From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (16 articles)
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2017 05:40:01 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 8E565923-463B-40C4-AF8E-3283F9134CE1**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, November 10, 2017 at 5:39:47 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 (16 articles)

FIREFIGHTERS: 7 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER HAZMAT SITUATION AT SPAR
Tags: us_SC, industrial, release, response, cleaners

CHEMICAL TESTS PLANNED NEAR KANSAS BORDER RAISE QUESTIONS
Tags: us_KS, public, release, environmental, unknown_chemical

NINE PEOPLE TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER POSSIBLE EXPOSURE TO MYSTERY CHEMICAL
Tags: us_TN, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

BUILDINGS ON UA CAMPUS RE-OPEN AFTER EVACUATION BECAUSE OF CHEMI
Tags: us_AL, laboratory, discovery, response, unknown_chemical

US SENATOR INTRODUCES BILL AUTHORISING FDA TO REGULATE COSMETICS
Tags: us_UT, public, discovery, environmental

HURRICANE SURVIVORS SUE EPA OVER DELAYED FORMALDEHYDE BAN
Tags: us_LA, public, follow-up, environmental, formaldehyde

3 HOSPITALIZED AFTER HAZMAT SITUATION AT FEDEX DEPOT IN WESTON ‰?? WSVN 7NEWS
Tags: us_FL, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

COLUMBUS DIVISION OF FIRE RESPOND TO MINOR INCIDENT AT SCOTT LAB
Tags: us_OH, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY AFTER ROGERSVILLE CLINIC STAFF MEMBERS FALL ILL
Tags: us_TN, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

SARNIA-AREA PLANT EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, response, hydrogen_sulfide

JUDGE‰??S RULING HAMSTRINGS FEDERAL PROBE INTO TORRANCE REFINERY EXPLOSION, CRITICS CLAIM ‰?? DAILY BREEZE
Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, hydrofluoric_acid

FIRE OFFICIALS: 5 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER 'EXPOSED TO UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE' AT MD. HIGHSCHOOL
Tags: us_MD, education, release, response, unknown_chemical

EXPLOSIVE CHEMICALS WERE STORED AT CRACKER GODOWN: LAB REPORT
Tags: India, industrial, follow-up, death, fireworks, sulphur

TRAILER CARRYING POOL CHEMICALS OVERTURNS ON U.S. 1 IN INDIAN RIVER COUNTY
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, injury, chlorine

RIDLEY‰??S MARKET IN GYPSUM EVACUATED BECAUSE OF ‰??HAZMAT‰?? SITUATION
Tags: us_CO, public, release, response, other_chemical

STATE POLICE BOMB SQUAD CALLED TO JAFFREY FOR ‰??SODA BOTTLE BOMB‰??
Tags: us_NH, public, discovery, response, bomb


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FIREFIGHTERS: 7 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER HAZMAT SITUATION AT SPAR
Tags: us_SC, industrial, release, response, cleaners

DUNCAN, SC (FOX Carolina) -
Firefighters said seven people were taken to the hospital via ambulance after a hazmat situation Thursday morning at a large industrial facility in Spartanburg County.

Firefighters said the incident was reported around 9:20 a.m. at Pratt Industries on Morley Court.

The building was evacuated and firefighters said they determined gases were leaking from canister in the plant.

Seven people were taken to the hospital due to respiratory complaints. No one was hurt.

The canister contained some sort of household cleaner and was removed from the building for further testing and proper disposal by DHEC, firefighters said.

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

CHEMICAL TESTS PLANNED NEAR KANSAS BORDER RAISE QUESTIONS
Tags: us_KS, public, release, environmental, unknown_chemical

Congressman Ron Estes, R-Kansas, announced on Thursday night he has ‰??numerous questions‰?? about chemical tests the Department of Homeland Security wants to conduct just across the state line in Oklahoma.

Homeland Security officials plan to execute a ‰??low level outdoor release‰?? of inert chemical and biological simulant materials at the old Chilocco Indian School campus north of Newkirk, Okla., after the first of the year and again next summer. The campus is just south of the Kansas border, a few miles south of Arkansas City.

‰??The purpose of this study is to gather data that enhances our predictive capabilities in the event of a biological agent attack,‰?? a statement on the Homeland Security web site says. ‰??Specifically, this work will help in predicting the extent to which an intentional release of a biological agent may penetrate single family and multi-family structures.‰??

The environmental assessment of the proposed chemical tests states low concentrations of particles will be released at two buildings on the now-abandoned Chilocco campus.

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

NINE PEOPLE TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER POSSIBLE EXPOSURE TO MYSTERY CHEMICAL
Tags: us_TN, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

HAWKINS COUNTY, Tenn. - It was a normal afternoon at the Rural Health Consortium in Rogersville, as a man arrived for a routine doctors appointment. Soon after, staff member began falling ill.

"When we went in, we actually observed at least three nurses pretty much on the floor that were sick," says Rogersville chief of police Doug Nelson.

Rogersville police immediately alerted the Kingsport Fire Department Hazmat Team, treating the situation as a potential chemical exposure due to the symptoms of the staff.

"Symptoms Iike, lightheaded, sick, like they were going to pass out kind of feeling, couldn't breath. So, they started transporting all of them to the hospital," Chief Nelson says.

The Kingsport Fire Department Hazmat Team tested the air quality and surfaces at the Rural Health Consortium building and each patient's clothing, but no trace of harmful chemicals was found.

"From the time they're exposed to the time we actually start testing this could have dissipated. We know that the gentleman in question has been doing stripping and waxing floors, so it could be something associated with stripping and waxing the floors," says Chief Deputy of the Kingsport Fire Department Jim Everhart.

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

BUILDINGS ON UA CAMPUS RE-OPEN AFTER EVACUATION BECAUSE OF CHEMI
Tags: us_AL, laboratory, discovery, response, unknown_chemical

TUSCALOOSA, AL (WBRC) -
An all-clear has been issued and the three buildings evacuated and closed earlier this evening have reopened on the University of Alabama campus.

According to an alert from the University of Alabama sent Thursday evening, three buildings were evacuated because of what was called a chemical storage issue.

An official with the University said the three buildings were Shelby Hall, the Science & Engineering Complex, and the McMillan Building.

No injuries or issues were reported as part of the evacuation.

Authorities with Tuscaloosa Fire responded to the scene and removed the chemicals. They were then destroyed in a controlled explosion in an empty lot on campus.

Folks were asked to avoid the area around the buildings until the 'all-clear' was issued.

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

US SENATOR INTRODUCES BILL AUTHORISING FDA TO REGULATE COSMETICS
Tags: us_UT, public, discovery, environmental

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) has introduced a bill that would allow the US Food and Drug Administration to regulate cosmetics ingredients. The bill is a less ambitious alternative to one favoured by NGOs.

S2003, the proposed FDA Cosmetic Safety and Modernization Act, introduced on 25 October, would give the agency the authority to review chemical ingredients in cosmetics and regulate them.

However, the bill would not mandate reviews, and it would require the FDA to declare a substance safe "if there is reasonable certainty that the cosmetic is not injurious to users" under typical circumstances.

In addition, the legislation would prohibit states from taking action to regulate any cosmetic chemical that the FDA had identified for review.

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

HURRICANE SURVIVORS SUE EPA OVER DELAYED FORMALDEHYDE BAN
Tags: us_LA, public, follow-up, environmental, formaldehyde

Survivors of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina are suing the Environmental Protection Agency for upending the enforcement of rules governing the safe use of formaldehyde.

An article from The Advocate explains why the issue is so important to some Louisiana residents, including members of the advocacy group ‰??A Community Voice.‰??

‰??Formaldehyde is so dangerous for our health that A Community Voice is fighting to have it regulated more, not less,‰?? explained the group‰??s secretary-treasurer, Debra Campbell. ‰??We believe many of us have had harms to our health due to living in FEMA trailers after Hurricane Katrina [‰?|] We need more regulations of toxins, not less.‰??

According to Campbell and The Advocate, formaldehyde was used in the construction of emergency trailer shelters deployed to New Orleans and its surroundings after the city was ravaged by hurricanes in 2005.

The Center for Disease Control reports that formaldehyde can irritate the skin, eyes and airways.

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

3 HOSPITALIZED AFTER HAZMAT SITUATION AT FEDEX DEPOT IN WESTON ‰?? WSVN 7NEWS
Tags: us_FL, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

WESTON, FLA. (WSVN) - - Rescue crews took three people to the hospital after a hazmat scare led to the evacuation of a FedEx facility in Weston, Wednesday night.

According to Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, crews responded to a call for a fall injury at a medication distribution depot for FedEx, located at 2915 Weston Road, at around 8 p.m.

Officials said the patient was compaining of shortness of breath and chest pain. Crews then noticed a haze inside the 152,000-square-foot structure, as well as additional employees with similar symptoms.

A Broward Sheriff‰??s Office hazmat crew and Sunrise Fire Rescue then responded to the scene.

‰??As the materials team made entry, and after a battery of different tests, they were unable to determine the cause of the haze,‰?? said BSFR Battalion Chief Michael Kane.

Crews did not find any harmful readings, either inside or outside the facility, and gave the all clear.

First responders evaluated 12 people and transported three of them to the Cleveland Clinic for further evaluation.

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

COLUMBUS DIVISION OF FIRE RESPOND TO MINOR INCIDENT AT SCOTT LAB
Tags: us_OH, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

The Columbus Division of Fire on Wednesday responded to a call about an active fire on the fourth floor of Scott Laboratory, but the situation had been contained by the time firefighters arrived.
The call came from two students inside the Turbulence and Combustion Research Lab, Captain Brian Williams said.
Williams said the students ‰??experiment with flames and combustion all the time,‰?? but, on Wednesday, a piece of lab equipment burned to the point where the students decided to call 911.
The lab equipment, though, is made in such a way that when it catches on fire, it will shut itself off, which is what happened Wednesday and why the incident remained very minor, Williams said.
‰??Was there a fire? There might have been a tiny little fire on the instrument equipment,‰?? he said. ‰??But it was contained and [the students] did everything they were supposed to do. They called 911; it was part of their protocol.‰??

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

INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY AFTER ROGERSVILLE CLINIC STAFF MEMBERS FALL ILL
Tags: us_TN, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

Several staff members of a Rogersville clinic were hospitalized Wednesday after they suddenly fell ill while examining a patient who reportedly reeked of chemicals.

Hawkins County authorities responded about 3:30 p.m. to Rural Health Services Consortium off U.S. Route 66 after at least one staff member fell unconscious and others became nauseous, according to County Emergency Management Agency Director Gary Murrell.

The clinic was evacuated. Ambulances took three staff members to the nearby Hawkins County Memorial Hospital; six others transported themselves.

"The patients that we received presented primarily with headaches, nausea (and) vomiting," said hospital spokesman Jim Wozniak, who wouldn't give further details about the symptoms.

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

SARNIA-AREA PLANT EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, response, hydrogen_sulfide

A chemical plant near Sarnia evacuated workers Wednesday afternoon after a hydrogen sulphide leak, a plant worker said.

Staff at the Nova Chemicals site in Corunna, south of Sarnia, were told to evacuate at about 4:45 p.m., the plant source, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, told the Star and Global News. An alert issued by the nearby First Nations community of Aamjiwnaang stated the chemical spilled was hydrogen sulphide.

It‰??s not clear when the leak began. The same source said Nova staff were told Wednesday morning that a leak ‰??happened last (Tuesday) night and (was) still not contained.‰??

The company, which employs about 500 people at the plant, called an all-clear just after 6 p.m. A spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, which must legally be told about any chemical spills, didn‰??t say if Nova notified the government of the incident but said it‰??s now aware of an ‰??alarm‰?? at the plant.

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

JUDGE‰??S RULING HAMSTRINGS FEDERAL PROBE INTO TORRANCE REFINERY EXPLOSION, CRITICS CLAIM ‰?? DAILY BREEZE
Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, hydrofluoric_acid

A former official at the U.S. Chemical Safety Board contends a federal judge‰??s recent ruling could not only hamper the federal agency‰??s ability to conduct a full investigation into the February 2015 blast at the Torrance refinery, but severely undermine its capacity to conduct future probes.

U.S. District Court Judge Consuelo B. Marshall issued the ruling Friday in a case related to a petition filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the agency seeking to compel then refinery owner ExxonMobil to fully comply with administrative subpoenas related to the explosion and its cause.

The CSB has said the blast, which showered nearby neighborhoods with industrial fallout, almost caused a near-catastrophic release of potentially deadly hydrofluoric acid that could have killed or injured tens of thousands. The blast catapulted a 40-ton piece of equipment 100 feet that landed within 5 feet of a tank filled with modified hydrofluoric acid.

The agency is trying to find more precise information about the risks associated with the refinery‰??s use of modified HF, which contains an additive that supposedly inhibits the chemical‰??s ability to form a dangerous toxic cloud.

Data requests overly-broad

But ExxonMobil objected to some of the requests for data as overly broad, and Marshall agreed.

‰??Accordingly, the court concludes that CSB has been granted authority to investigate the February 2015 accidental release, but that its subpoena authority is limited to seeking information relevant to that investigation,‰?? Marshall wrote. ‰??The court concludes that CSB‰??s subpoenas are enforceable to the extent they seek information relevant to the ‰??facts, conditions and circumstances and the cause or probable cause‰?? of the February 2015 accidental release.

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

FIRE OFFICIALS: 5 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER 'EXPOSED TO UNKNOWN SUBSTANCE' AT MD. HIGHSCHOOL
Tags: us_MD, education, release, response, unknown_chemical

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (ABC7) ‰?? Five people were taken to a hospital after they were exposed to an unknown substance at a high school in Silver Spring Tuesday, fire officials said. As of 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, three of those people have reportedly been released while two individuals remain in the hospital.
According to Pete Piringer with the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service, the hazmat situation took place at the Kennedy High School located at 1901 Randolph Road.
At around 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, it was discovered that a student at Kennedy High School had a "white powdery substance", according to Montgomery County Public Schools.
Officials say the student was taken into a conference room where five staff members were and that's when the substance spilled. The five staffers were taken to the hospital, according to MCPS, but testing on the substance has come back negative for fetanyl.

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

EXPLOSIVE CHEMICALS WERE STORED AT CRACKER GODOWN: LAB REPORT
Tags: India, industrial, follow-up, death, fireworks, sulphur

A report of Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Mohali, has confirmed the presence of dangerous chemicals in samples taken from Sullar Gharat firecracker godown, where a blast had killed seven persons on September 19.
Sources said after blast on September 19, the Sangrur police had sent samples to the FSL. A team of the FSL took samples from all five cracker godowns in the vicinity of Sullar Gharat warehouse on October 11.
The report reads, ‰??Samples contained chemicals and other material generally used to prepare crackers and, on explosion, it can cause loss to people and property.‰??
Apart from confirming the presence of potassium, nitrate, sulphur, carbon and chlorate, the report has confirmed the presence of pressure-sensitive explosive material.

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

TRAILER CARRYING POOL CHEMICALS OVERTURNS ON U.S. 1 IN INDIAN RIVER COUNTY
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, injury, chlorine

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY ‰?? A spill of potentially hazardous pool chlorine and acid on U.S. 1 north of Vero Beach, shut down the highway in both directions during morning rush hours Tuesday.

Three people were transported to a hospital because of exposure to the fumes, according to the Indian River County Sheriff's Office.

That includes the driver of the truck and two people who stopped to help, said Lt. Thom Raulen.

Meanwhile hundreds of vehicles backed up on the highway.

As a precaution, motorists were diverted onto other roads including two-lane Old Dixie Highway. Winds were blowing south and U.S. 1 was closed from the scene of the accident, at 57th Street, south to Indian River Boulevard.

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

RIDLEY‰??S MARKET IN GYPSUM EVACUATED BECAUSE OF ‰??HAZMAT‰?? SITUATION
Tags: us_CO, public, release, response, other_chemical

Emergency responders were called to Ridley‰??s Market in Gypsum on Tuesday morning because of a suspected hazardous materials leak.

According to fire officials on the scene, there was a ‰??significant leak‰?? in the store‰??s refrigeration unit. Store employees noticed the leak Tuesday morning and called a repairman who subsequently located the source of the leak and called 911 because of the scope of the problem.

Officials said there was no immediate danger to public health or to nearby businesses. No injures were reported in connection with the incident.

The store was likely to be closed through the end of the day.

‰??We need to work to contain the product and figure out how to remove it,‰?? Gypsum Fire Chief Justin Kirkland said from the scene.

The exposure risk for the refrigeration chemical that leaked at the store is that it can cause suffocation if people are in close contact, Kirkland said.

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

STATE POLICE BOMB SQUAD CALLED TO JAFFREY FOR ‰??SODA BOTTLE BOMB‰??
Tags: us_NH, public, discovery, response, bomb

The New Hampshire State Police Bomb Squad was called to Jaffrey on Monday afternoon to detonate a ‰??soda bottle bomb‰?? found on Community Field.

The bomb ‰?? also known as a chemical reaction bomb ‰?? was safely detonated with the use of a bomb squad tool, according to Bomb Squad Sergeant Jeff Dade, in an interview on scene Monday.

‰??These bombs are extremely unpredictable,‰?? said Dade, who said the bombs are typically constructed by juveniles seeking thrills. ‰??The motivation is typically not to hurt anyone, but oftentimes there are unintended consequences.‰??

Bombs of this nature are made by placing aluminum foil and a mixture of chemicals into a soda bottle or other type of plastic bottle with a lid, according to Dade. The plastic bottle eventually explodes due to a pressure build up caused by a chemical reaction between the chemicals and aluminum foil in the bottle.

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