From: "Funck, Steven" <sfunck**At_Symbol_Here**MESSIAH.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (10 articles)
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2018 13:53:51 +0000
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: BY1PR02MB12584E4EC15F9503E7C31915CEC70**At_Symbol_Here**BY1PR02MB1258.namprd02.prod.outlook.com
In-Reply-To <1109037139E1524980CF9CBEB2476618010B14EA1B**At_Symbol_Here**UMF-EX10EMB1.umflint.edu>


I do not often posts things here. But that "normal" quote along with the incident which occurred "in an unknown container" really bothered me. In addition it would appear that at least 2 of the 3 academic incidents reported in today's list were in Engineering buildings. That goes back to the recent discussions on this listserv.

Steven S. Funck, MS, CSMM
Natural Sciences Laboratory Program Manager
Messiah College
One College Ave.
Suite 3049
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

Phone: (717) 796-1800 (ext. 2079)
Fax: (717) 691-6046
SFunck**At_Symbol_Here**messiah.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Wilhelm, Monique
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2018 8:31 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (10 articles)

Is anyone else bothered by the accounts of things in today's posts? "Only" one person injured at CSU. A student was exposed to a chemical during "normal" experiments.

......no wonder the public seems to think that because I am a chemist I just blow things up all the time!!! Sorry for the rant...but it is a week of outreach demos and I keep hearing this from the kids over and over.

Monique Wilhelm
Laboratory Manager
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
University of Michigan " Flint


-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of DCHAS Membership Chair
Sent: Wednesday, February 28, 2018 7:43 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (10 articles)

Article summaries are also available at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

Table of Contents (10 articles)

NOTRE DAME CLEARS BUILDING AFTER SMALL EXPLOSION IN LABORATORY
Tags: us_IN, laboratory, explosion, injury, acid

CANCER-CAUSING CHEMICAL FOUND IN SOME SANTA ROSA DRINKING WATER
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, environmental, benzene

KANSAS MAN SUING AFTER E-CIG BATTERY CAUGHT FIRE IN POCKET
Tags: us_KS, public, explosion, injury, batteries

BUILDING EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILLS IN LAB
Tags: us_GA, laboratory, release, response, other_chemical

CHEMICAL FIRE BURSTS IN CSULB ENGINEERING BUILDING, ONLY 1 INJURED
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, fire, injury, other_chemical

CHEMICAL RELEASE SENDS 11 OFFSET PAPERBACK WORKERS TO HOSPITAL AFTER EVACUATION
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

IS THIS WHY FACEBOOK IS SUCH A TOXIC DUMP? HP, HPE SUED FOR 'LEAKING CHEMS' INTO OFFICE SITE
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, environmental, solvent, toxics

5 HOSPITALIZED AFTER DRUG EXPOSURE AT TRI COUNTY REGIONAL JAIL
Tags: us_OH, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

CHEMICAL EXPLOSION // THE OBSERVER
Tags: us_IN, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH STUDENT HOSPITALIZED AFTER BEING EXPOSED TO CHEMICAL
Tags: us_UT, laboratory, release, injury, other_chemical


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

NOTRE DAME CLEARS BUILDING AFTER SMALL EXPLOSION IN LABORATORY http://cbs4indy.com/2018/02/26/notre-dame-clears-building-after-small-explosion-in-laboratory/
Tags: us_IN, laboratory, explosion, injury, acid

Authorities evacuated an academic building at the University of Notre Dame following a small chemical explosion in a laboratory.

University spokesman Dennis Brown says the explosion occurred Monday morning on the third floor of the Stinson-Remick Hall of Engineering.

He says "a staff member was working with some acidic solutions and there was a small explosion. The acid washed up onto her so she was treated immediately."

Brown says the unidentified staff member was transported to a hospital as a precaution.

The building was expected to reopen later Monday.

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

CANCER-CAUSING CHEMICAL FOUND IN SOME SANTA ROSA DRINKING WATER https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2018/02/27/cancer-causing-chemical-detected-in-fountaingrove-drinking-water/
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, environmental, benzene

Some drinking water in Santa Rosa remains undrinkable months after the North Bay fires, and pressure is mounting on the city"s water department to locate and control the cause.

"The city is very interested to get people back and rebuilt into their homes, of course, as soon as possible," says Bennett Horenstein, the City of Santa Rosa"s Water Director.

"This contamination is certainly attributable to the fire."
Bennett Horenstein, Santa Rosa Water Department Fire savaged the neighborhood around Fountaingrove parkway last October. Where more than 350 families once lived, 13 homes remain standing. In November, people returning to the neighborhood complained of foul smelling and tasting water.

Engineers for Santa Rosa"s water department isolated water service for Fountaingrove, in an aim to prevent wider contamination. The department ordered residents not to drink or boil the water there. Then its tests found benzene, a chemical that can cause cancer.

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

KANSAS MAN SUING AFTER E-CIG BATTERY CAUGHT FIRE IN POCKET http://www.kansas.com/news/local/crime/article202246854.html
Tags: us_KS, public, explosion, injury, batteries

A Derby man is suing a Wichita vaping shop after he says a spare battery for his e-cigarette exploded in the front pocket of his pants.

Daniel Anderson suffered chemical and thermal burns to his left leg and hands caused by fire and heat that rolled out of the lithium ion battery, which he bought from Big E"s Vapor Shop, according to a lawsuit filed Feb. 6 in Sedgwick County District Court.

"It was like a flame thrower. It just ignited and was a big ball of fire," said Wichita attorney Dustin DeVaughn, who is representing Anderson in the case.

Anderson was carrying the spare battery, his car keys and coins in his left front pocket of his pants the morning of Feb. 29, 2016, while he was at work. When the metal items touched, it caused a short to the outside of the battery.

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

BUILDING EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILLS IN LAB
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/cobb-county/lab-evacuated-after-possible-chemical-reaction-causes-fire-officials-say/708158681
Tags: us_GA, laboratory, release, response, other_chemical

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - A laboratory in Cobb County was evacuated after a spill.

Investigators say Chemlink Laboratory on Royal Drive in Kennesaw reported spoke in the building Tuesday afternoon.

The lab manufactures high-performance adhesives, sealants, coatings and related products.

The Cobb County fire Department said sodium percarbonate, a product similar to that used to clean front loader washing machines, spilled. Something then caused the sprinklers to go off, which caused the diluted product to run.

The entire building was evacuated and Hazmat was called to the scene.

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

CHEMICAL FIRE BURSTS IN CSULB ENGINEERING BUILDING, ONLY 1 INJURED
http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/?p=36866
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, fire, injury, other_chemical

A chemical fire erupted in the Engineering and Computer Sciences (ECS) Building of California State University, Long Beach on Tuesday, Feb. 27, resulting in one injury and an evacuation, according to Jake Heflin, the public information officer for the Long Beach Fire Department (LBFD).

Heflin said the call was received at approximately 1:23pm.

Firefighters identified chemicals" lithium hydroxide and lithium in a solid state" inside of an unknown container. He said it is not clear as to why those chemicals were in the classroom, but he believes it was part of a school project or experiment.

"There was a reaction and a subsequent fire," Heflin said. Firefighters extinguished the fire at 1:50pm. The fire did not spread from inside the classroom where it started, however. Heflin said the room suffered from smoke damage and the sprinkler system was activated.

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

CHEMICAL RELEASE SENDS 11 OFFSET PAPERBACK WORKERS TO HOSPITAL AFTER EVACUATION
http://citizensvoice.com/news/chemical-release-sends-11-offset-paperback-workers-to-hospital-after-evacuation-1.2307135
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

DALLAS TWP. - Federal and state officials are investigating this morning"s chemical release at Offset Paperback Manufacturing that sent 11 employees to the hospital, a deputy fire chief who responded said Tuesday afternoon.

The facility along Memorial Highway was evacuated around 7:30 a.m. when employees fell ill from the release of a chemical commonly used in the printing industry, said Deputy Chief John Wilkes, of the Back Mountain Regional Fire and EMS.

Officials used a school bus to transport 11 employees to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, Wilkes said.

"Most were complaining of headaches and itchy skin," Wilkes said.

Members of Dallas Township and Luzerne County"s emergency management agencies responded to the scene.

A hazardous materials response team from Datom Products in Dunmore was called in to decontaminate the site.

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

IS THIS WHY FACEBOOK IS SUCH A TOXIC DUMP? HP, HPE SUED FOR 'LEAKING CHEMS' INTO OFFICE SITE https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/02/27/stanford_hp_hpe_hazmat/
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, environmental, solvent, toxics

Stanford University is suing the descendants of Hewlett-Packard and Agilent for allegedly contaminating a property in Palo Alto, California, with toxic chemicals.

The Silicon Valley uni has demanding the IT giants pick up its hazmat cleaning bill to scrub the site of industrial solvents and other pollutants.

The property, 1601 S. California Avenue, was leased by the school to HP from 1970 through 2005. Agilent, a HP spinoff, used the building beginning in 1999 until 2005. In 2015, HP split into HP Inc and HPE.

After HP left, the building was inhabited by Facebook for two years before Zuck and Co landed at their Menlo Park facility in 2011. Facebook is not named in the lawsuit, and there is no suggestion Facebook caused or added to the chemical mess, but funnily enough, it turned into a toxic hell hole anyway.

Upstarts in solvent
Some time over the course of those three and a half decades, Stanford claimed, the building, while in use by HP, leaked polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and trichloroethylene (TCE) into the soil. PCBs are used in things like coolant fluid, dielectrics, and carbonless-copy paper, while TCE is an industrial solvent.

When, in 2015, Stanford sought to build new faculty housing on the plot, they found the land contaminated with the two hazardous materials, and were forced to bring in a cleanup crew that cost it "millions of dollars."

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

5 HOSPITALIZED AFTER DRUG EXPOSURE AT TRI COUNTY REGIONAL JAIL https://www.mydaytondailynews.com/news/local/drug-exposure-incident-creates-hazmat-incident-tri-county-regional-jail/Y8dxAJpPben1W2Lv2kMe1H/
Tags: us_OH, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

MECHANICSBURG "
Five officials, including two correctional officers and three deputies, were hospitalized after an inmate brought a substance into the Tri County Regional Jail Monday night.

OTHER LOCAL NEWS: Firefighter arrested on OVI charge

According to Urbana Fire Chief Mark Keller, a HAZMAT team was dispatched to the jail around 11:30 p.m. for a potential chemical substance an inmate brought into the jail.

The five officials were transported to area hospitals after quickly showing flu-like symptoms including vomiting and nausea not long after the female inmate was booked into the jail.

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

CHEMICAL EXPLOSION // THE OBSERVER
http://ndsmcobserver.com/tag/chemical-explosion/
Tags: us_IN, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical

A chemical explosion in Stinson-Remick Hall of Engineering caused the building to be evacuated for several hours starting around 9:45 a.m. Monday, according to an email from University spokesman Dennis Brown. According to the email, the "small" explosion occurred on the third floor of the building and splashed a staff member with an acidic solution. The

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

UNIVERSITY OF UTAH STUDENT HOSPITALIZED AFTER BEING EXPOSED TO CHEMICAL http://fox13now.com/2018/02/26/university-of-utah-student-hospitalized-after-being-exposed-to-chemical/
Tags: us_UT, laboratory, release, injury, other_chemical

SALT LAKE CITY " The Salt Lake City Fire Department said that a student was transferred to the hospital after her hands were exposed to a chemical.

According to a tweet by the fire department, the 28-year-old female was exposed to triethylaluminium, a liquid that is ignited when it is exposed to air.

After being exposed, the woman was transported to the University of Utah Hospital for treatment. The fire department said that she was in good condition.

The student was exposed to the chemical during normal experiments, the fire department said.

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

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