From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (10 articles)
Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2014 07:31:16 -0400
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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, September 5, 2014 at 7:31:05 AM

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

Table of Contents (10 articles)

CHEMICAL SPILL SENDS FOUR TO HOSPITAL
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

MASSIVE FIRE DESTROYS FERTILIZER PLANT IN STERLING
Tags: us_CO, industrial, fire, response, ammonia

BRISBANE BUSINESS EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: Australia, public, release, injury, solvent

CHEMICAL LEAK AT JOHN DEERE SENDS ONE TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_IA, transportation, release, injury, other_chemical

EMPLOYEE ERROR BLAMED IN RENO MUSEUM FLASH FIRE
Tags: us_NV, public, follow-up, injury

PROPANE TANK FLIPS CAUSING HAZARDOUS MATERIAL SPILL
Tags: us_AL, transportation, release, response, propane

HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL SPILL ON MAX BROSE DRIVE
Tags: Canada, transportation, release, injury, unknown_chemical

THIRTEEN PEOPLE HURT IN CHEMICAL EXPLOSION AT NEVADA MUSEUM
Tags: us_NV, public, explosion, injury, other_chemical

DREXEL DORM EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: us_PA, education, release, response, freon

US GOVERNMENT LABS PLAN BIOHAZARD-SAFETY SWEEP
Tags: laboratory, follow-up, response


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CHEMICAL SPILL SENDS FOUR TO HOSPITAL
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

Four people are in hospital as a precaution following a chemical spill at a south London industrial park.

Fire officials say two chemicals mixed when a worker punctured drums in the back of a trailer. A total of four employees were exposed to the chemicals, decontaminated at the scene, and then transported to hospital just after 9am this morning.

The Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Labour are both on site on Max Brose Dr. An outside clean-up crew has been called in by the company.

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MASSIVE FIRE DESTROYS FERTILIZER PLANT IN STERLING
Tags: us_CO, industrial, fire, response, ammonia

STERLING, Colo. (CBS4) ? Investigators have determined that a massive fire at a fertilizer plant in Sterling was started by a welding accident.
The Sterling Fire Department got a call from workers inside the Kugler Company fertilizer plant located at 20313 Riverside about the fire at approximately 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Ten workers inside the plant at the time of the fire all were able to get out safely. They were able to get liquid fertilizer chemical tanks shut off before they could burn so it wasn?t as much a chemical fire.
During the fire a small amount of anhydrous ammonia leaked out of pipes, prompting a reverse 911 call to about 200 households on the northeast side of town. The chemical has a strong odor and could be a harmful for people with respiratory problems. So far there haven?t been any reports of anyone getting sick.

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BRISBANE BUSINESS EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: Australia, public, release, injury, solvent

Firefighters have declared an office block in Brisbane's Technology Park safe following a chemical leak on Thursday morning.

A business on Brandl Street, Eight Mile Plains, was evacuated after several 20-litre plastic drums containing chemical solvents began releasing a strong odour about 9.15am.

More than 100 workers were ordered to leave the building.

Eight workers were treated by ambulance crews at the scene for shortness of breath and dizziness, but none required hospital treatment.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL LEAK AT JOHN DEERE SENDS ONE TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_IA, transportation, release, injury, other_chemical

OTTUMWA ? Numerous emergency vehicles were parked inside the John Deere Ottumwa Works Plant gates, Thursday afternoon. At approximately 4:23 p.m., the Ottumwa Fire Department responded to a report of a possible chemical spill inside the plant.

Two HazMat (hazardous material) trucks, a fire engine and an ambulance all responded to the call.

The Post spoke with Assistant Fire Chief Mike Craff to find out more. According to Craff, an isocyanate solution leaked; hurting one employee.

?One person came in contact with the chemical and he was taken to Ottumwa Regional for the treatment of non-life threatening injuries,? said Craff.

The leak was minor and was successfully contained. The fire department left the John Deere plant at approximately 5:46 p.m.

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EMPLOYEE ERROR BLAMED IN RENO MUSEUM FLASH FIRE
Tags: us_NV, public, follow-up, injury

RENO, Nev. (AP) ? A flash fire that injured 13 people, mainly children, at a Nevada science museum happened when an employee applied the chemicals in the wrong order during a tabletop demonstration about the mechanics of tornadoes, officials said Thursday.

Reno firefighters said a three- to five-second blaze erupted Wednesday at the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum after the presenter poured alcohol on a cotton ball that had been dusted with boric acid and partially ignited. The alcohol is supposed to be applied before the boric acid and the flame.

"It was a simple oversight by the presenter," Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said in a statement. "Our prevention staff will be meeting with museum staff to review demonstration and safety procedures and make appropriate recommendations as necessary."

The Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident, spokeswoman Teri Williams said.

Eight children and one adult were transported to a Reno hospital for minor burns or smoke inhalation, Reno spokesman Matthew Brown said. One child was hospitalized overnight, but all patients had been released by Thursday afternoon, according to officials at Renown Regional Medical Center.

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PROPANE TANK FLIPS CAUSING HAZARDOUS MATERIAL SPILL
Tags: us_AL, transportation, release, response, propane

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) ? A hazardous material spill caught the attention of Mobile Fire-Rescue on Wednesday.

The spill took place on the west I-65 service road after a propane tank flipped onto its top. The accident took place near Briggs Equipment on the beltline.

According to Steve Huffman of Mobile Fire-Rescue, the brakes failed on the truck transporting the propane.

Because the tanked rolled onto its top, reponders were forced to wait until all the contents vent out of the tank. Air quality checks were performed and no immediate threats or injuries were reported.

---------------------------------------------

HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL SPILL ON MAX BROSE DRIVE
Tags: Canada, transportation, release, injury, unknown_chemical

Four people had to be decontaminated after a chemical spill at a business on Max Brose Drive, Wednesday morning.

Platoon Chief Jim Holmes told reporters at the scene that the Ministry of the Environment contacted them around 9:15 a.m. with information about a spill. An employee from a neighbouring company said the impacted business is called UTi Integrated Logistics. Holmes said it?s a shipping and storage firm.

When crews arrived on scene, Holmes said all of the employees were already out of the building, but four people reported being exposed to the chemicals. They were hosed down by the HazMat team as a part of the decontamination process, treated by Middlesex-London EMS and then transported by them to hospital as a precautionary measure.

Holmes also explained what lead to the spill saying an employee punctured two chemical drums while offloading them from a semi-trailer.

?The chemicals separately weren?t too much of an issue, but when combined we had concerns with that. They did combine so we did what we could to mitigate the situation,? Holmes said.

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THIRTEEN PEOPLE HURT IN CHEMICAL EXPLOSION AT NEVADA MUSEUM
Tags: us_NV, public, explosion, injury, other_chemical

(Reuters) - Thirteen people were hurt, including several children, in a chemical explosion on Wednesday at a museum in Reno, Nevada, where presenters demonstrating a so-called smoke tornado caused the blast with a faulty mixture, officials said.

Seven children and two adults with non-life threatening injuries were transported to a local hospital, and another four people were treated and released at the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum in Reno where the explosion occurred, said Reno police spokesman Tim Broadway.

The people who were hospitalized had suffered burn injuries, said Matthew Brown, a spokesman for the city of Reno.

Presenters at the museum were trying to create a "smoke tornado" in a visual demonstration they had done before when a faulty mixture of alcohol and boric acid caused the blast, Brown said.

The museum is aimed mainly at children and offers interactive exhibits in geology, astronomy, history and other subjects.

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DREXEL DORM EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: us_PA, education, release, response, freon

A Drexel University dormitory was evacuated Wednesday morning after authorities detected a chemical leak.

The Philadelphia Fire Department responded to the hazmat situation at Millennium Hall on the 200 block of North 34th Street in the University City section of Philadelphia around 8:30 a.m.

The chemical causing concern was freon, according to school officials. The scene was placed under control by authorities by 9 a.m.

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US GOVERNMENT LABS PLAN BIOHAZARD-SAFETY SWEEP
Tags: laboratory, follow-up, response

The discovery of smallpox in a refrigerator at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, on 9 July has apparently sparked some soul searching in the US government. On 27 August, the NIH designated September as National Biosafety Stewardship Month, encouraging researchers to take inventory of their freezers for potentially dangerous agents such as pathogens and toxins, and review their biosafety protocols. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) did the same in a memo released to the public on 28 August, suggesting ?a government-wide ?safety stand-down,?? and ?strongly urging? both federal agencies and independent labs to complete these steps within the month.

Although the OSTP does not have the regulatory power to enforce inspections, documents obtained exclusively by Nature show that some government agencies are already starting strict surveillance of their labs. In July, the NIH began scouring its own facilities for any misplaced hazards. Its rigorous strategy, obtained through public-records request, requires laboratories at all of its campuses ? whether they work with infectious diseases or not ? to survey their vials and boxes for potentially dangerous pathogens, venoms, toxins and other agents. The scientific directors of each NIH institute have until 30 September to submit affidavits confirming that this has been completed by the laboratories in their institutes.

The protocols for this comprehensive sweep describe steps that the laboratory directors must take ?including, but not limited to: a) randomly choosing several containers in the inventoried repository and confirming that their contents are as expected; b) if feasible, visually inspecting the contents of a substantial number of containers in the repository to be sure they hold vials of the expected type.? Anything unlabelled must be thrown away, and labs are instructed to pay specific attention not only to pathogens, but also to other hazardous materials such as poisons, venoms and explosive materials.

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