Check out Safety Emporium for your N95, N99, and face shield needs.
From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (13 articles)
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 05:36:31 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 6D035DB4-3012-46CD-BA23-794CBBF4CA79**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, September 26, 2014 at 5:36:09 AM
A service 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 (13 articles)
SPRINGFIELD APARTMENT BUILDING EVACUATED, HAZMAT TEAM CALLED AFTER MAN ATTEMPTS SUICIDE WITH 'HOMEMADE CYANIDE COCKTAIL'
Tags: us_MA, public, release, injury, cyanide, suicide
AGING NATURAL GASLINES POSE HIDDEN THREAT ACROSS U.S.
Tags: transportation, discovery, environmental, natural_gas
DETONATION RISK AT DOE SITE; WASTE DRUMS CONTAIN BITS OF PLUTONIUM
Tags: us_TN, industrial, discovery, environmental, radiation, waste
GERMANY'S MERCK TO BUY SIGMA-ALDRICH FOR $17 BILLION TO BOOST LAB SUPPLIES OPERATION
Tags: laboratory, discovery, response, drugs
WHITE HOUSE TELLS UNIVERSITIES TO POLICE WORK ON DANGEROUS PATHOGENS
Tags: laboratory, follow-up, response
HAZMAT SITUATION AT NEWARK GAS COMPANY
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, response, diborane, gas_cylinders
SEVEN IN HOSPITAL AFTER SPILL AT FLOOR PRODUCT FACTORY IN KNOXFIELD
Tags: Australia, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYERS BURNED BY CLEANING CHEMICAL AT MARYLAND SCHOOL, NEWSPAPER REPORTS
Tags: us_DC, education, release, response, cleaners
UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS DELVE INTO CHEMICAL SPILL RESPONSE
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
BREAKING NEWS, WEATHER AND RAZORBACK SPORTS
Tags: us_AR, public, release, response, hydrochloric_acid
5 DEAD, ONE INJURED AT CENTRAL CHINA CHEMICAL PLANT FIRE
Tags: China, industrial, fire, death, unknown_chemical
CHEMICAL SPILL AT NORTH CANAAN FARM SENDS TWO TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_CT, industrial, release, injury, bleach, cleaners, phosphoric_acid
UPDATE: HAZMAT CALL IN MOUNT JOY THE RESULT OF IMPROPERLY USED CLEANING PRODUCTS
Tags: us_PA, public, release, response, solvent
---------------------------------------------
SPRINGFIELD APARTMENT BUILDING EVACUATED, HAZMAT TEAM CALLED AFTER MAN ATTEMPTS SUICIDE WITH 'HOMEMADE CYANIDE COCKTAIL'
Tags: us_MA, public, release, injury, cyanide, suicide
SPRINGFIELD ? A man who reportedly attempted suicide by ingesting a homemade cyanide cocktail was taken to Baystate Medical Center early Thursday morning, and the State Street apartment building where he whipped up the potentially lethal potion was evacuated as a precaution, according to officials.
Residents of three of the brick building's four floors were evacuated after an odor from the cocktail was detected inside 327 State St., said Dennis Leger, executive aide to Springfield Fire Commissioner Joseph Conant.
Firefighters were called to the scene at 6:11 a.m., but city police were already dealing with the situation since at least 5:30 a.m. A Springfield police officer at the scene reported that the victim, who was taken to Baystate Medical Center for emergency treatment, attempted to commit suicide with a "homemade cyanide" cocktail made from apple seeds.
---------------------------------------------
AGING NATURAL GASLINES POSE HIDDEN THREAT ACROSS U.S.
Tags: transportation, discovery, environmental, natural_gas
About six feet below street level, in a trench dug by Peoples Natural Gas Co. workers, lay two sections of foot-wide, yellow plastic pipe they would join. Nearby, a woman and small boy pressed smiling faces to the screen window of a house, the boy enthralled by the workers? activity.
This pipe, less than 10 feet from the house, replaced a pitted cast iron tube laid by a generation of utility workers 90 years or more ago. The old pipe is like nearly 100,000 miles of natural gas distribution lines serving homes and businesses across the country. No one knows their true age ? or when wear might lead to rupture.
?We have a ticking time bomb under most of our cities, especially in the Northeast where we have older cities,? warns Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski.
He knows the importance of replacing pipe like the one in Squirrel Hill. In 2011, a gas explosion killed five people and destroyed most of a block of his Lehigh County city. The only explosion deadlier in the past decade happened March 12 in East Harlem, N.Y., when eight people died. That explosion destroyed two apartment buildings and injured 48 people.
---------------------------------------------
DETONATION RISK AT DOE SITE; WASTE DRUMS CONTAIN BITS OF PLUTONIUM
Tags: us_TN, industrial, discovery, environmental, radiation, waste
OAK RIDGE ? The U.S. Department of Energy is taking steps to address a newly identified detonation risk involving decades-old storage drums containing small amounts of radioactive plutonium.
The potential threat was first recognized in May by URS-CH2M Oak Ridge (UCOR), the federal agency's environmental manager in Oak Ridge. Based on new information, the contractor reportedly declared a "potential inadequacy" in the safety analysis for the containers stored at the Melton Valley Solid Waste Storage Facility on the southern outskirts of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Mike Koentop, executive officer at DOE's Office of Environmental Management in Oak Ridge, confirmed this week that a "small population" of drums "has the potential to generate hydrogen and oxygen gases higher than anticipated."
He added: "Based on these characteristics, the containers were determined to be at slight risk for a detonation hazard."
Koentop declined to specify the number of plutonium-bearing drums initially identified as a concern, apparently because of security restrictions. But he said additional data and analyses determined that almost half of the original number did not pose a detonation threat. Some other drums were subsequently added to the lot and evaluated for possible concerns.
---------------------------------------------
GERMANY'S MERCK TO BUY SIGMA-ALDRICH FOR $17 BILLION TO BOOST LAB SUPPLIES OPERATION
Tags: laboratory, discovery, response, drugs
(Reuters) - Drugs and chemicals maker Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE) agreed on Monday to acquire U.S.-based Sigma-Aldrich Corp (SIAL.O) for $17 billion in cash to boost its lab supplies business, the biggest takeover in the German group's history.
The deal helps Merck, 70 percent controlled by the descendants of its 17th century founder, to focus more on supplying drugmakers and academic institutions with chemicals and services, seen as offering a steadier income stream than drug development.
"With this acquisition we have the opportunity to turn one of our most reliable businesses into a core earnings contributor," said finance chief Marcus Kuhnert.
---------------------------------------------
WHITE HOUSE TELLS UNIVERSITIES TO POLICE WORK ON DANGEROUS PATHOGENS
Tags: laboratory, follow-up, response
(Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday charged U.S. universities with policing their research on dangerous pathogens that could be used both for legitimate purposes and for biowarfare or bioterrorism.
The long-awaited guidelines, issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, lay out a framework for university safety review boards to identify research that falls into this category, known as "dual use research of concern."
Such research must be reported to the federal government, the policy states. Failure to comply could result in the loss of federal funding for the researcher or even the broader university.
Scientists who have raised concerns about the risks posed by research on the world?s most dangerous pathogens were not impressed.
?There is absolutely nothing new of substance,? said Richard Ebright, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University. ?It?s a cruel joke.?
---------------------------------------------
HAZMAT SITUATION AT NEWARK GAS COMPANY
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, response, diborane, gas_cylinders
A leaking container of potentially explosive gas was contained safely after prompting the evacuation of a Newark gas company Wednesday morning, a fire battalion chief said.
The fire department's hazardous materials team responded at 7:13 a.m. to the Matheson Tri-Gas facility at 6775 Central Ave., Alameda County fire Battalion Chief Stephanie Radecke said.
An alarm indicated a 5-foot gas cylinder containing diborane was leaking and there was condensation on the tank and other evidence it was leaking, Radecke said.
The building was evacuated and the tank was contained inside so there was no threat to the environment, Radecke said. The hazmat team then entered the building to move the tank to a secure containment area.
After determining the gas had been properly contained and stabilized, Matheson employees were allowed to reenter the building and resume work, Radecke said.
---------------------------------------------
SEVEN IN HOSPITAL AFTER SPILL AT FLOOR PRODUCT FACTORY IN KNOXFIELD
Tags: Australia, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical
SEVEN people have been taken to Dandenong Hospital after a chemical spill at a Knoxfield factory this afternoon.
The CFA was called to the incident at 12.10pm after drums containing unknown chemicals at a Stud Rd floor product factory leaked across 12 pallets of floating floorboards.
CFA operations officer Tim Holland said six crews from Hallam, Rowville and Scoresby were called to clean up the spill.
The Hallam CFA hazmat crew is still on site attempting to determine what chemicals were in the drums.
---------------------------------------------
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYERS BURNED BY CLEANING CHEMICAL AT MARYLAND SCHOOL, NEWSPAPER REPORTS
Tags: us_DC, education, release, response, cleaners
Parents of football players at a high school near Washington D.C. are upset after a cleaning chemical resulted in burns the chest and back of some players, the Washington Post reported Tuesday . The school ordered a cleaning effort when coaches suspected one player had a staph infection.
The parents at Springbook High School in Silver Spring, Md., were upset, not only because of the burns to their kids, but also for the lack of notification from administrators of the possible staph infection, the newspaper reported.
The disinfectant used and sprayed on equipment was Virex II 256, Springbrook Principal Sam Rivera told the Post. The product's label reads that it is designed for use on walls and floors and can be skin irritant, the newspaper reported.
The staph infection turned out to be a false alarm, the newspaper reported.
---------------------------------------------
UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS DELVE INTO CHEMICAL SPILL RESPONSE
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
Georgetown and Harvard University researchers are talking about the response to the January 9th Freedom Industries chemical spill which affected West Virginia's largest public water supply.
They're focusing on how the public health systems reacted when disaster struck.
"You're learning lessons and then you want to make sure that those lessons are taken into consideration to improve and we know that that's not easy to do," Elana Savoia, with the Harvard School for Public Health said.
Researchers say the value of this report is not determining whether the response was good or bad. They say the most important thing is learning from public health disasters to better prepare when they strike again.
But a difficult hurdle to overcome is actually getting agencies and stakeholders to implement recommended changes.
"It's not always applied and I think it's a challenge to get it applied because sometimes what we learn is difficult to do," Michael Stoto from Georgetown University said.
---------------------------------------------
BREAKING NEWS, WEATHER AND RAZORBACK SPORTS
Tags: us_AR, public, release, response, hydrochloric_acid
NORTH LITTLE ROCK (KATV) - Several homes in a North Little Rock neighborhood were evacuated after a hazardous chemical spill in a backyard.
In an interview off camera, a man who lives at a Gordon Street home in Rose City told us he had a barrel of hydrochloric acid in his backyard from a car wash business he used to have.
?I used it to clean aluminum rims,? said the man who had the acid but didn't want to disclose his name.
He said while he was working in his backyard on Wednesday, his son accidentally knocked over a 55 gallon barrel of hydrochloric acid. He claimed the drum had only five to ten gallons inside. The North Little Rock Fire Department estimated 20 gallons of acid.
?It can be very reactive when mixed with water, and could start a fire,? said NLR fire Chief Jim Murphy.
---------------------------------------------
5 DEAD, ONE INJURED AT CENTRAL CHINA CHEMICAL PLANT FIRE
Tags: China, industrial, fire, death, unknown_chemical
CHANGSHA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Five people were confirmed dead and one was seriously injured in a fire that broke out at a barium nitrate plant in central China's Hunan Province early on Tuesday, local authorities said.
The fire happened at around 5:30 a.m. at Xinhuang Luxiang Barium Industry Co., Ltd, in Fangjiatun township of Huaihua City.
Preliminary investigations showed the fire was ignited when factory workers were repairing a machine, which seriously injured six workers. Five died after medical treatment failed. Doctors are still treating the remaining one who was also severely injured.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL SPILL AT NORTH CANAAN FARM SENDS TWO TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_CT, industrial, release, injury, bleach, cleaners, phosphoric_acid
NORTH CANAAN >> Two people were sent to the hospital Tuesday after a spill of cleaning chemicals at a local farm created a vapor cloud.
The spill at Elm Knoll Farm, located at 294 East Canaan Road, was reported to be under control shortly after 4:30 p.m. According to emergency radio reports, the chemicals involved were sodium hypochlorite and phosphoric acid.
According to Norfolk Public Information Officer Jonathan Barbagallo, ?inappropriate amounts? of the chemicals were mixed after a pump malfunction at the farm.
?[They were] two common cleaning chemicals that they use to clean the milking equipment in the barn,? said Barbagallo, who said two workers in the area spotted the vapor cloud from the chemical reaction and called the fire department.
---------------------------------------------
UPDATE: HAZMAT CALL IN MOUNT JOY THE RESULT OF IMPROPERLY USED CLEANING PRODUCTS
Tags: us_PA, public, release, response, solvent
Improperly used cleaning products resulted in a hazardous materials call to Mount Joy Monday afternoon.
According to Mount Joy Fire Chief Bill Hall, two workmen had been inside an apartment at 1000 Water Street for about 90 minutes when they began to feel ill from an odor inside the structure.
They exited the building and called police, who summoned the fire company and hazmat.
A "residue" from the previous tenants was found inside the apartment.
Crews wearing breathing apparatus entered the apartment shortly after 6 p.m. What they concluded, Hall said, was that the culprit was cleaning fluids.
"It was an overuse of cleaning fluids, and possibly an improper mixture of cleaning solvents," Hall said Monday evening.
Considering the response, hazmat units from both Lancaster and York counties were on the scene, the findings were anti-climactic.
---------------------------------------------
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post