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: Wed, 11 May 2016 06:06:48 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 6048E15D-ECBE-42C4-916C-ABA990FAA8AA**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 at 6:06:31 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=DQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=UBa3_WEmEN4Yxh3pYnjCfIbcGhL9YL-QpggvO5gVgFE&s=O4UJJDkiNtEWIoQxyuH5Q3wS5hkRABknMA4zhNmAoBQ&e=

Table of Contents (14 articles)

2 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL IN GLENDALE HAZMAT SITUATION
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, release, injury, nitric_acid

HAZMAT INCIDENT HOSPITALIZES MULTIPLE PEOPLE IN BARKHAMSTED
Tags: us_CT, public, release, injury, bleach

STEELE COUNTY TIMES, DODGE COUNTY INDEPENDENT AND NEWS ENTERPRISE
Tags: us_MN, public, explosion, injury, bleach

ON A MISSION TO PUT A LID ON CHEMICAL ACCIDENTS
Tags: India, industrial, discovery, environmental, flammables

HOW DO YOU PUT OUT A SUBTERRANEAN FIRE BENEATH A MOUNTAIN OF TRASH?
Tags: us_MO, industrial, fire, response, waste

FIREFIGHTERS RESPONDING TO HAZMAT SPILL AT UW
Tags: us_WA, laboratory, release, response, hydrochloric_acid, nitric_acid

GARBAGE TRUCK FIRE IN SENECA ON JULIAN DR.
Tags: us_SC, transportation, fire, response, unknown_chemical

ATF TO REVEAL CAUSE OF WEST FERTILIZER COMPANY PLANT EXPLOSION
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, death, ammonium_nitrate

OFFICIALS: CHEMICAL IN ANAMOSA WATER DEEMED HARMLESS
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, response, other_chemical

WRONG-WAY I-5 DRIVER HITS TRUCK WITH HYDROCHLORIC ACID
Tags: us_OR, transportation, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid

FIRE BREAKS OUT IN FORENSIC LAB AT SAGAR, NO DAMAGE
Tags: India, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

FEDS TO STUDY POTENTIAL CHEMICAL ATTACK ON NYC SUBWAY SYSTEM
Tags: us_NY, public, discovery, environmental, unknown_chemical

FIREFIGHTERS TACKLE CHEMICAL PLANT FIRE IN WINTERHAY LANE, ILMINSTER (FROM THIS IS THE WEST COUNTRY)
Tags: United_Kingdom, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

CHEMICAL TANKER EXPLODES IN NANJING, TWO MISSING
Tags: China, transportation, explosion, injury, petroleum


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2 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL IN GLENDALE HAZMAT SITUATION
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, release, injury, nitric_acid

Glendale fire crews responded to a second-alarm hazmat situation at Gil Enginering near 53rd Avenue and Camelback Road on Tuesday.

Glendale fire tweeted that there were five patients, two of whom were taken to the hospital to be checked out.

An employee pulled a hazard alarm due to acid fumes.

According to fire officials, employees were resealing a nitric acid container when the container started reacting with the nitric acid.

Glendale fire crews evacuated the building and has taken three employees to be evaluated for precautionary reasons.

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HAZMAT INCIDENT HOSPITALIZES MULTIPLE PEOPLE IN BARKHAMSTED
Tags: us_CT, public, release, injury, bleach

Litchfield County dispatch said crews responded to a call around 1 p.m. from state police about hazardous materials on 47 Lavander Road. DEEP is accompanying Litchfield officials at the home, where people still may be inside.
Texas Kid Drank Dr Pepper With Rat in Bottle: Grandfather
DEEP said people became ill from fumes created from a a mixture of household cleaning products. Litchfield County dispatch said the incident involved Pine Sol and bleach.
Multiple people were transported to the hospital via ambulance but it is unclear how many.

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STEELE COUNTY TIMES, DODGE COUNTY INDEPENDENT AND NEWS ENTERPRISE
Tags: us_MN, public, explosion, injury, bleach

A rural Ellendale woman escaped serious injury after a minor explosion at her residence Tuesday night.
Ellendale Fire Chief Mark Lee said that the unidentified woman was treated and released by the Ellendale Ambulance at the scene. Lee said she suffered minor injuries including singed hair and burnt clothes.
The explosion occured when the woman was cleaning her bathtub with bleach and causing a chemical explosion, according to Lee. A door in the house was damaged, but is unknown if it was a result of the explosion.
Steele County Shierff's office assisted at the scene.

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ON A MISSION TO PUT A LID ON CHEMICAL ACCIDENTS
Tags: India, industrial, discovery, environmental, flammables

KOZHIKODE: Against the backdrop of increasing accidents involving chemicals and inflammable gases, the Fire and Rescue Services Department is preparing a database on the hazards of chemical accidents in each district. The department will study and document the possibilities of accidents in a particular district and the volume and nature of chemical substances transported through the state.

"Growing industrialisation in the state has resulted in increased use of chemical and other inflammable gases; thus the need to deal with any such accident has become important. As part of improving response mechanism, all chances of accidents in a particular district are studied and documented. Besides, the volume and nature of chemical substances manufactured, stored and transported through the state will be documented," Fire and Rescue Services Director- Technical, E B Prasad, said.

"A number of factors, including human errors, could spark off chemical accidents which have the potential to become chemical disasters. The danger is sometimes compounded due to the location of "major accident hazard" industries closer to densely populated areas," said the official.

As many as 42 factories in the state have been classified as major accident hazard (MAH) units, of which 50 percent are in Kochi.

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HOW DO YOU PUT OUT A SUBTERRANEAN FIRE BENEATH A MOUNTAIN OF TRASH?
Tags: us_MO, industrial, fire, response, waste

The Bridgeton Landfill, about 20 miles northwest of St. Louis, is in many ways a typical pile of trash. Bridgeton is a layer cake of garbage and dirt at the bottom of an old limestone quarry, all of it covered with a frosting of clay, plastic liner, soil and grass. But for the last six years, there"s been something wrong at the core of Bridgeton " a wrongness that has led to lawsuits, angry neighborhood activists and national media attention. It"s confusing and scientifically strange " and all those problems are exacerbated by the nearby presence of a big old pile of nuclear waste.

Down beneath the layers of trash bags, banana peels, Chinese takeout cartons, diapers and dirt, the Bridgeton Landfill has become very hot. Normally you"d expect the process of decomposition to heat the interior of a landfill to around 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Parts of the Bridgeton landfill, in contrast, have reached temperatures as high as 260. That 120 degrees is the difference between a healthy landfill, decomposing merrily along, and one in which the systems of safe waste management are falling apart.

Whenever a landfill develops a hot spot deep down, it"s a problem for people who live nearby, for the surrounding environment and for the operator of the landfill. High temperatures damage the plastic liners and the pipes that keep trash-infused water called leachate from seeping into local groundwater. High temperatures decompose trash differently and result in leachate that"s harder to treat and make safe, even when it is being properly captured. And high temperatures release dangerous (and malodorous) gases that cooler trash doesn"t. Those gases can find their way out of the landfill more easily because the hot spots tend to collapse, leaving cracks in the layer cake"s smooth surface.

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FIREFIGHTERS RESPONDING TO HAZMAT SPILL AT UW
Tags: us_WA, laboratory, release, response, hydrochloric_acid, nitric_acid

Seattle firefighters were called to the University of Washington for a hazardous materials spill or leak.

KIRO 7 first heard about the incident at 9:52 a.m. on Monday.

The location, 3749 Mason Road Northeast in Seattle, is Wilcox Hall, the university's materials science and engineering building.

Seattle fire said students dropped a small amount of hydrochloric and nitric acid on the floor of the lab. When mixed, those chemicals create a potentially dangerous gas.

The floor where the spill occurred was evacuated and a hazmat team cleaned up the spill.

No one was sickening or injured.

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

GARBAGE TRUCK FIRE IN SENECA ON JULIAN DR.
Tags: us_SC, transportation, fire, response, unknown_chemical

A garbage truck caught on fire according to an Oconee Co. Hazmat Team"s Facebook post.

They say they were called to help Seneca Fire Department with with a city front loader.

It happened just before noon on Julian Drive in Seneca.

Seneca Fire Department says the driver remembers hearing a pop and it started smoking.

No one was hurt.

Hazmat was able to prevent 75 gallosn of hydraulic oil from getting into a nearby stream.

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ATF TO REVEAL CAUSE OF WEST FERTILIZER COMPANY PLANT EXPLOSION
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, death, ammonium_nitrate

WEST, Texas - The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will reveal Wednesday what agents believe sparked a massive fire at the West Fertilizer Co. three years ago.

Channel 2 reported last month that the ATF had reached a conclusion about what caused the fire. Fifteen people died and 160 were injured when ammonium nitrate exploded on April 17, 2013.

The ATF report, which has been finalized, will say whether the fire was intentionally set or whether it was it was an accident. The full report will not be released, Channel 2 Investigates has learned, but details contained in it will be discussed at a news conference at noon Wednesday in West.

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OFFICIALS: CHEMICAL IN ANAMOSA WATER DEEMED HARMLESS
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, response, other_chemical

ANAMOSA, Ia. " Officials lifted a bottled water advisory in Anamosa on Monday evening after determining a chemical mistakenly added to the water supply was harmless at low concentrations.

The Department of Natural Resources lifted the advisory after determining the chemical was triethanolamine, used mostly in the cosmetic and drug industries. One to three gallons of the chemical were mixed into about 750,000 gallons of water storage, which diluted the chemical to a harmless level.

Officials had advised people to drink bottled water while they determined what chemical was mixed into the water. The employee shut down the pump but an automated system allowed a small amount of the chemical to mix with the city's supply.

The DNR began working to identify the chemical after a city employee noticed the chemical mixture that treats the water looked different Friday afternoon.

The chemical supplier, Viking Chemical, of Rockford, Illinois, determined the chemical was triethanolamine based on the look, feel and smell of the substance, according to the DNR. The chemical was mistakenly added because it was in a container that was mislabeled at Viking's distribution plant, the DNR said.

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WRONG-WAY I-5 DRIVER HITS TRUCK WITH HYDROCHLORIC ACID
Tags: us_OR, transportation, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid

GRANTS PASS, Ore. (KOIN) " A wrong-way driver slammed into a semi-truck carrying hydrochloric acid on I-5 north of Grants Pass in the very early hours of Sunday.

The crash happened around 2:45 a.m. Sunday, ODOT said. The crash caused the acid to leak onto the road and hazmat teams were called in from Medford.

Traffic was slowed in the area until 8:30 a.m.

The wrong-way driver, 27-year-old Ashley Whipple, was hospitalized with minor injuries. She was reportedly intoxicated at the time of the crash, according to OSP.

Whipple was cited for DUII and released.

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FIRE BREAKS OUT IN FORENSIC LAB AT SAGAR, NO DAMAGE
Tags: India, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

SS Parmar, director of the lab, told reporters that around midnight, guard informed him about the fire. The incident took place at the recovery room where bullets are recovered after test fire, he said. "Generally important documents are not kept in this room," he said. Luckily, it did not spread at parts of the lab where important things are exhibited, Parmar added.

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

FEDS TO STUDY POTENTIAL CHEMICAL ATTACK ON NYC SUBWAY SYSTEM
Tags: us_NY, public, discovery, environmental, unknown_chemical

NEW YORK - (AP) -- New York City commuters could face delays this week as federal authorities test the vulnerability of New York City's subway system to a possible chemical attack.

Beginning at 11 a.m. Monday the Department of Homeland Security will be releasing low concentrations of a harmless, non-toxic gas into several midtown Manhattan subway stations.

Officials say data from the five-day drill will help first responders better understand how airborne contaminants travel through the subway system.

There is no health risk to the public.

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

FIREFIGHTERS TACKLE CHEMICAL PLANT FIRE IN WINTERHAY LANE, ILMINSTER (FROM THIS IS THE WEST COUNTRY)
Tags: United_Kingdom, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

FIREFIGHTERS took nearly three hours to extinguish a property fire in Ilminster that involved a chemical plant.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service was called to a property fire on Winterhay Lane in the south Somerset town, shortly after 7.30pm.

Two crews from Taunton and Crewkerne were initially mobilised to the incident, along with an incident command unit from Honiton.

Firefighters got to work using two breathing apparatus, a main jet and a thermal imaging camera as they tried to put out the fire, and confirmed the fire involved a chemical plant.

Another appliance from Axminster was requested just before 8pm as firefighters battled to control the fire as it continued to rage.

More than two hours later, at 10.16pm, firefighters confirmed that the fire had been fully extinguished.

The cause of the fire is believed to be accidental.

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CHEMICAL TANKER EXPLODES IN NANJING, TWO MISSING
Tags: China, transportation, explosion, injury, petroleum

A chemical tanker exploded at the anchorage area near a petrochemical terminal operated by Sinopec Yangzi Petrochemical in Nanjing yesterday.

According to local media reporting, the explosion happened during maintenance work on chemical tanker Su Dong You 0020, with the vessel anchored next to it Su Dong You 0021 also suffering damage. There was no chemicals loaded onboard the two vessels when the explosion occurred.

The fire on the two vessels has been put out, and six of the eight crew onboard them have been rescued, however another two crew members are missing.

Authorities have started investigations into the accident while search and rescue operations are ongoing.

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