From: DCHAS Secretary <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (10 articles)
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2016 07:46:57 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 2B9EDAC7-DDEB-4269-B358-01AFCA679F12**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, December 2, 2016 at 7:46:41 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 (10 articles)

ACS JOURNALS ENACT NEW SAFETY POLICY
Tags: us, laboratory, discovery, environmental

BOMB SQUAD CARRY OUT CONTROLLED EXPLOSION AT GWYNEDD SCHOOL
Tags: uk, laboratory, discovery, response, other_chemical

HTTP://WWW.EXAMINER-ENTERPRISE.COM/NEWS/20161201/OKLAHOMA-UNION-SCHOOLS-ON-EXTENDED-BREAK
Tags: us_ok, industrial, explosion, follow-up, environmental

WOMAN INJURED, AIRLIFTED AFTER DETONATION AT PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC
Tags: us_ca, industrial, explosion, injury, other_chemical

CHEMICAL SPILL CAUSES AFTERNOON EVACUATION
Tags: us_wi, industrial, release, response, ammonium_hydroxide

1 KILLED, 2 HOSPITALIZED WHEN EXPOSED TO CHEMICALS AT TALLAHASSEE STORE
Tags: us_fl, public, release, death, other_chemical

‰??MOBILE METH LAB‰?? CRASH IN COLWOOD SNARLS TRAFFIC
Tags: canada, transportation, discovery, response, clandestine_lab

THANE: FIRE BREAKS OUT AT CHEMICAL FACTORY, 2 DEAD
Tags: India, industrial, fire, death, unknown_chemical

NORTH-EAST GYM TO REMAIN CLOSED AFTER CHEMICAL SCARE EVACUATION
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, discovery, response, chlorine

CONTROLLED EXPLOSION OF CHEMICAL TAKES PLACE AT SCHOOL IN SHREWSBURY
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, discovery, response, other_chemical


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ACS JOURNALS ENACT NEW SAFETY POLICY
Tags: us, laboratory, discovery, environmental

American Chemical Society journals will have a new safety reporting requirement starting in 2017: Authors must ‰??address and emphasize any unexpected, new, and/or significant hazards or risks associated with the reported work,‰?? says an ACS Central Science editorial describing the change (2016, DOI: 10.1021/acscentsci.6b00341).
ACS Publications editors and staff took a closer look at how the journals addressed safety after a ‰??confluence of events‰?? that included high-profile accidents and a survey of safety policies of chemical journals (J. Chem. Health Saf. 2016, DOI: 10.1016/j.jchas.2015.10.001), says Sarah Tegen, vice president for global editorial and author services at ACS. ACS also publishes C&EN. Previously, individual journals set their own safety policies.
The journals‰?? Peer Review Advisory Group (PRAG) developed the new wording to make it clear that good safety practice is vital while also being broad enough to be applicable across all the fields that the journals represent, Tegen says.
Reaction from journal editors has been positive. ‰??There is a strong sense that this is the right thing to do,‰?? says Inorganic Chemistry editor-in-chief and PRAG member William B. Tolman.
Beyond including the language in guidelines for authors and reviewers, ACS is leaving individual journal editors to decide how the new requirement is implemented. Tolman, for example, has already added a required check box in a form filled out by Inorganic Chemistry reviewers that asks whether authors have appropriately addressed safety. ‰??It‰??s a simple and easy way to get the journal community to start paying attention to it,‰?? he says.

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BOMB SQUAD CARRY OUT CONTROLLED EXPLOSION AT GWYNEDD SCHOOL
Tags: uk, laboratory, discovery, response, other_chemical

The bomb squad carried out a controlled explosion of a chemical at secondary school.

The Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team were called out to St Gerard‰??s School on Ffriddoedd Road in Bangor at 3.30pm to safely dispose of the chemical which is used during A-level science lessons.

North Wales Police tweeted this afternoon: ‰??In the next few minutes EOD will carry out a small controlled explosion on school grounds in Bangor to safely dispose of substance 2,4 DNP (dinitrophenylhydrazine).‰??

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HTTP://WWW.EXAMINER-ENTERPRISE.COM/NEWS/20161201/OKLAHOMA-UNION-SCHOOLS-ON-EXTENDED-BREAK
Tags: us_ok, industrial, explosion, follow-up, environmental

LENAPAH ‰?? Students and staff at Oklahoma Union Public Schools received an extended Thanksgiving break this week, but not because of the holiday spirit.

An explosion and chemical spill at an aerosol factory just north of the Oklahoma-Kansas state line in Neodesha on Nov. 22 caused water woes for communities and rural areas downstream on the Verdigris River. The possible contamination to the river caused water service to be shut off along an over 60 mile stretch in Kansas and Oklahoma, from Neodesha to Nowata.

While water service has been restored and a boil order has been lifted for most areas, one rural water district near the Nowata-Craig County line has not yet passed a series of tests, causing the Oklahoma Union School District to cancel classes this week.

Oklahoma Union Superintendent of Schools Kevin Stacy said the water is on at the school complex and has tested safe, but there is still a concern because some of the water from the rural area may infiltrate into the area.

‰??All of the rural water districts in our boundaries pull from the Verdigris River,‰?? Stacy said. ‰??The water for us is treated in Coffeyville, Kansas, and then sent to the school from pipelines. Only one of the rural water districts within our boundaries still has an issue with possible contamination, so we had to cancel school after Thanksgiving week.‰??

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

WOMAN INJURED, AIRLIFTED AFTER DETONATION AT PACIFIC SCIENTIFIC
Tags: us_ca, industrial, explosion, injury, other_chemical

A female worker at Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company on the 3600 block of Union Rd. in Hollister was airlifted in serious condition to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center after apparently being exposed to lead oxide during a chemical explosion Thursday morning.

In a press release, the Hollister Fire Department reported that it "responded to an incident involving an injury sustained from a detonation. The incident was dispatched as a detonation with injuries."

Hollister Fire crews and American Medical Response deployed to the location treated a single injury and had the patient transported to an area trauma center.

According to NBCBayArea.com, the unidentified woman is in serious condition at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. Its report said hospital staff "received a call from air ambulance provider CALSTAR of a woman they were flying in from Hollister for exposure to lead oxide and another substance containing lead, hospital spokeswoman Joy Alexiou said."

‰??San Jose firefighters and hazmat crews were dispatched around 10:40 a.m., after the patient ‰?? who was first decontaminated at Pacific Scientific Energetic Materials Company ‰?? was air-lifted to the hospital, NBCBayArea reported.

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

CHEMICAL SPILL CAUSES AFTERNOON EVACUATION
Tags: us_wi, industrial, release, response, ammonium_hydroxide

he La Crosse Fire Department's hazardous materials team responded to a liquid ammonium hydroxide spill Thursday at Davy Engineering, in the 100 block of South Sixth Street.

Fire and hazmat crews absorbed the spilled liquid and neutralized the residual contamination, according to the department.

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

1 KILLED, 2 HOSPITALIZED WHEN EXPOSED TO CHEMICALS AT TALLAHASSEE STORE
Tags: us_fl, public, release, death, other_chemical

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- A woman has died after toxic fumes filled a craft store in Tallahassee on Thursday afternoon.

The Tallahassee Police Department confirms that 48-year-old Ada Skvereckas succumbed to chemical exposure and passed away at a local hospital.

Officials say Skvereckas one of five people exposed to toxic fumes around 2:30 p.m. at the Flying Unicorn craft store on Capital Circle SE, just north of Apalachee Parkway.

Two people were treated on scene, and two others remain hospitalized in stable condition.

Officials say the hazmat team found a hydrogen sulfate-type cleaner in a spray bottle.

Hydrogen sulfate is extremely corrosive. The National Institute of Health says breathing it in can cause choking, chest pains and shortness of breath.

Tallahassee Fire Department‰??s Mike Bellamy said, "I'm telling you, being out here at the scene, I could pick up some of that odor several hundred feet away from the actual business itself. I can suspect that was very concentrated in that room."

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

‰??MOBILE METH LAB‰?? CRASH IN COLWOOD SNARLS TRAFFIC
Tags: canada, transportation, discovery, response, clandestine_lab

A motor vehicle collision involving a suspected mobile meth lab led to a commuting nightmare Wednesday afternoon and evening in Colwood.

Traffic was snarled, backed up and rerouted around Colwood during the evening crush of traffic as fire and hazardous materials crews dealt with the incident at Veterans Memorial Parkway and Sooke Road.

The crews checked on a small red car that collided with another vehicle. Chemicals found in the red car caused concern.

‰??The nature of the incident, the occupants of the vehicle did not stay on scene, the manner in which the materials were being transported, and there‰??s a few other indications that the RCMP are looking into ... led us to take an abundance of caution in this incident,‰?? Colwood Fire Department Acting Chief John Cassidy told CHEK News.

West Shore RCMP did not return calls seeking comment.

Dave Rogers, president of B.C. Hazmat, said he had been told there may have been dangerous chemicals present at the scene.

His team was on standby while the Capital Regional District hazmat response unit dealt with the issue.

- See more at: http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/mobile-meth-lab-crash-in-colwood-snarls-traffic-1.3504104#sthash.Pje61D1S.dpuf">http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/mobile-meth-lab-crash-in-colwood-snarls-traffic-1.3504104#sthash.Pje61D1S.dpuf

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THANE: FIRE BREAKS OUT AT CHEMICAL FACTORY, 2 DEAD
Tags: India, industrial, fire, death, unknown_chemical

Thane: Two persons were charred to death when a major fire broke out at a chemical plant located in Taloja MIDC in neighbouring Raigad district this on Wednesday police said.

The chemical unit was also completely gutted in the blaze, fire brigade officials said.

"Two persons were charred to death in the fire at the chemical unit. The victims, who are yet to be identified, are suspected to be workers of the plant," Taloja police said.

An official from Taloja Fire Station said, "The blaze started at the chemical unit around 4.30 pm. Ten fire engines started at the chemical unit around 4.30 pm.Ten fire engines from Taloja and nearby Panvel, Kalamboli were rushed to the site and the fire was brought under control by around 6 pm."

The entire chemical unit was reduced to ashes in the incident, the official added.

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

NORTH-EAST GYM TO REMAIN CLOSED AFTER CHEMICAL SCARE EVACUATION
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, discovery, response, chlorine

An Aberdeen gym evacuated and sealed off for hours after a chemical scare has announced it will remain closed until further notice.

Six fire crews, including two specialist units, raced to David Lloyd Gym after the alarm was raised about 3.15pm yesterday afternoon.

About 30 people inside the gym were evacuated, and police set up an exclusion zone and diverted traffic away from the entrance on Garthdee Road.

Last night, it emerged sodium bisulphate and chlorine had been found in a pipe in the plant room during a routine inspection.

Staff at the gym confirmed last night via Facebook that the club would not be reopening tomorrow morning as planned but instead would remain closed while safety checks are carried out.

The post said: ‰??We are working hard to rectify the issue in our plant room however unfortunately the club will not be opening at 5.30am tomorrow morning.

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

CONTROLLED EXPLOSION OF CHEMICAL TAKES PLACE AT SCHOOL IN SHREWSBURY
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, discovery, response, other_chemical

A controlled explosion took place at Shrewsbury High School today, following a Government warning over a laboratory chemical that can explode if not stored correctly.

Police assisted Explosive Ordnance Disposal officers who carried out the controlled explosion.

It comes after a reminder was sent to schools by the Department of Education over how certain chemicals should be stored.

A chemical, known as 2,4-DNP, is used in chemistry lessons and can become dangerous if it is allowed to dry out.

It is supposed to be stored in a labelled jar which is then kept inside an outer jar topped up with water as a precaution.

An advisory note recently issued to schools said Cleapss had ‰??recently received a number of calls regarding the chemical‰??.

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