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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, July 31, 2017 at 7:31:24 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 (14 articles)
DOWNTOWN FARGO BLOCK CLOSED OFF AFTER GAS LEAK FEARED
Tags: us_ND, public, release, response, sulfur_dioxide
EMERGENCY OFFICIALS RESPOND TO CHEMICAL LEAK NEAR SHINTECH IN PL
Tags: us_LA, industrial, release, response, hydrochloric_acid
FIRE BROKE OUT SATURDAY MORNING AT CHEMICAL PLANT IN ESCAMBIA COUNTY ‰?? THE TRUSSVILLE TRIBUNE
Tags: us_AL, industrial, fire, response, ag_chems
FIRE CONFIRMED AT SASOL CHEMICAL FACILITY NEAR WESTLAKE SUNDAY N
Tags: us_LA, industrial, fire, injury, other_chemical
XPLOSAFE GETS $1 MILLION DHP CONTRACT
Tags: us_OK, laboratory, discovery, environmental
KUMHO PETROCHEMICAL BEEFS UP SAFETY
Tags: Republic_of_Korea, industrial, discovery, environmental, various_chemicals
MAN CRITICALLY INJURED WHEN PACKAGE EXPLODES IN QUEENS
Tags: us_NY, public, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical
WORKERS TREATED FOR CHEMICAL EXPOSURE FROM CROP DUSTER
Tags: us_IA, industrial, release, injury, ag_chems, pesticides
MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON AFTER FIRE FROM CHEMICAL EXPERIMENT
Tags: us_KS, public, follow-up, environmental, chlorine, metals
COLORADO CHEMICAL WASTEWATER TO BE TRUCKED TO TEXAS
Tags: us_CO, transportation, discovery, environmental, mustard_gas, waste
CHEMICAL LEAKING: MANY ILL AFTER CHEMICAL LEAKS FROM ICE FACTORY IN KARWAR
Tags: India, industrial, release, injury, ammonium_nitrate
GOVERNMENT, INDUSTRY OFFICIALS CALL FOR GLOBAL CULTURE OF CHEMICAL SECURITY
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental
U.S. LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE BILL TO BAN CHLORPYRIFOS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
DELAY OF U.S. CHEMICAL SAFETY RULE CHALLENGED
Tags: industrial, follow-up, environmental
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DOWNTOWN FARGO BLOCK CLOSED OFF AFTER GAS LEAK FEARED
Tags: us_ND, public, release, response, sulfur_dioxide
FARGO ‰?? A leaky old refrigerator caused a downtown block of Broadway to be closed by firefighters for more than an hour on the night of Sunday, July 30, according to a fire official.
Capt. Ryan Viergutz said firefighters weren't sure it it was a gas leak at first and had to wait for the hazmat team to bring in testing equipment before venting it into the street.
It was sulfur dioxide, a pungent gas that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says can make breathing difficult at high concentration but is not flammable.
Ashley Morken, the owner of Unglued at 408 Broadway N., said she was defrosting an ancient fridge while preparing the crafts store to open Monday when she smelled something like rotten eggs and vinegar.
---------------------------------------------
EMERGENCY OFFICIALS RESPOND TO CHEMICAL LEAK NEAR SHINTECH IN PL
Tags: us_LA, industrial, release, response, hydrochloric_acid
PLAQUEMINE, LA (WAFB) -
Emergency officials responded to a chemical release near Shintech in Plaquemine Saturday evening.
Officials with the Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office say there was a leak of a monochloride mixture at 26620 Hwy. 405 near Shintech in Plaquemine. The incident happened around 5:15 p.m. Hwy. 405 was closed to drivers while officials worked to contain the leak.
The leak was stopped within about a half an hour and no injuries were reported. Hwy. 405 has been reopened.
Shintech released a statement about the incident. It reads:
At approximately 4:55 p.m. today, a pipe ruptured in Shintech‰??s VCM 2 vinyl chloride monomer furnace quench area at its facility in Plaquemine, Louisiana. There was no fire and there were no injuries. The incident resulted in a release of vinyl chloride monomer, ethylene dichloride and hydrochloric acid. The plant‰??s emergency response team immediately responded and the release was contained in the plant. However, as a precaution, Highway 405 was closed until the plant‰??s emergency response team could conduct air monitoring. Air monitoring indicated there was no off-site impact and Highway 405 was reopened. An all clear was given within the plant. Shintech is currently investigating the cause of the incident.
---------------------------------------------
FIRE BROKE OUT SATURDAY MORNING AT CHEMICAL PLANT IN ESCAMBIA COUNTY ‰?? THE TRUSSVILLE TRIBUNE
Tags: us_AL, industrial, fire, response, ag_chems
ATMORE ‰?? A plant that produces agricultural chemicals caught fire in southwest Alabama, blanketing the area with potentially hazardous smoke and prompting an order for people to stay inside.
Police in Atmore, Alabama, said the fire began early Saturday at a factory operated by Tiger-Sul Products, and crews were still on the scene hours later. No injuries were reported, but officials told residents to seek shelter indoors because of the smoke.
The company‰??s website says it produces products including agricultural sulfur, which can cause skin irritation and breathing problems if inhaled. Sheriff‰??s officials closed part of U.S. 31 because of the smoke and diverted traffic to Interstate 65.
The plant is located about 50 miles (80 km) northeast of Mobile in a town of about 10,000 people.
---------------------------------------------
FIRE CONFIRMED AT SASOL CHEMICAL FACILITY NEAR WESTLAKE SUNDAY N
Tags: us_LA, industrial, fire, injury, other_chemical
WESTLAKE, LA (KPLC) -
Sasol has confirmed a fire at the company's chemical facility near Westlake Sunday night.
An employee has sustained injuries, and is receiving medical attention, Sasol has also confirmed.
Sasol spokeswoman Kim Cusimano released a statement regarding the incident:
"Sasol has had a fire in our alcohol unit at our Lake Charles facility. At this time, we can confirm the fire is contained. We have notified State Police and OEP. Our primary concern is for the safety of our employees and the community. We can confirm one Sasol employee sustained injuries and is being transported offsite for medical treatment. At this time, no community action has been issued. I will provide an update as soon as I have more information."
There's no impact outside of the facility, said Dick Gremillion, Calcasieu Parish Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
---------------------------------------------
XPLOSAFE GETS $1 MILLION DHP CONTRACT
Tags: us_OK, laboratory, discovery, environmental
A Stillwater-based company is getting rewarded for its work with chemicals and chemical safety.
XploSafe was awarded a $1 million contract from the Department of Defense Health Program to "advance the development of chemical vapor sampling technology that documents Individual Longitudinal Exposure Records for service members in the form of wearable badges. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II contract is for two years."
XploSafe is "a provider of critical safety solutions for homeland security and chemical safety. (Its) products protect people that deal with unstable and hazardous compounds." Its solutions are manufactured its Stillwater facilities.
Because military personnel are exposed to a wide range of potentially toxic compounds that may affect their health, it is crucial to monitor the exposure for a wide-range of gases, volatile and semi-volatile organics, according to a press release.
‰??The development of a universal passive dosimeter is crucial to safeguarding the health of military personnel and detecting emerging problems before they become critical,‰?? said Dr. Allen Apblett, XploSafe President, in a press release. ‰??The goal of this project is to develop and commercialize non-invasive, wearable passive dosimeters that will capture the widest range of analytes and facilitate highly economical exposure assessment.‰??
---------------------------------------------
KUMHO PETROCHEMICAL BEEFS UP SAFETY
Tags: Republic_of_Korea, industrial, discovery, environmental, various_chemicals
Kumho Petrochemical has improved its facility safety and monitoring systems to provide eco-friendlier workplaces. Its factories in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, and Asan, South Chungcheong Province, have renewed their accident-free records in line with company-wide efforts.
"We have made safer and eco-friendlier working environments by improving our management system and educational program," a Kumho Petrochemical official said. "As a petrochemical firm dealing with various chemicals, our management system is fully aware of and prepared for safer management of raw materials used for our products."
The Seoul-based firm adopted a stricter chemical management system last year to monitor and approve its chemicals in every stage of distribution ‰?? purchase, storage, usage and sales.
To obey the revised act concerning registration and evaluation of chemical substances, it has submitted information on its chemicals to the Ministry of Environment and registered them on the government's list as well.
In particular, Kumho P&B Chemicals, a joint venture between Kumho Petrochemical and Nippon Steel Chemical Company of Japan, is cooperating with other chemical firms to register Bisphenol-A, a raw material of synthetic resins. It also joined seminars and forums last month at KINTEX in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, to talk about risk evaluation of chemicals with officials from the government, academic fields and civic groups.
---------------------------------------------
MAN CRITICALLY INJURED WHEN PACKAGE EXPLODES IN QUEENS
Tags: us_NY, public, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical
A Queens man was injured Friday afternoon when a package delivered to his home exploded in his hands, police sources said.
Police say the package contained a device that burned almost 70% of his body.
The 73-year-old man found the cylindrical shaped parcel on the front porch of his two-family home on 222nd St. near 145th Rd.in Springfield Gardens around 5:15 p.m., cops said. The landlord, a 72-year-old, picked up the package, and it exploded. Police say there was no evidence of shrapnel, just black powder.
The man suffered injuries severe burns to his hands and body, but he is expected to survive, authorities said.
A hazmat crew has been called in and the FBI, FDNY, NYPD are investigating.
---------------------------------------------
WORKERS TREATED FOR CHEMICAL EXPOSURE FROM CROP DUSTER
Tags: us_IA, industrial, release, injury, ag_chems, pesticides
STORY COUNTY, Iowa (KCCI) - Rescue crews were called to an incident Friday morning near Collins, where several workers were reportedly sprayed with chemicals from a crop duster.
Up to 25 workers were treated for possible chemical exposure at about 7:20 a.m. near the intersection of 330th Street and 690th Avenue about three miles southwest of Collins.
Story County EMS Chief Tony Collins told KCCI the workers, ranging in ages 18 to 35, were detassling corn in the field when the crop duster came through to spray the soybean field that‰??s in front of it. All those indirectly hit with a fungicide and an insecticide are expected to recover, Collins said.
There is no official cause, but fire officials speculate that drift apparently was to blame.
‰??The biggest thing is not to panic,‰?? he said.
---------------------------------------------
MAN SENTENCED TO PRISON AFTER FIRE FROM CHEMICAL EXPERIMENT
Tags: us_KS, public, follow-up, environmental, chlorine, metals
HUTCHINSON, KAN.
A judge has sentenced a Hutchinson college student to five years in prison for starting a fire while conducting chemical experiments in his apartment.
The Hutchinson News says District Judge Trish Rose sentenced 23-year-old Chase Coble, a Hutchinson Community College chemistry student, who was convicted last month of aggravated arson.
Coble contends that he was conducting experiments in his 12th-floor apartment, creating chemical heat to meld metal to plastic. He says there was nothing nefarious about what it. The flash fire set off sprinklers and alarms, which alerted authorities.
Reno County District Attorney Keith Schroeder says Coble had done at least 50 experiments in the apartment, with ingredients including chlorine gas. He says Coble also removed a window and threw items in the alley below in an apparent attempt to hide them.
---------------------------------------------
COLORADO CHEMICAL WASTEWATER TO BE TRUCKED TO TEXAS
Tags: us_CO, transportation, discovery, environmental, mustard_gas, waste
PUEBLO ‰?? The U.S. Army plans to start trucking hazardous wastewater next week from a chemical weapons destruction plant in Colorado to an incineration facility in Texas because the Colorado plant isn‰??t yet fully operational, officials said Friday.
The incinerator in Port Arthur, Texas, will destroy about 250,000 gallons of wastewater from the Pueblo Chemical Depot. Shipments from the southern Colorado plant to Port Arthur, about a 1,400-mile trek, could start Monday, depot spokesman Tom Schultz said.
Pueblo is dismantling and neutralizing shells containing mustard agent but can‰??t yet process all of the wastewater. The shipments to Texas are expected to take a month to complete, and by that time, the Pueblo depot should be able to process all wastewater on-site.
The waste is primarily saltwater but could irritate human skin because it contains caustic chemicals used to neutralize the mustard. Officials say the wastewater contains no mustard agent.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL LEAKING: MANY ILL AFTER CHEMICAL LEAKS FROM ICE FACTORY IN KARWAR
Tags: India, industrial, release, injury, ammonium_nitrate
KARWAR: Many people fell ill at Kajubag in Karwar on Friday after ammonium nitrate leaked from an ice factory.
The factory is surrounded by residential quarters of employees of the customs department, district armed constabulary and the forest department. The western side of the factory is adjacent to National Highway 66.
The chemical reportedly leaked when a valve in the factory was being repaired. Soon after the leakage, people from the surrounding area felt suffocated and giddy and came of their houses. They also felt irritation in the eyes and couldn't open their eyes for a long time. Many were immediately rushed to hospital. Trees in the surrounding areas were also affected. Fire force personnel, who rushed to the spot, controlled the leakage of the chemical and used water jets to neutralize the effect of the chemical.
Residents complained that in the past too, there had been leakage of the chemical from the same factory but to a lesser extent. They alleged that despite complaints, officials of the pollution control board had not taken any action. They demanded that action be taken against the factory owner for negligence.
---------------------------------------------
GOVERNMENT, INDUSTRY OFFICIALS CALL FOR GLOBAL CULTURE OF CHEMICAL SECURITY
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental
HOUSTON ‰??
The east side of Houston is dotted with what look like skyscrapers from a distance, but are actually chemical plants, key parts of the Gulf Coast city's economy.
"Houston, here in Texas, is in many ways the center of the petrochemical industry universe in the United States, so [there are] a very large number of chemical facilities, oil refineries," said Dave Wolf, acting deputy assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Houston was the site of the 2017 Chemical Sector Security Summit, a three-day event ending Friday. Co-sponsored by DHS and the Chemical Sector Coordinating Council, composed of chemical industry trade associations, the summit is an event for sharing best practices related to securing chemical sites.
"We see terrorists globally continuing to seek out and actually use chemicals of this sort. ... They are using these in improvised explosive devices, among other things. They are using them in dispersion devices for toxic inhalation," Wolf said.
He pointed to examples such as the terrorist attack at the Brussels airport and metro station in 2016 and the 2015 attack in Lyon, France, where a terrorist drove into a chemical plant and caused an explosion.
Staying a step ahead
---------------------------------------------
U.S. LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE BILL TO BAN CHLORPYRIFOS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
Environmental activists and farmworkers joined Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) in Washington, D.C., on July 25 to drum up support for legislation (S. 1624) that would ban use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos on food crops. The organophosphate is neurotoxic and linked to developmental problems in children.
Under the Obama Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed to ban chlorpyrifos on food, but Trump EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt put off finalizing that decision until 2022.
‰??Congress must act because Administrator Pruitt has shown that he won‰??t. There is no question chlorpyrifos needs to come off the market. The science linking chlorpyrifos to brain damage and neurodevelopmental disorders in children is undeniable,‰?? said Udall, who introduced S. 1624.
The bill has support of several Democrats in the Senate. Rep. Nydia M. VelÌÁzquez (D-N.Y.) introduced a similar measure (H.R. 3380) in the House of Representatives.
---------------------------------------------
DELAY OF U.S. CHEMICAL SAFETY RULE CHALLENGED
Tags: industrial, follow-up, environmental
Eleven state attorneys general say they will file suit to block the Trump Administration‰??s delay of a final regulation intended to protect communities and workers from chemical accidents.
Their suit will join similar legal challenges by community groups and labor unions that also oppose the Trump Environmental Protection Agency‰??s postponement of the rule, which was issued during the last days of the Obama Administration.
The delay‰??s backers are acting too. Twelve states filed legal arguments with a federal court earlier this month supporting EPA‰??s action.
Pressure from industry groups, including the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry trade association, led EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in June to delay the effective date of the rule until February 2019.
‰??We are seeking additional time to review the program so that we can fully evaluate the public comments raised by multiple petitioners and consider other issues that may benefit from additional public input,‰?? Pruitt said when he pushed back the effective date.
The new regulation calls for better coordination among emergency responders; independent, third-party audits of companies after an accident or near-accident; and consideration of inherently safer manufacturing approaches. However, the rule specifies that implementation of safer approaches need only occur when ‰??practical.‰??
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