxygen Company Ltd, which was founded in 1949, has two plants in Cork City producing oxygen and nitrogen gases by extraction from air, and acetylene gas chemically.

The gases are used in welding and cutting metal, blanketing and inerting chemical reactions, purging pipelines, laboratory equipment, education and DIY.

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POOL CHEMICALS CAUSE EXPLOSION AT HOME IN CORNERSBURG
http://www.wfmj.com/story/18847174/pool-chemicals-cause-explosion-at-home-in-cornersburg
Tags: us_OH, public, explosion, response, pool_chemicals

AUSTINTOWN, Ohio -
After running errands, Barbara Eck just happened to swing by her Briarwood Lane home in Austintown before heading to work. Within minutes of walking in the door she heard an explosion in the basement. She immediately called 911.

"We had a strong odor of some type of swimming pool chemical and we immediately just started clearing out some of the people around and just cornered the area off and called for hazmat," said Austintown Fire Department Captain Don Conroy.

Once hazmat arrived on scene and set up two team members entered the basement, where Barbara and her son saw smoke coming from a bottle of pool chemicals. For nearly 20 years the family had relied on their airconditioned basement to store their chemicals, but authories says that the sun shining through the basement window overheated the bottle.

"It appears one of the containers got hot due to the sun coming in the window, blew the cap off and got us to where we are now," said Mahoning County Hazmat Team Lt. Adam Noble.

After their sweep of the home, hazmat found no visible damage. Although, the gas did filter throughout the entire home. Crews are relying on fans to clear the odor.

"We've got some windows open down in the basment to try and get the remainder of the odor out. All of the containers themselves that were involved have been packed up and are sitting off to the side outside of the house," said Noble.

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VAN FILLED WITH CHEMICALS CATCHES FIRE; LOCAL HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS
http://www.kwtx.com/home/headlines/Van_Filled_With_Chemicals_Catches_Fire_Local_Hazmat_Team_Responds_159904775.html
Tags: us_TX, transportation, fire, response, chlorine

HALLSBURG (June 21, 2012)--A swimming pool service company van burst into flames Thursday while parked in front of home in Hallsburg and there was some concern that the chemicals it was carrying might be dangerous.

Just after noon Thursday, firefighters from Hallsburg and Elk and a hazardous materials team from the Waco Fire Department were sent to 6688 East Highway 6 where the first crew on the scene reported the van was engulfed in flames.

The pool service technician was able to remove all the chlorine from the truck before the fire got too intense, but after dousing the flames, crews found two bottles of muriatic acid still inside.

The Waco Fire Marshal's office said firefighters tested the area around where the acid was found and determined it to be safe.

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UPDATE: WORKER INHALED CHEMICAL FUMES AT HIGH SCHOOL
http://easthampton.patch.com/articles/hazmat-team-responds-to-high-school
Tags: us_NY, education, release, injury, cleaners

Update, 11:00 a.m.: Fire officials said that a worker at East Hampton High School inhaled some noxious fumes after a small amount of floor stripper and cleaning solutions were inadvertently mixed together in a Dumpster on Thursday morning.

East Hampton Fire Department Chief Thomas Bono said his department was initially called because of smoking coming out of a compacting Dumpster behind the school, at about 9:45 a.m. He called for the hazardous materials team due to the chemical component.

The East Hampton Village Ambulance Association transported the worker, who inhaled the fumes, to Southampton Hospital. "I don't know their condition right now," Bono said after the call, "But I don't think it's life threatening or anything like that."

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900 GALLON CHEMICAL SPILL AT 3M IN MERIDEN WILL TAKE HOURS TO CLEAN
http://www.myrecordjournal.com/meriden/article_f095c214-bbae-11e1-b819-001a4bcf887a.html
Tags: us_CT, industrial, release, response, methanol

MERIDEN - The Meriden Fire Department responded to a methanol spill at 3M Corporation at 400 Research Parkway that is likely to take several hours to clean up.
Assistant Fire Chief Russ Donovan said the department has evacuated the room and where the spill occurred, containing the spill and harmful vapors.
No one was in the room at the time of the spill and there were no injuries, Donovan said. The cause is under investigation.
Methanol is a liquid used to make plastics used to manufacture 3M's water and air filters.

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TOXIC CHEMICAL SPILL FORCES NORTHEAST RESIDENTS TO STAY INDOORS
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/news/local/toxic-chemical-spill-closes-northeast-neighborhood/nPbfQ/
Tags: us_TX, public, release, response, pesticides

EL PASO, Texas Ñ Residents in one Northeast El Paso neighborhood were awakened Wednesday evening by police and firefighters after a chemical spill at a home at Bainbridge Avenue and McCombs Street forced residents to stay indoors, police said.

Fire officials said chemical spills like this one are common this time of year because of the heat.

The spill happened in a backyard shed around 3 p.m. Wednesday but was barely reported overnight, police said.
Fire crews spent about five hours safely removing a chemical from the shed, and throughout Wednesday, people complained of being dizzy, nauseous and vomiting, officials said.

The chemical spill was a highly concentrated form of malathion, a common pesticide that can be bought at any hardware store. The chemical became unstable because of the heat and caused it to eat through the bottom of the container, spilling into the shed, officials said.

The owner said he threw the pesticide out, which caused the odor to spread to the neighbors.
Officials said that people should buy only small quantities of those kinds of products for the job at hand because of these types of issues.

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OXFORDSHIRE FIRE CREWS TACKLE BANBURY CHEMICAL BLAZE
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-18531876
Tags: United_Kingdom, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

Firefighters have tackled a chemical fire at a factory in north Oxfordshire.

The fire service was called to AAC Cyroma Ltd, on the Beaumont Road Industrial Estate in Banbury, at 22:02 BST on Wednesday.

It took crews two hours to bring the blaze. Fifteen people who had been in the building were helped to safety.

Group manager Pete Graham called it a "serious incident". The fire service stayed on site through the night.

Firefighters had to wear protective chemical clothing when entering the premises.

'Chemical issues'
Mr Graham added: "The preplanning carried out by the site's management, and the fire protection measures and procedures in place, ensured the safety of their staff as well as assisting our firefighters in tackling this serious incident.

"The sprinkler system made a significant difference and prevented the fire developing significantly and enabled us to concentrate on dealing with the potential chemical issues."

Rob David, managing director of AAC Cyroma Ltd, said the company was "operational" on Thursday.

He added: "Due to having chemicals on site the incident is different to other fires.

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CHEMICALS SPREAD CHAOS AT GARFIELD PARK POOL
http://www.indystar.com/article/20120621/NEWS/120621039/14-taken-to-hospitals-after-chemical-leak-into-Garfield-Park-pool?odyssey=tab%7Cmostpopular%7Ctext%7CNEWS
Tags: us_IN, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

At the same time Ñ across a pool that features shallow wading areas, two large water slides and a children's playhouse Ñ others were making the same discovery.

Mayhem ensued.

Jamie Rahmany, in the baby pool with her son, noticed kids coughing around her. Patricia Tanner, a mother of three sitting just out of the pool, saw children vomiting. And Shari Patton, a mother with two children at the pool, smelled a sharp odor that was likened to ammonia, or chlorine.

"The lifeguard was running around yelling at everybody: ÔGet out of the pool! Get out of the pool!'?" she said. "I didn't know what was going on."

Patton yanked her kids out of the water and rushed them to a shower room for a rinse. Around her, swimmers were leaving the pool and grabbing shirts, towels, whatever they could to cover their faces and shield them from the smell. Pool staff quickly began giving the children water, with kids drinking from the same cups.

The source of the chaos was what officials described as a toxically out-of-balance mixture of pool chemicals that were pumped into the water around 2 p.m. Thursday. The solution sickened scores and sent more than 80 people Ñ most of them children Ñ to four local hospitals. Most were treated and released within a couple of hours. Some were being kept Thursday evening for observation, but there was no indication that anyone had been seriously harmed.

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HAZMAT SPILL IN SCARBOROUGH SENDS 3 TO HOSPITAL
http://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsArchive/tabid/181/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3483/ItemId/22107/Default.aspx
Tags: us_ME, industrial, release, injury, acids

SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) _ A hazardous chemical spill at an industrial cleaning business in Scarborough has sent three people to the hospital.

Emergency dispatchers say firefighters and ambulance crews from several towns converged on QuantumClean after the spill happened around 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Officials say the three people taken to the hospital are expected to be OK.

Deputy Fire Chief Tony Attardo tells The Portland Press Herald that the workers were doing routine industrial cleaning when a mix of acids and water produced a vapor that made them feel ill. The vapor was contained in one room.

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TANKER LEAKS FLAMMABLE LIQUID AT RAIL YARD
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/31208345/detail.html
Tags: us_IN, transportation, release, response, flammables

AVON, Ind. -- Hazmat crews were at the scene of a chemical spill at the CSX rail yard in Avon early Wednesday.
Fire officials said a fuel tanker was found to be leaking isobutylene, a highly flammable liquid, as it was getting ready to go out onto the tracks.
There had been no evacuations, but crews were monitoring the air before beginning cleanup.
WIBC reported that a bad valve on a tanker caused the leak.
Watch RTV

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FIREFIGHTERS WORK TO PREVENT HAIFA CHEMICAL FIRE
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/157091#.T-MKlhdYsU0
Tags: Israel, industrial, release, response, flammables, peroxide

A dozen firefighting crews worked for long hours Thursday morning to prevent what could have been a major chemical fire, after dangerous materials were found leaking from containers in Haifa Bay. To prevent the peroxide-based chemical from enflaming, firefighters cooled the material down, and diluted it.

The incident occurred at about 7 AM Thursday. Some 100 tons of the peroxide-based substance leaked into an organic compound, setting off a chemical reaction that created a highly flammable substance. The temperature of the material rose quickly to a very high level, raising fears of an explosion or fire.
Officials said that such an explosion would definitely had occurred if the material was heated to a level of 40 degrees Celsius (about 120 degrees Fahrenheit). Dozens of experts from firefighting and other rescue services were dispatched to the site of the incident. Other firefighters were sent to protect oil refineries in the area.

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CHEMICAL SPILL FORCES DEKALB SENIOR HOME EVACUATION
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/chemical-exposure-forces-dekalb-nursing-home-evacu/nPZ55/
Tags: us_GA, public, release, injury, bleach

DUNWOODY, Ga. Ñ
A chemical spill forced several seniors out of an assisted living facility Wednesday afternoon.
A local fire department said Summer's Landing Tilly Mill, at the corner of Tilly Mill Road and North Peachtree Road in Dunwoody, was evacuated as a precaution just before noon.
Fire officials told Channel 2's Manuel Bojorquez that someone smelled a bleach-like odor coming from the first-floor bathroom being cleaned.
Thirty people were then evacuated outside and taken to a nearby church to avoid the heat.
Two employees were transported to a hospital after complaints of nausea. One has since been released and the other is being held for observation.

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CHEMICAL SCARE OVER THERMOMETER
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/7139682/Chemical-scare-over-thermometer
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, injury, mercury

Fire crews had to don full chemical suits and breathing apparatus to clean up a mercury spill in the city after a child bit the end off a thermometer.

Albany station officer Graham Haycock said his crew were called to a house on Sunset Rd last week.

The young girl's mother had taken her to hospital when the incident happened and called in the fire crew to check for spilt mercury the next morning.

Luckily, Haycock said the child spat the mercury onto the floor rather than swallowing it.

"I'm led to believe if a child swallows mercury it goes straight through them," he said.

When heated, mercury can evaporate rapidly causing it to go into the air as mercury vapour which is dangerous to inhale.

If it gets on the carpet the worst thing to do is try to vacuum it up, he said.

Fire crews used a machine to test for atomised mercury which was found in a contaminated area of carpet and cut away.

Haycock said people should always call 111 if they're worried about a chemical spill, such as mercury, and seek medical advice immediately.

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EXPLOSION KILLS MAN IN ARVIN, CRITICALLY INJURES ANOTHER
http://www.kget.com/news/local/story/Explosion-kills-man-in-Arvin-critically-injures/3yVH2V-x8EKxxWzhrsuYTg.cspx
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, death, metals, waste

One man is dead and another is critically injured after an oil tank exploded in Arvin. It happened around 9:00 a.m. Tuesday in a field behind the 300 block of Campus Drive. Firefighters say there were two men using a torch to cut up pipe when the torch came in contact with an explosive atmosphere in the pipe.

The explosion caused a 16,000 gallon oil tank to fly 79 feet through the air. "I saw the tank in the air and there was a lot of smoke and a loud boom," said Kayleen Solorio, who witnessed the blast.

The blast was so intense it shook the ground and people working nearby thought there had been an earthquake. The explosion left 24-year-old Cesar Martinez dead and another man severely injured. The two were working for Sky Brand Services. The Bakersfield company specializes in scrap metal cleanup.

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