| About This Archive | | DCHAS-L 2015 Index | | DCHAS-L Yearly Index | |
Check out Safety Emporium for your N95, N99, and face shield needs.
|
Previous by Date: Subject: [DCHAS-L] Job openings at Stony Brook University Date: Thursday, September 10, 2015 4:38:39 PM Author: "Gates, Kim" <kgates**At_Symbol_Here**ESTEE.COM> |
Next by Date: Subject: [DCHAS-L] Cold Room Question Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2015 14:40:47 +0000 Author: "Smallbrock, Margaret A." |
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, September 11, 2015 at 8:54:56 AM
A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__pinboard.in_u-3Adchas&d=BQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=p0SCISSJvBBHMKYtY8Oyi3tUKzjkrzZBk2-qFh7EsqI&s=jSJE7YF6AK0sWqiMiBsT4WMSr5ftNR4MLmbwmmtGKcQ&e=
Table of Contents (12 articles)
AMMONIA RELEASE IN EVANSVILLE
Tags: us_IN, public, release, injury, ammonia
CDC INVESTIGATION SHOWS PENTAGON SHIPPED PLAGUE SAMPLES
Tags: us_MD, laboratory, follow-up, environmental
CLEANUP UNDERWAY AFTER CHEMICAL AND OIL FACILITY FIRE
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, follow-up, environmental, solvent, waste
FIRST RESPONDERS BATTLE CHEMICAL FIRE ON GOOSE CREEK LANE IN SOUTHOLD
Tags: us_NY, public, fire, response, chlorine
TOTALLY 80S TO REOPEN FRIDAY AFTER FIRE FORCES THREE-MONTH CLOSURE
Tags: us_CO, public, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical
OSHA INVESTIGATES CHEMICAL EXPOSURE AT EAST LIVERPOOL COMPANY
Tags: us_OH, industrial, discovery, environmental, waste
DUPONT AND THE CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD SHOULD RELEASE THEIR REPORTS
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental
TWO WORKERS INJURED IN CHEMICAL FIRE AT WINSTON-SALEM BUSINESS
Tags: us_NC, industrial, fire, injury, water_treatment
WWU CHEMISTRY BUILDING TO BE OPEN FALL QUARTER AFTER FIRE
Tags: us_WA, laboratory, follow-up, response, acetone, hexane
SAC FIRE: 1,000 GALLONS OF SODIUM HYDROXIDE SPILLS AT NATOMAS FACILITY
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, response, sodium_hydroxide
FENWAY HAZMAT SCARE BLAMED ON FISH OIL EXPERIMENT
Tags: us_MA, industrial, discovery, response, HCl, illegal, oils
MOTOR-OIL DRUMS EXPLODE IN FIRE SOUTH OF DOWNTOWN PHOENIX
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, explosion, response, petroleum, solvent, used_oil, waste
---------------------------------------------
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS, SOUTHERN INDIANA, WESTERN KENTUCKY
Tags: us_IN, public, release, injury, ammonia
Evansville Police tell Eyewitness News two of the officers who were sent to the hospital for possible exposure to ammonia have been released.
On Wednesday, a hazmat crew was called out to a reported anhydrous ammonia leak at the Farm Boy Food Mart in the 2700 block of N. Kentucky Ave.
The Vanderburgh County Emergency Management Agency reports 150 pound ammonia tank at the food mart was leaking. Neighbors say there was a strong odor in the area and was creating a burning sensation.
We're told the tank is contained at this time. However, EMA officials say seven police officers and five firefighters were possibly exposed to the ammonia. Two of the police officers were taken to the hospital, but have since been released.
---------------------------------------------
CDC INVESTIGATION SHOWS PENTAGON SHIPPED PLAGUE SAMPLES
Tags: us_MD, laboratory, follow-up, environmental
WASHINGTON ‰?? Pentagon labs under fire for mistakenly shipping live anthrax samples to all 50 states and nine foreign countries also mishandled potentially live plague samples, the department conceded Thursday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised concerns after it discovered a sample of the plague in a facility freezer ‰??outside the containment area‰?? at the Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center in Maryland, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
While the sample was labeled by the facility as inactive, the CDC ‰??is conducting additional testing‰?? to determine whether it was an infectious threat.
The CDC also raised concerns about a strain of equine encephalitis found at the facility.
Cook could not confirm whether the mishandled plague strain is the same one that caused the bubonic plague blamed for the deaths of millions in the 14th century. (The disease is now treated with antibiotics.)
The plague bacteria was discovered as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‰??s investigations of the Pentagon‰??s facilities that handle and store dangerous biological material: Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, and U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center and Naval Medical Research Center, all in Maryland.
The CDC investigation was launched after the Pentagon reported in May that it had sent anthrax samples to a handful of labs and states and one foreign country. That number rapidly grew worldwide as it became evident that more than half the master strains used to cull samples at its lab at Dugway were live when the lab thought they were inactive.
---------------------------------------------
CLEANUP UNDERWAY AFTER CHEMICAL AND OIL FACILITY FIRE
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, follow-up, environmental, solvent, waste
PHOENIX (KPHO/KTVK) -
A fire that could be seen for miles in Phoenix Wednesday has left a charred chemical and oil recycling facility behind.
[READ: Motor-oil drums explode in huge industrial fire south of downtown Phoenix]
"It's heartbreaking," said Dave Bennett with Solvent Recy-Clean and SRC Oil and Fuel. The two companies operate at the facility near Broadway Road and 19th Avenue. They turn hazardous chemicals into something more environmentally friendly.
"We think there was probably a fuel line leak," Bennett said. He said they have insurance and they're working with the EPA and the ADEQ to clean up the oil.
[SLIDESHOW: Massive industrial fire in Phoenix]
"We had some product run out into the streets and the river but that was contained," Bennett said. He said they have crews helping excavate the oil from the Salt River Bed near the facility.
But Bennett said the wind was on their side, keeping the flames from 20,000 gallon enormous storage tanks.
---------------------------------------------
FIRST RESPONDERS BATTLE CHEMICAL FIRE ON GOOSE CREEK LANE IN SOUTHOLD
Tags: us_NY, public, fire, response, chlorine
Southold firefighters battled a chemical blaze in a home on Goose Creek Lane this afternoon.
The call came in at approximately 5:45 p.m. for the home; Cutchogue Fire Department was also called for mutual aid and sent a rapid intervention team to battle the working fire.
No one was home at the time of the fire, and no injuries were reported. Damage was contained inside the garage.
According to firefighters at the scene, the fire broke out in the garage, where a pool heater likely sparked, possibly due to the intermittent power surges due to today‰??s storm. The fire ignited chemicals, including chlorine, which were located nearby.
Chemical fires are hazardous to first responders, said Assistant Chief Craig Goldsmith. ‰??The chemicals are dangerous if inhaled,‰?? he said.
---------------------------------------------
TOTALLY 80S TO REOPEN FRIDAY AFTER FIRE FORCES THREE-MONTH CLOSURE
Tags: us_CO, public, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical
Like a phoenix, Totally 80s Pizza is rising from the ashes Friday ‰?? opening its doors for the first time in months after a stack of freshly laundered towels spontaneously combusted, started a fire and melted a water line, effectively putting itself out.
‰??It‰??s a crazy story,‰?? owner Alex Morgan laughed Wednesday, sitting in a booth in the newly revamped restaurant surrounded by his 1980s collectibles.
Poudre Fire Authority responded to reports of a fire at the restaurant, 1717 S. College Ave., in the early morning hours of May 31. Morgan later learned that oil from pizza dough hadn‰??t been fully washed out of some towels and the heat of a dryer caused a chemical reaction and the towels to combust.
Morgan said he was told it‰??s rare, but still happens. With the box of towels right below a shelf with costumes on it, the fire caught onto the costumes and spread along the shelf, damaging equipment and ruining a few pieces from the restaurant‰??s ‰??80s museum collection.
---------------------------------------------
OSHA INVESTIGATES CHEMICAL EXPOSURE AT EAST LIVERPOOL COMPANY
Tags: us_OH, industrial, discovery, environmental, waste
EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio -
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the case of an employee who was exposed to chemicals at the hazardous waste furnace in East Liverpool.
In August, a worker at Hermitage Thermal came in contact with the chemical, analine.
OSHA says the chemical affects the body's respiratory system and is similar to inhaling Carbon Dioxide.
The employee was treated for the exposure, and is now back on the job.
The business was fined in 2012 when three employees were exposed to the same chemical.
Heritage Thermal has not responded to a request from 21 news for more information about the incident.
---------------------------------------------
DUPONT AND THE CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD SHOULD RELEASE THEIR REPORTS
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental
It's been months since the DuPont chemical spill, but now we're closer to answers about what actually went wrong through a pair of confidential reports ‰?? one written by DuPont and one by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board ‰?? about what happened inside the pesticide unit at the company's La Porte plant on November 15, 2014. The thing is, it's looking like there's a choice of who to actually to blame for the accident ‰?? DuPont's safety culture, or the workers themselves ‰?? depending on which report you read. If, that is, the reports themselves are ever made public.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, DuPont's study of the accident blames the workers for what went wrong. This is despite the company having already been fined by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for working conditions that OSHA said led the deaths of four workers. Last November, a release of 23,000 pounds of methyl mercaptan ‰?? a chemical that, when inhaled at high enough levels, attacks the central nervous system and causes death by respiratory paralysis ‰?? killed DuPont workers Crystle Wise, Wade Baker and brothers Robert and Gibby Tisnado.
Somehow DuPont is still maintaining that the accident was caused by workers at the plant. DuPont hasn't actually released the report that they cited to back up their claims, but a DuPont representative sent out a summary of the report to the Houston Chronicle. The summary reportedly talked about clogged pipes at the La Porte facility and the practice that workers had of opening valves to clear the pipes and to respond to pressure alarms (a very bad idea if you aren't absolutely sure the pipes are clear) as reasons that things went wrong at the plant, according to the Chronicle.
But while DuPont has tried to blame its employees, the CSB, the other federal agency investigating the accident, has pointed the finger at DuPont itself. Members of the CSB, a non-regulatory body that is called in to investigate the worst industrial accidents, have said that the accident stems from problems in DuPont's safety culture. The CSB has its own confidential report that it has yet to release but investigators did present a slideshow-type of report on what they've concluded about DuPont at a July meeting.
---------------------------------------------
TWO WORKERS INJURED IN CHEMICAL FIRE AT WINSTON-SALEM BUSINESS
Tags: us_NC, industrial, fire, injury, water_treatment
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- First responders in Winston-Salem say a chemical fire at a waste water management company injured two workers Wednesday afternoon.
Officials say the fire happened at HOH Corporation located at 1701 Vargrave Street around 2:30 p.m. Firefighters found heavy smoke coming from the front of the business with an unknown substance burning inside the building. Firefighters had smoke under control within an hour and a half.
The two injured workers were taken to Wake Forest Medical Center. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
---------------------------------------------
WWU CHEMISTRY BUILDING TO BE OPEN FALL QUARTER AFTER FIRE
Tags: us_WA, laboratory, follow-up, response, acetone, hexane
BELLINGHAM
The Western Washington University chemistry building where a lab caught fire is expected to open in time for the start of fall quarter, the school announced Wednesday, Sept. 9.
The accidental fire erupted in a lab on the third floor of the building Aug. 25, with six students and a teacher inside.
It started around 5:15 p.m. after a student disposing a mix of chemicals that included acetone and hexane spilled the liquid on the floor. The vapors found an ignition source and caught fire before the building‰??s sprinklers extinguished the flames, Bellingham Fire Marshal Jason Napier said days after the fire.
Firefighters who were first to enter the building complained of sore throats and headaches after breathing an unknown gas. They were sent to the hospital and released the same night. The teacher and students in the building, who all evacuated, were not harmed.
The building, Morse Hall, has been closed since, while Belfor ‰?? an emergency recovery and restoration contractor ‰?? and university workers repair damage. The fire was confined to one room, but the sprinkler system caused considerable damage to scientific equipment and materials on multiple floors.
---------------------------------------------
SAC FIRE: 1,000 GALLONS OF SODIUM HYDROXIDE SPILLS AT NATOMAS FACILITY
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, response, sodium_hydroxide
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ‰?? Crews are cleaning up after a large chemical spill at a Natomas-area facility.
The spill happened around 7 a.m. Wednesday at the Aramark facility along W. National Drive. Sacramento Fire says about 1,000 gallons of sodium hydroxide spilled at the facility into a container, but then about 100-200 gallons spilled onto the floor.
---------------------------------------------
FENWAY HAZMAT SCARE BLAMED ON FISH OIL EXPERIMENT
Tags: us_MA, industrial, discovery, response, HCl, illegal, oils
BOSTON (CBS) ‰?? Fire officials say a person trying to make fish oil supplements was behind a hazmat incident that forced the evacuation of buildings in Boston‰??s Fenway neighborhood Tuesday night.
Emergency crews and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force responded to Fenway Market on Kilmarnock Street after receiving an anonymous tip.
Mass. Department of Environmental Protection at the scene of a hazmat incident in Boston (Photo from Julie Loncich/WBZ)
On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Boston Fire Department said a store owner was apparently letting a friend experiment with making fish oil supplements. Large bags of yeast, omega 3 acids and 55-gallon barrels of hydrogen chloride were found in the basement.
The basement area was messy and it took crews a while to make sense of the materials inside, officials said.
A look inside the Fenway fish oil lab fashioned in a store basement. (Courtesy: Inspectional Services Dept.)
‰??In one corner there are stacks of soda and things for sale for the convenience store,‰?? Boston Fire spokesman Steve MacDonald said. ‰??In the other corner there were 500-gallon drums, workbenches with all sorts of things on them.‰??
The messy Fenway store basement. (Courtesy: Inspectional Services Dept.)
Authorities said it doesn‰??t appear there was any criminal intent, but the fire department said those cooking oils didn‰??t belong in the basement of a Fenway business.
Crews were expected to remove the chemicals throughout the day on Wednesday.
---------------------------------------------
MOTOR-OIL DRUMS EXPLODE IN FIRE SOUTH OF DOWNTOWN PHOENIX
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, explosion, response, petroleum, solvent, used_oil, waste
PHOENIX (AP) ‰?? Dozens of drums of used motor oil exploded in a large fire Wednesday at a solvent recycling company, spewing fireballs and blackening the sky south of downtown Phoenix for more than an hour.
Some planes taking off from the city‰??s airport had to fly around the mushrooming black plume.
There was no immediate word on what started the blaze in a storage area lined with large 55-gallon tanks of motor oil and solvents used to clean auto parts. The area also contained a 4,000-gallon tank of motor oil.
The fire produced an estimated 30 blasts, and the burning petroleum products sent up dark, dense smoke, said Capt. Larry Subervi, a spokesman for the Phoenix Fire Department.
The 55-gallon drums heated up and exploded, with several flying into the air as projectiles, fire officials said. Officials didn‰??t know if the 4,000-gallon drum exploded, Subervi said.
---------------------------------------------
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post