Check out Safety Emporium for your N95, N99, and face shield needs.
From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (13 articles)
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2015 07:55:38 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 9ADCCB36-5153-49BE-8048-F752AA37BC77**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, April 17, 2015 at 7:55:17 AM
A membership benefit 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 (13 articles)
SMALL EXPLOSION FORCES EVACUATION OF U. CHEMISTRY BUILDING
Tags: us_UT, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
WEST TEXAS EXPLOSION ANNIVERSARY STILL HARD ON SURVIVORS
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, environmental, ag_chems
TEXAS CITY REMEMBERS HISTORY'S DEADLIEST INDUSTRIAL DISASTER
Tags: us_TX, transportation, follow-up, response, ammonium_nitrate
PETROCHEMICAL PLANT EXPLOSION VAPORIZES GOVERNMENT SAFETY ASSURANCES
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, injury, petroleum
ONE DEAD, ONE SERIOUSLY HURT IN TARPON SPRINGS PLANT EXPLOSION
Tags: us_FL, industrial, explosion, death, hydrogen
CHEMICAL SPILL CAUSES EVACUATION AT HEALTH CENTER OF BLOOMINGDALE
Tags: us_NJ, public, release, injury, bleach, cleaners
FIRE FIGHTERS IN HAZMAT SUITS CALLED TO TRINITY COLLEGE AFTER ACID SPILL
Tags: laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
EPA ENDS HAZMAT CLEANUP FOLLOWING BLAZE AT DENTIST'S OHIO HOME
Tags: us_OH, public, fire, response, various_chemicals
BURLEY FIREFIGHTER SUFFERS MINOR BURNS IN FIRE
Tags: us_ID, industrial, fire, injury, other_chemical
ISP: DISTRACTED DRIVING BLAMED IN FIERY CRASH
Tags: us_IN, transportation, fire, response, runoff
LANDFILL, HURRICANE AND COUNTY SETTLE CHEMICAL SUIT
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, cleaners, waste
IMPACT OF ANTARES EXPLOSION BLUNTED BY QUICK CLEANUP
Tags: us_VA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
OSHA RECENTLY FINED COMPANY INVOLVED IN EXPLOSION
Tags: us_NE, transportation, follow-up, death, unknown_chemical
---------------------------------------------
SMALL EXPLOSION FORCES EVACUATION OF U. CHEMISTRY BUILDING
Tags: us_UT, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
SALT LAKE CITY ‰?? The Henry Eyring Chemistry Building at the University of Utah was evacuated Thursday after an unplanned chemical reaction caused a small explosion.
Salt Lake fire spokesman Jasen Asay said that about 11 a.m., several chemicals that were stored inside a specialized cabinet with sheet metal doors on the first floor caused a small explosion.
"It blew one of the doors off the cabinet. And somebody in the office directly above the prep room stated they felt the explosion," Asay said.
No one was in the prep room area when the explosion occurred and no injuries were reported. The building, however, was full of students and professors in other classrooms and labs. All evacuated the building safely.
When hazardous materials crews arrived, they detected ammonia, chlorine, sulfur, sulfur dioxide, and traces of hydrochloric acid in the air, Asay said. Crews spent the afternoon using large fans to blow the hazardous gases out of the building, where another crew was set up to monitor the air as the gases dissipated.
An overhead sprinkler system quickly doused a small fire caused by the initial explosion. The heat from the chemical reaction melted part of the cabinet, Asay said.
Overall, he said, the safety measures that were in place did what they were designed to do.
"The cabinet did its job," he said. "It's proof that those safety measures work."
What caused the chemical reaction inside the cabinet and the subsequent explosion was still under investigation Thursday afternoon.
---------------------------------------------
WEST TEXAS EXPLOSION ANNIVERSARY STILL HARD ON SURVIVORS
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, environmental, ag_chems
April 16--WEST -- The second anniversary of the deadly West fertilizer plant explosion won't be an easy one for Coil Conaway.
It will stir up unpleasant memories of the April 17, 2013 blast that he and his wife, April, survived --while others around them died. The Conaways, he's a paramedic and she's an emergency medical technician, were outside the fertilizer plant when it exploded, but were shielded by the driver's side door of their ambulance.
Friday is also the day of a friend's funeral. Kevin Walters, 52, an EMT who died Tuesday from cancer, who was one of the first people Conaway saw after the explosion.
---------------------------------------------
TEXAS CITY REMEMBERS HISTORY'S DEADLIEST INDUSTRIAL DISASTER
Tags: us_TX, transportation, follow-up, response, ammonium_nitrate
HOUSTON - On April 16 of every year, Donna Spurlock Falco walks up to a stone memorial in a Texas City park and lays a flower beneath her uncle's name.
"Took us three days to find Uncle Joe," she said.
The park's centerpiece is a busted section of a 3,000 pound anchor that was blasted more than a mile and a half away from the S.S. Grandcamp, a ship carrying a load of fertilizer that ignited a catastrophic chain of explosions and fires now collectively and infamously known as the Texas City disaster.
On this date in 1947, longshoremen had spent the last five days loading onto the Grandcamp sacks of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer that would later become notorious as the explosive agent used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. At least 2,300 tons had been loaded onto the ship when workmen boarded it and discovered a fire.
---------------------------------------------
PETROCHEMICAL PLANT EXPLOSION VAPORIZES GOVERNMENT SAFETY ASSURANCES
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, injury, petroleum
Opposing the construction of petrochemical plants making Paraxyline (PX), a key ingredient in plastic bottles and polyester clothing, has been one of the most common forms of environmental activism for China‰??s urban residents in the past decade.
On April 4, an explosion ripped through the Gulei PX factory in Zhangzhou, Fujian province, southeast China, leaving 15 injured, almost two years after a similar accident at the plant had prompted a local official to promise in 2013 that it would never happen again.
In response, central and local governments have made huge efforts to convince the public such projects are safe‰??but the second explosion at the plant in the space of two years has destroyed much of that work.
The two explosions at the same complex will mean the public becomes increasingly wary of PX factories, with the government needing to do even more to rebuild trust.
Media reports of the explosion described towers of flame lighting up the night sky, with acrid smoke and a pungent chemical odor creeping 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from the plant. Both firefighters and a People‰??s Liberation Army anti-chemical unit were rushed to the scene, and some reports two days after the blast (April 8) suggested the fire took hold for a second time despite the attention of 800 emergency workers.
---------------------------------------------
ONE DEAD, ONE SERIOUSLY HURT IN TARPON SPRINGS PLANT EXPLOSION
Tags: us_FL, industrial, explosion, death, hydrogen
One person was killed and another was seriously injured in an explosion at a Tarpon Springs plant Thursday afternoon.
Fire crews were called to the apparent industrial accident at MagneGas Corp., 150 Rainville Road.
One person was found dead inside the plant, police said, and another was flown to an area hospital with serious injuries.
There is no word of damage to the waste to energy plant, which converts liquid waste into a hydrogen-based fuel that can be used like natural gas.
MagneGas owns patents to technology that converts liquid wastes, such as sewage, sludge and oil based liquids, into a gaseous, clean burning fuel, according to the company‰??s website.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL SPILL CAUSES EVACUATION AT HEALTH CENTER OF BLOOMINGDALE
Tags: us_NJ, public, release, injury, bleach, cleaners
BLOOMINGDALE - A worker at a local nursing home was hospitalized Wednesday morning due to a chemical spill that also caused a partial evacuation of the facility.
According to Police Chief Joe Borell, officers were dispatched to the Health Center of Bloomingdale at 255 Union Ave. on a report of a chemical spill at approximately 10:45 a.m. Personnel from the Bloomingdale Volunteer Fire Department, the Tri-Boro First Aid Squad, and the Passaic County Hazmat Team were also dispatched.
A nursing home worker had taken the sick employee to a local medical facility prior to the police's arrival, said Borell.
"It was determined that a laundry product apparently mixed with bleach had spilled onto the floor, causing one employee to take ill from breathing in fumes," said Borell.
According to the chief, the first floor of the building was evacuated, and the facility's air systems were also shut down temporarily. Local firefighters remediated the spill with Quick Dry and water, and the county hazmat team was recalled.
---------------------------------------------
FIRE FIGHTERS IN HAZMAT SUITS CALLED TO TRINITY COLLEGE AFTER ACID SPILL
Tags: laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
Dublin fire brigade was called to Trinity College today, after acid was spilled in a science lab.
Multiple units, including DFB‰??s hazmat pod unit and units from Dolphin‰??s Barn, Donnybrook and Dun Laoghaire were called to contain the substance.
The college say that there was a small spill, but that everybody is fine now.
‰??There was a small chemical spillage in a laboratory located in Trinity College‰??s zoology building earlier this afternoon. Dublin Fire Brigade was called and managed the situation within an hour. There were no injuries involved.‰??
---------------------------------------------
EPA ENDS HAZMAT CLEANUP FOLLOWING BLAZE AT DENTIST'S OHIO HOME
Tags: us_OH, public, fire, response, various_chemicals
U.S EPA officials have finished cleaning up chemical hazards created by a fire on Feb. 4 that destroyed a home in Springboro, Ohio.
More than $200,000 has been spent on the cleanup of the home owned by local dentist Victor Dubel, who allegedly kept scores of containers with various chemicals at his home.
Air monitoring continues, although no air quality problems had been identified.
It‰??s unknown why the doctor was storing the chemicals, and the containers‰?? contents have yet to be identified.
---------------------------------------------
BURLEY FIREFIGHTER SUFFERS MINOR BURNS IN FIRE
Tags: us_ID, industrial, fire, injury, other_chemical
BURLEY ‰?¢ A Burley firefighter was recovering Wednesday after he was burned in an unusual chemical fire at Redox Chemicals LLC.
The chemicals were reactive to water, so firefighters used 15 fire extinguishers, including some from neighboring businesses, to quell the blaze.
Burley Fire Chief Shannon Tolman said the firefighter was treated and released from Cassia Regional Medical Center after he suffered a burn Tuesday night.
‰??He‰??s doing fine,‰?? Tolman said.
The firefighter was wearing protective gear but was burned in the area of his coat sleeve.
A chemical mixer, which holds 700 pounds of chemicals, was on fire, Tolman said.
Burley firefighter Casey Harman said the fire foam on the truck could not be used because it is mixed with water. The fire trucks have extinguishers on board but crews had to request additional extinguishers from the station and borrow some from neighboring businesses.
The call reporting the fire at 130 S. 100 W. came to the station at 4:42 p.m., and firefighters called the sheriff‰??s dispatch, which routed the call back to the fire station.
The fire department sent out an engine, the command vehicle, a truck and a water tender.
When firefighters arrived smoke was showing at the door of the plant.
Casey Larson with Redox Chemicals said the chemical was Oxycom Calcium.
It causes skin and eye irritation and may cause respiratory irritation, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration‰??s safety data sheet.
---------------------------------------------
ISP: DISTRACTED DRIVING BLAMED IN FIERY CRASH
Tags: us_IN, transportation, fire, response, runoff
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) ‰?? Southbound Interstate 65 was shut down for several hours on the north side of Indianapolis Wednesday morning while crews responded to a crash involving a semi that burst into flames.
According to Indiana State Police, it happened on I-65 southbound, just south of Cold Spring Road, around 5:30 a.m. That‰??s a section of I-65 that‰??s a bridge, and stretches over the White River.
Police say the southbound lanes were shut down completely and crews worked to direct motorists off of the interstate. Just before 7:30 a.m., those stuck in the back-up were allowed through, but then lanes were re-closed for any additional traffic. Northbound was not affected.
Police say the semi hit an abandoned vehicle that was on the side of the road. The car was tagged and ready to be towed away. Police believe the impact caused the semi to catch fire. The truck traveled 100 yards, while on fire, before it came to a stop. The driver was able to escape and was said to be OK. At this point, it‰??s unclear why the driver hit the car. 24-Hour News 8 crews at the scene described the semi as melted and charred.
Officials say the semi was carrying potassium hydroxide. They say 16,000-17,000 pounds of the chemical was spilled onto the roadway. The Indianapolis Fire Department and Wayne Township Fire Department‰??s Hazmat team were called in to assist the Pike Township Fire Department with the incident.
According to a spokesman for the Wayne Township Fire Department, officials evaluated whether or not there was a potential hazard with the chemical. The hazmat team deployed absorbent booms to prevent runoff as crews put water on the fire.
---------------------------------------------
LANDFILL, HURRICANE AND COUNTY SETTLE CHEMICAL SUIT
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, cleaners, waste
A landfill, the city of Hurricane and the Putnam County Commission have agreed to settle a lawsuit over the facility's acceptance of waste from a chemical spill site.
CREDIT DAVID BENBENNICK / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The Charleston Daily Mail reports that the County Commission approved the settlement agreement on Tuesday.
The county and the city sued Disposal Service Inc. and Waste Management of West Virginia in May 2014 after they learned the landfill had accepted liquid and solid waste from a Freedom Industries site in Charleston. A January 2014 spill at the site prompted a ban on tap water use for 300,000 residents for days.
The agreement includes monitoring the landfill in Hurricane for the coal-cleaning chemical MCHM for five years. The landfill would shut down its aeration process and leachate discharge if MCHM is detected.
---------------------------------------------
IMPACT OF ANTARES EXPLOSION BLUNTED BY QUICK CLEANUP
Tags: us_VA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. -- The country was mesmerized Oct. 28 by the launch of the Antares rocket at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, but not for what went right.
About 15 seconds into flight, the rocket came tumbling back to the ground in a fiery explosion. Something went wrong and operators hit a kill-switch, detonating the rocket, which was bound for the International Space Station carrying supplies and experiments.
Despite initial concerns, and ash that rained down in the area, a final report on the environmental impact of the explosion shows only two recommendations moving forward ‰?? a groundwater study and possible continued monitoring.
The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority report also details the steps taken after the explosion to contain any adverse impacts. While Virginia Eastern Shorekeeper Jay Ford said he was concerned immediately following the explosion, he was impressed with the federal reaction.
"They were right on top of it," he said. "They were as responsible as imaginable."
USA TODAY
Unmanned Antares rocket explodes on launch
Some of the most serious environmental hazards were found in the 50-foot impact crater at the heart of the explosion, which filled with groundwater, according to the report.
Water and soil inside and around the crater were found to have levels of perchlorate (which is used to produce rocket fuel) that could adversely affect workers, the report said, as well as high levels of two other fuel-related chemicals. Perchlorate levels were initially more than 600 times the maximum contaminant level allowed for drinking water.
---------------------------------------------
OSHA RECENTLY FINED COMPANY INVOLVED IN EXPLOSION
Tags: us_NE, transportation, follow-up, death, unknown_chemical
Two men killed in an explosion Tuesday worked for Nebraska Railcar Cleaning Services, which was fined for two "serious" OSHA violations in 2013.
Omaha police identified both men killed in an explosion near 2nd and Hickory Tuesday as Dallas Foulk, 40, and Adrian LaPour, 44.
WOWT learned OSHA issued two violations to the company in 2013 that were considered "serious." The first violation for noise and the second violation for keeping hazardous chemicals in a confined space. According to OSHA's website, the company paid more than $8,000 in fines the summer of 2014.
The reason for the blast is still under investigation. The Omaha Fire chief said he believed the explosion was caused by a chemical in the tank. That chemical kept fire crews from entering the tanker for hours due to dangerous air quality.
---------------------------------------------
Ralph Stuart
secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Secretary
Division of Chemical Health and Safety
American Chemical Society
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post