From: DCHAS Membership Chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (6 articles)
Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2018 07:24:58 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: EE845810-6117-4460-8873-10F86AF2D1C8**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, December 12, 2018 at 7:24:45 AM

A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

Table of Contents (6 articles)

BATTERY ACID PROMPTS HAZMAT RESPONSE IN SOUTH BOSTON ‰?? BOSTON NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS
Tags: us_MA, transportation, release, response, batteries, sulfuric_acid

POOR MAINTENANCE CITED IN CHEMICAL PLANT BLAST
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, response, flammables

FIR FILED AGAINST IISC, TWO SCIENTIST OVER CYLINDER EXPLOSION ‰?? THE SIASAT DAILY
Tags: India, laboratory, follow-up, death, gas_cylinders

COSTLY SLIPS: IISC HAS BAD FIRE SAFETY RECORD
Tags: India, laboratory, follow-up, environmental, gas_cylinders

RETRACTABLE WALL STANCHIONS
Tags: us_VI, public, discovery, environmental

EDUCATION FOR FUTURE TEACHERS TO OHS PRINCIPLES
Tags: Slovakia, laboratory, discovery, environmental


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

BATTERY ACID PROMPTS HAZMAT RESPONSE IN SOUTH BOSTON ‰?? BOSTON NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS
https://whdh.com/news/battery-acid-prompts-hazmat-response-in-south-boston/
Tags: us_MA, transportation, release, response, batteries, sulfuric_acid

BOSTON (WHDH) - Battery acid prompted a hazardous materials response in South Boston on Monday, officials say.

Crews responding to the area of 647 Summer St. about 1:34 p.m. for an unknown chemical leak inside a tractor-trailer determined the chemical to be approximately two gallons of battery acid, according to the Boston Fire Department.

Boston police also assisted on scene.

The leak was safely contained, and the scene was determined to be safe.

There were no reported injuries.

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

POOR MAINTENANCE CITED IN CHEMICAL PLANT BLAST
http://www.ecns.cn/news/society/2018-12-10/detail-ifzanuxq9377375.shtml
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, response, flammables

A safety expert from the Ministry of Emergency Management said recently that the explosion at a chemical plant in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province, that claimed 23 lives last month, was the result of sloppy management, poor maintenance and the mishandling of the emergency.

The preliminary investigation found that the explosion on Nov 28 was caused by a leak of vinyl chloride gas, a highly flammable substance, from a storage facility at Hebei Shenghua Chemical Industry's plant. The facility housed three gas storage tanks, two of which were filled with the explosive chemical.

Sun Guangyu, the ministry's director of safety supervision and management of hazardous chemicals, said such tanks should be inspected and serviced every one to two years, and undergo major maintenance work every five to six years, according to a China Central Television report on Sunday.

The company had done no inspection or maintenance at all on the storage tanks since 2012, Sun said.

When the leak began, the operators noticed a drop in internal pressure from one of the tanks but failed to examine the situation at the site. They simply pumped more gas into the tank to increase container pressure, following standard procedures.

"This is not a correct way to deal with emergencies," Sun said. "The rapid increase in pressure broke the container and made the leak even worse."

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

FIR FILED AGAINST IISC, TWO SCIENTIST OVER CYLINDER EXPLOSION ‰?? THE SIASAT DAILY
https://www.siasat.com/news/fir-filed-against-iisc-two-scientist-over-cylinder-explosion-1443049/
Tags: India, laboratory, follow-up, death, gas_cylinders

Bengaluru: Indian Institute of Science(IISc) has been named in an FIR on Thursday after a cylinder explosion inside the institute‰??s laboratory which killed a researcher and severely injured three other men.

According to the reports, the cylinder explosion incident occurred on Wednesday around 2.20 pm killing researcher Manoj Kumar, 32 from Mysuru while his colleagues ‰?? Athulya Uday Kumar, Naresh Kumar and Kartik Shenoy sustained severe injuries, TOI reports.

The FIR names Prof Jagadeesh and KPJ Reddy as first accused in the case. They both own the Super Wave Technology Ltd (SWTPL) on the IISc premises. The IISc has been named third accused in the case.

Prof Jagadeesh is a senior scientist at the Laboratory for Hypersonic and Shock Wave Research (LHSR) of IISc‰??s aerospace engineering department.

Acting on complaint filed by MR Chandrashekhar, chief security officer for IISc, the Bengaluru Police have registered a case of ‰??causing death by negligence‰?? under IPC section (304A) and ‰??causing grievous hurt by act endangering life of personal safety of others‰??.

‰??Preliminary probe suggested no negligence. We are waiting for the forensic report and charges will be dropped against the suspects if it‰??s found that the blast was an accident,‰?? a police officer said.

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

COSTLY SLIPS: IISC HAS BAD FIRE SAFETY RECORD
https://www.deccanherald.com/state/iisc-has-bad-track-record-fire-707289.html
Tags: India, laboratory, follow-up, environmental, gas_cylinders

The recent hydrogen cylinder blast at the Hypersonic and Shockwave research laboratory at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) ‰?? which killed a research scholar and injured three others ‰?? has raised questions on the safety measures at the research centre.

The IISc security chief claims it has a special officer to ensure safety and an audit on the same is done often.

A former technical officer at the IISc, who requested anonymity, said that several suggestions put forward to step up safety measures at the institution long ago went unheard.

‰??I have over the years recommended that the IISc acquire a fire tender, but the recommendations have fallen on deaf ears. How many more young lives do we have to lose before we wake up,‰?? the officer asked.

Admitting the hydrogen cylinder blast was the first such incident at the 110-year-old institution, the former officer recalled the fire mishap of 2007, which gutted the Molecular Cell Biology laboratory, due to an electrical overload on the air conditioners. Several students inside the building had a miraculous escape then.

The former officer shared details of a 2010 workshop ‰?? Fire Safety Engineering and Structures in Fire ‰?? conducted by IISc‰??s Department of Civil Engineering, where top scientists, professors from elite institutions and seniors members from various disaster management groups across the country were in attendance.

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

RETRACTABLE WALL STANCHIONS
https://opexshare.doe.gov/lesson.cfm/2018/12/5/24706/Retractable-Wall-Stanchions-When-Cones-just-Wont-Work
Tags: us_VI, public, discovery, environmental

During an emergency hazard cones were to be placed at the entry and exit points outside a Chemistry Room to divert pedestrian traffic. During an actual emergency pedestrians would have time to enter the potentially contaminated hallway while cones were being retrieved. Wall Mounted Retractable Stanchions were proposed to more quickly divert pedestrian traffic and minimize potential exposure. The stanchions were installed strategically in appropriate areas so they can now be pulled out and positioned quickly.
Download Article

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

EDUCATION FOR FUTURE TEACHERS TO OHS PRINCIPLES
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042815029730?dgcid=raven_sd_recommender_email
Tags: Slovakia, laboratory, discovery, environmental

Work in workplace is connected with a particular danger. Workplace has to meet all safety conditions for health protection at work. The work in chemical laboratory by choosing proper experimental work and keeping rules of OHS helps to improve chemistry teaching. Necessary and very effective part of studies nowadays is modernization and keeping OHS principles in educational process at university, where teachers and students experience lack of teaching space and professional literature.In the article we presented the importance of university teacher training from chemistry and especially their continuing education in the field of OHS. The preparation is prevention of accidents and risks that could cause health or material damages in praxis.

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

---
For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post



The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.
The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.