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From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (17 articles)
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2015 07:57:03 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 821492FC-4920-47CC-9C0D-7C0A25B35700**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, August 31, 2015 at 7:56:50 AM
A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__pinboard.in_u-3Adchas&d=BQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=xB__i48QbKmxtdq8Hy8sJ0CpMZ5VyGVfFEFn3d7vfgQ&s=fOqRuaxelrt3wZjI_wvDzUAND7S16Ia5ZZe5s7FFCF4&e=
Table of Contents (17 articles)
HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK SUNDAY MORNING IN CANYON COUNTRY
Tags: us_ca, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide
BEHIND DEADLY TIANJIN BLAST, SHORTCUTS AND LAX RULES
Tags: china, industrial, follow-up
WORKERS AT LAVERTON WORKPLACE EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: australia, industrial, discovery, response, other_chemical
CHINA TO RELOCATE ALMOST 1,000 CHEMICAL PLANTS IN WAKE OF TIANJIN BLASTS
Tags: china, industrial, follow-up
GUIDANCE ON PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) TO BE USED BY HEALTHCARE WORKERS DURING MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS WITH CONFIRMED EBOLA
Tags: public, discovery, response
BATTERY EXPLODES IN KEARNY MESA FIRE HOUSE
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, response, batteries, sulfuric_acid
SPILLED BLEACH CAUSES HAZMAT SCARE AT LEXINGTON APARTMENT BUILDING
Tags: us_KY, public, release, response, ammonia, bleach
EXPLOSION AT CHEMICAL PLANT IN EAST CHINA; SECOND BLAST SINCE AUGUST. 12
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical
CONCORD: MAN MIXING CHEMICALS PROMPTS EVACUATIONS
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical, bomb, chlorine
ILLINOIS HAZMAT
Tags: us_IL, public, release, death, unknown_chemical
WORKERS OVERCOME BY GASES AT CHINA PAPER MILL, 7 DIE, 2 HURT
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, death, sulfuric_acid, toxics, waste
REPORTED PESTICIDE SICKNESS PROMPTS MASSIVE RESPONSE FROM ...
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, injury, pesticides
CHEMICAL REACTION PROMPTS EVACUATION AT SOUTH BEND COMPANY
Tags: us_IN, industrial, release, response, metals, nitric_acid
CHEMICAL LEAK REPORTED AT DELAWARE CITY REFINERY
Tags: us_DE, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical
CHEMICAL FIRE AT WWU CAUSED BY ACCIDENTAL SPILL
Tags: us_WA, laboratory, follow-up, response, acetone, hexane
CHINA EXPLOSION: CONTAMINATED TIANJIN DIRT FROM BLASTS HEADED FOR SPECIAL STORAGE CONTAINER
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, death, sodium_cyanide
HOMELAND SECURITY MONITORING ALL US-BOUND SHIPS THAT WERE IN TIANJIN AT TIME OF EXPLOSION
Tags: transportation, follow-up, environmental
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HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK SUNDAY MORNING IN CANYON COUNTRY
Tags: us_ca, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide
A carbon monoxide leak at an apartment sent one person to the hospital Sunday morning, according to an official with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
The leak occurred near the 27000 block of Fahren Court, said Supervising Fire Dispatcher Bernard Peters.
The Fire Department‰??s Health Hazardous Materials Division got the call of the leak when emergency responders reported that a person sent to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital was exposed to carbon monoxide early Sunday morning, Peters said.
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BEHIND DEADLY TIANJIN BLAST, SHORTCUTS AND LAX RULES
Tags: china, industrial, follow-up
TIANJIN, China ‰?? One partner was the son of a local police chief, the other an executive at a state-run chemicals firm. After meeting at a dinner party, they started a company here to handle the export of the most dangerous chemicals made in China, promising ‰??outstanding service‰?? and ‰??good results.‰??
Within two years, Rui Hai International Logistics had built a reputation as the go-to place for businesses looking to ship hazardous materials to customers abroad, a niche market that had been dominated by sluggish state enterprises.
Rui Hai offered lower prices, a no-hassle approach to paperwork and quick government approvals. Business was brisk. It seemed like another success story for the Binhai New Area, a thriving economic development zone established here by the ruling Communist Party around one of China‰??s busiest seaports.
Now, more than two weeks after explosions at its warehouses leveled a section of that district, killing 150 people, injuring more than 700 and leaving millions here fearful of toxic fallout, Rui Hai has become a symbol of something else for many Chinese: the high cost of rapid industrialization in a closed political system rife with corruption.
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WORKERS AT LAVERTON WORKPLACE EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: australia, industrial, discovery, response, other_chemical
ABOUT 80 people had to be evacuated from a Laverton factory following a chemical leak today.
It took firefighters 90 minutes to bring the situation under control, after Nitrocellulose was discovered leaking from a drum.
MFB officers collected the drum with an intrinsically safe forklift while a fine spray of water minimised the risk of any sparks. The drum was then put into a recovery drum where it could be made safe.
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CHINA TO RELOCATE ALMOST 1,000 CHEMICAL PLANTS IN WAKE OF TIANJIN BLASTS
Tags: china, industrial, follow-up
Local governments in China have submitted plans to relocate or upgrade almost 1,000 chemical plants in the wake of the massive explosions in Tianjin earlier this month that killed 147 people.
The blast at a warehouse storing toxic chemicals was China‰??s worst industrial accident in recent years. There has been criticism it was located too close to densely populated residential areas.
China‰??s industry minister, Miao Wei, said local governments were finally moving ahead to implement plans to relocate and upgrade chemical plants.
‰??We started to work with State Administration of Work Safety last year to make arrangements for the relocation and revamping of chemical plants in densely populated urban areas. Frankly, our work is not actively supported locally in the past year,‰?? Miao was quoted by the Communist party-run People‰??s Daily newspaper.
According to the department‰??s summary, about 1,000 chemical plants need to be relocated or upgraded at a total cost of around 400bn yuan (å£40.6bn).
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GUIDANCE ON PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPE) TO BE USED BY HEALTHCARE WORKERS DURING MANAGEMENT OF PATIENTS WITH CONFIRMED EBOLA
Tags: public, discovery, response
Page Summary
Who this is for: Healthcare workers, supervisors, and administrators at U.S. hospitals.
What this is for: To protect healthcare workers and other patients at facilities that provide care to a patient with confirmed Ebola or PUI who is clinically unstable or has bleeding, vomiting, or diarrhea by describing protocols for using PPE.
How to use: Incorporate into infection control and safety training for healthcare workers who provide care to patients with Ebola and use in planning for staffing and supply management.
How it relates to other guidance documents: There are two PPE guidance documents for U.S. hospital workers who may evaluate or care for Ebola patients. Workers should wear this recommended PPE ensemble when evaluating and caring for:
A person who meets the definition of a Person Under Investigation (PUI) for Ebola and is
Exhibiting obvious bleeding, vomiting, or diarrhea; OR
Clinically unstable and/or will require invasive or aerosol-generating procedures (e.g., intubation, suctioning, active resuscitation).
A person with confirmed Ebola.
---------------------------------------------
BATTERY EXPLODES IN KEARNY MESA FIRE HOUSE
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, response, batteries, sulfuric_acid
SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - A hazmat team was called to an explosion Saturday in a Kearny Mesa fire house.
It happened as a crew member went to start a specialized fire rig called "crash 28".
Firefighters say a battery on the rig exploded releasing a cloud of toxic smoke. It then started dripping sulfuric acid.
Crews moved quickly to stop the leak and hazmat was called to clean it up.
No one was hurt and the cause of the battery explosion is under investigation.
---------------------------------------------
SPILLED BLEACH CAUSES HAZMAT SCARE AT LEXINGTON APARTMENT BUILDING
Tags: us_KY, public, release, response, ammonia, bleach
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - A hazmat scare forced Lexington firefighters to evacuate an apartment building Friday night.
Around 6 p.m., they say someone noticed a strong smell of ammonia coming from an apartment at Continental Square.
When firefighters arrived, they say they knocked on the door of the apartment, but no one answered, and they couldn't get inside the unit. They say they also noticed the ammonia smell.
As a precaution, firefighters evacuated everyone in the building, and called in a hazmat unit.
Once they were finally able to get into the apartment, firefighters say they realized some spilled bleach was causing the ammonia smell. They say no one was injured, and everyone was allowed to go back into their apartments.
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EXPLOSION AT CHEMICAL PLANT IN EAST CHINA; SECOND BLAST SINCE AUGUST. 12
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical
One person was killed and at least nine others injured in the most recent blast.
A blast tore through a chemical plant in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong Saturday night. After five hours' efforts, the fire was put out at around 01:50 on Sunday.
The explosion happened just before 9 p.m. on Saturday in the city of Zibo in Shandong province, the Xinhua News Agency said.
The chemical plant is owned by Shandong Running Chemical Technology Co., a subsidiary of Running Group, which has a registered capital of 200 million yuan ($31 million).
ADN can emit toxic fumes when heated to decomposition, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The chemical plant is located about one mile away from a village where windows were shattered.
---------------------------------------------
CONCORD: MAN MIXING CHEMICALS PROMPTS EVACUATIONS
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical, bomb, chlorine
CONCORD -- Robin Lane residents had to leave their homes for several hours Saturday while authorities cleaned up a potentially dangerous chemical brew, police said.
Police responded to an apartment building in the 1800 block of Robin Lane shortly before 6 p.m. after a woman reported that her husband was intoxicated and mixing chemicals to make a "flash bomb," Concord police Cpl. Christopher Blakely said.
When officers arrived, they encountered a strong chemical smell in the apartment where the husband was mixing chlorine with unidentified substances, Blakely said. Police removed the woman and two children from the apartment and evacuated the rest of the building. Police also evacuated four other apartment buildings on Robin Lane and closed the street between Meadow and Virginia lanes while the Contra Costa County Hazardous Materials Team and the Walnut Creek Bomb Squad handled the chemical mix.
Officers did not find any explosive devices in the apartment. Police arrested a 37-year-old man on suspicion of child endangerment, but he may face additional charges as the investigation continues, according to Blakely. Police did not release the man's name Saturday.
---------------------------------------------
ILLINOIS HAZMAT
Tags: us_IL, public, release, death, unknown_chemical
(CNN)A hazardous materials incident at a home in metropolitan Chicago has left two men dead and five people injured, authorities said.
When Cook County sheriff's officers entered the townhouse in unincorporated Des Plaines on Thursday, they found two deceased adult males and a woman who was later hospitalized in critical condition, said sheriff's spokeswoman Sophia Ansari.
The deputies were also hospitalized for a short time after they had difficulty breathing, she said. They were treated and released.
What caused their respiratory distress wasn't immediately clear.
"Until our hazmat teams can clear the scene and deem it safe for investigators to go in there, we don't have any more information for you," Richard Dobrowski, fire chief for North Maine Township Fire Department, told CNN affiliate WLS.
---------------------------------------------
WORKERS OVERCOME BY GASES AT CHINA PAPER MILL, 7 DIE, 2 HURT
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, death, sulfuric_acid, toxics, waste
BEIJING (AP) ‰?? Workers were overcome with toxic gas from a paper mill's waste pool and seven of them died, authorities said Saturday, in China's latest deadly accident involving dangerous chemicals.
A worker who was cleaning the pool filled with pulp paper waste fell in and his co-workers rushed to help but were overcome with the noxious gas themselves, a statement from the Anxiang county government in Hunan province said. Seven workers died and two were injured.
The statement on Friday's accident didn't say what type of toxic gas was involved.
Separately, firefighters and environmental response crews were rushing to clean up about 15 tons of sulfuric acid spilled early Saturday from a crashed tanker truck in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
The driver and a passenger in the truck were killed when it veered off the road into farm land near the resort city of Hangzhou and about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from major waterways.
The pair of incidents follows China's worst industrial accident in recent years, a massive explosion at a warehouse storing toxic chemicals in the port of Tianjin that killed at least 147.
Police have arrested 11 local officials and company executives in that incident along with a dozen employees of the firm involved. Nationwide safety checks were ordered after the Aug. 12 disaster, focusing especially on the storage of dangerous chemicals.
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REPORTED PESTICIDE SICKNESS PROMPTS MASSIVE RESPONSE FROM ...
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, injury, pesticides
A group of workers who apparently, and mysteriously, were exposed to a pesticide in the Lost Hills area Friday morning attracted a massive response from emergency workers, including deployment of more than a dozen Hall Ambulance vehicles and off-duty EMTs and paramedics. The emergency responders almost certainly outnumbered the 33 people who were actually treated at the scene.
But they can be excused for the apparent excess. First reports indicated as many as 300 people could have been affected, resulting in the first use of Hall‰??s ‰??electronic recall system‰?? to bring in off-duty employees. Hall spokesman Mark Corum said the company sent ‰??12 advanced life support paramedic ambulances, a paramedic field supervisor unit, a disaster medical supply unit and a multi-passenger bus.‰??
In the end, only slightly more than a 10th of the initial reported number of victims were decontaminated and triaged. Two were transported to San Joaquin Community Hospital with minor injuries.
Kern County Fire Capt. Cary Wright said late Friday afternoon it remains unknown how exactly the solar farm workers became exposed to the pesticide. He said air readings taken at the scene were negative, and nearby Paramount Farms reported no pesticide spraying occurred in the area Friday.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL REACTION PROMPTS EVACUATION AT SOUTH BEND COMPANY
Tags: us_IN, industrial, release, response, metals, nitric_acid
SOUTH BEND ‰?? Employees of a South Bend metal finishing company were evacuated for a period just before noon after a chemical reaction produced a gas cloud inside the building.
South Bend fire Capt. Gerard Ellis said crews were called to Imagineering Finishing Technologies, 1302 W. Sample St., after nitric acid came in contact with a "non-conforming" steel alloy. A chemical reaction resulted in a plume of yellow nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, inside the building.
Ellis and a company official said the company uses the chemicals to finish metal products.
No one was injured as a result of the incident, Ellis said. Employees were evacuated as a precautionary measure, however, the building's ventilation system properly cleared the gas from the building.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL LEAK REPORTED AT DELAWARE CITY REFINERY
Tags: us_DE, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical
DELAWARE CITY, Del. (WPVI) -- Rescuers were called to a reported chemical leak at a refinery in Delaware City, Delaware on Friday.
Firefighters and medics were dispatched to the PBF Energy facility in the 4500 block of Wrangle Hill Road shortly after 12 p.m.
Officials say three workers said they were exposed to some kind of gas in their work space.
All three workers were taken to Christiana Hospital.
Two of the workers - a 52-year-old man and a 36-year-old man, were treated symptoms including dizziness and weakness.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL FIRE AT WWU CAUSED BY ACCIDENTAL SPILL
Tags: us_WA, laboratory, follow-up, response, acetone, hexane
BELLINGHAM
A chemical fire at Western Washington University‰??s chemistry building this week was reportedly caused by an accidental spill of flammable liquid.
A student getting ready to dispose of a mix of chemicals that included acetone and hexane accidentally spilled the liquid on the floor Tuesday, Aug. 25, said Bellingham Fire Marshal Jason Napier, who was in charge of investigating the fire‰??s cause.
‰??The vapors found an ignition source inside the lab and caused a quick flash-fire,‰?? Napier said. ‰??Then the pool of liquid continued to burn until the sprinklers went off and extinguished it.‰??
The fire did not appear to have spread to any other chemicals, but a few lab supplies also were burned, Napier said.
No one was injured when the fire took off. There were six students and a professor in the third-floor lab at the time, Bellingham Fire Department reported.
Napier said his investigation did not include looking into what foul-tasting gas may have been breathed in by the first firefighters to enter the building before they put on protective breathing equipment.
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CHINA EXPLOSION: CONTAMINATED TIANJIN DIRT FROM BLASTS HEADED FOR SPECIAL STORAGE CONTAINER
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, death, sodium_cyanide
Dirt that was contaminated from deadly explosions at a hazardous goods warehouse in Tianjin, China, in mid-August is headed for an enormous "leak-proof" tank about two and a half miles from the site of the blasts. At least 145 people died and hundreds were injured in the explosions, and some of the chemicals stored at the warehouse at the time were toxic.
The new tank under construction has a surface area of 20,000 square meters and will be lined with five and a half inches of a purportedly impenetrable layer of sand and bricks, along with other material that guards against leakage, the South China Morning Post reported.
Since the explosion, residents of the Tianjin area have reported foul smells. The warehouse stored at least 700 tons of sodium cyanide, which can form a toxic vapor when combined with water, the New York Times reported. After the explosions, dead fish washed up by the thousands on the banks of a nearby river.
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HOMELAND SECURITY MONITORING ALL US-BOUND SHIPS THAT WERE IN TIANJIN AT TIME OF EXPLOSION
Tags: transportation, follow-up, environmental
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have been monitoring vessel traffic and cargo departing the port complex in Tianjin due to concerns that there may be potentially hazardous ash, debris or residues on vessels or cargo bound for US ports.
In a bulletin from the USCG earlier this week the organisation said vessel owners and operators should be aware of the potential for hazardous ash, debris or residues onboard impacted vessels or containers, particularly in cargo bays and interior spaces not regularly exposed to the elements.
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