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From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (11 articles)
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2017 07:43:07 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: E21E22AC-1908-49D4-A8F1-8B22EA28F6E6**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, September 6, 2017 at 7:42:57 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 (11 articles)
ALL-CLEAR GIVEN AT SCENE OF DUNEDIN CHLORINE LEAK
Tags: us_FL, public, release, response, chlorine, water_treatment
HAZMAT RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT WASHINGTON ADVENTIST HOSPITAL
Tags: us_MD, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
GERMAN FIREFIGHTER DIES 11 MONTHS AFTER BASF EXPLOSION
Tags: Germany, industrial, follow-up, death, other_chemical
NARANGBA RESIDENTS WARNED TO AVOID CREEK AFTER CHEMICAL TESTING AFTER SPILL REVEALS HIGH LEVELS OF PFAS OR FIREFIGHTING FOAM.
Tags: Australia, public, release, environmental
FORTUNE: HOUSTON PLANT EXPLOSION: WE'VE CUT CORNERS ON CHEMICAL SAFETY
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, response, other_chemical
EVACUATION LIFTED AROUND ARKEMA‰??S CROSBY SITE
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, response, peroxide
CROSBY ARKEMA PLANT HAD 10 VIOLATIONS OSHA CONSIDERED SERIOUS
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental
CROSBY EVACUEES RETURN VENTING IRE AIMED AT ARKEMA
Tags: industrial, follow-up, environmental
CHINA TO MOVE CHEMICAL PLANTS OUT OF POPULOUS URBAN REGIONS
Tags: China, industrial, discovery, environmental
CHEMICAL COMPANIES HAVE ALREADY RELEASED 1 MILLION POUNDS OF EXTRA AIR POLLUTANTS, THANKS TO HARVEY
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, environmental, benzene, hexane, hydrogen_sulfide, sulfur_dioxide, toluene, xylene
BERKS REFINER IS PA.‰??S SHINING EXAMPLE OF SAFETY
Tags: us_PA, industrial, discovery, environmental, metals
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ALL-CLEAR GIVEN AT SCENE OF DUNEDIN CHLORINE LEAK
Tags: us_FL, public, release, response, chlorine, water_treatment
DUNEDIN, Fla. (WFLA) ‰?? The Dunedin Fire Department and Pinellas County Hazmat responded to a chlorine leak Tuesday evening.
The leak occurred at the City of Dunedin Wastewater Treatment Plant, located at 1140 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
According to Dunedin Fire Rescue, the leak was small, but was enough to activate the alarms.
Residents near the facility were required to shelter in place for a few hours Tuesday night.
The all-clear at the scene was given around 10:45 p.m. Tuesday night.
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HAZMAT RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT WASHINGTON ADVENTIST HOSPITAL
Tags: us_MD, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
TAKOMA PARK, MD ‰?? Hazmat crews were on the scene of a chemical spill at the Washington Adventist Hospital Tuesday, officials announced.
Officials called for a partial evacuation/shelter-in place so they could investigate the spill in the lower-level lab, Chief Spokesperson for Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service Pete Piringer said.
The facility was placed on "mini-disaster" status, but the hazmat situation was contained in a lab area away from patients, so the status was called off a short time later, Piringer said.
---------------------------------------------
GERMAN FIREFIGHTER DIES 11 MONTHS AFTER BASF EXPLOSION
Tags: Germany, industrial, follow-up, death, other_chemical
An October 2016 explosion at the main plant of German chemical giant BASF has claimed its fifth victim, nearly a year after the accident, the group said Tuesday.
The firefighter died overnight between Monday and Tuesday of injuries sustained that day, BASF said in a statement.
"I am deeply affected by the loss of our colleague," BASF president and chief executive Kurt Bock said. "We hoped to the last that he would overcome his injuries, and we mourn with his family and loved ones".
An explosion followed by a fire rocked the chemical company's plant in the western German city of Ludwigshafen on October 17, 2016, where more than 35,000 people work.
Two firefighters and a sailor were killed that day at the plant's on-site harbour, while another firefighter died of his injuries about two weeks later.
Six others were seriously injured and 22 more slightly wounded.
Prosecutors are still investigating the cause of the accident, which BASF executives said at the time might have been caused by workers cutting or welding the wrong pipe during maintenance.
Almost 40,000 employees at the massive chemical works in Ludwigshafen are to hold a minute of silence at 11am (0900 GMT) on Wednesday in memory of their colleague.
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NARANGBA RESIDENTS WARNED TO AVOID CREEK AFTER CHEMICAL TESTING AFTER SPILL REVEALS HIGH LEVELS OF PFAS OR FIREFIGHTING FOAM.
Tags: Australia, public, release, environmental
NARANBA residents are being urged to avoid certain parts of Lagoon Creek after a chemical spill at a nearby business spread to the å-natural environment.
A container being handled at Toxfree‰??s Narangba waste management facility on April 28 dropped, spilling about 250 litres of liquid waste into an adjacent å-property.
The waste, which included firefighting foam containing perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFAS) substances, drained into nearby Lagoon Creek.
The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection fined Toxfree $24,380 for two breaches of the Environmental Protection Act, and directed them to carry out water and seafood monitoring at multiple locations in the creek. Test results indicated higher than standard levels of PFAS.
---------------------------------------------
FORTUNE: HOUSTON PLANT EXPLOSION: WE'VE CUT CORNERS ON CHEMICAL SAFETY
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, response, other_chemical
Chemical containers at an Arkema plant in Crosby, a Texas town outside of Houston, exploded last week after the facility flooded from Hurricane Harvey‰??s landfall. While we can‰??t prevent natural disasters like Harvey from occurring, we can mitigate their consequences. Inherently unsafe facilities and operations can be redesigned, retrofitted, and ultimately replaced by manufacturing and storage facility changes that are safer. Unfortunately, the U.S. has chosen to take a less expensive and comprehensive approach to chemical safety, leaving us vulnerable to disasters like the one at Arkema.
There are two main approaches to safety in chemical plants: ‰??inherent safety‰?? and ‰??secondary prevention.‰?? The Arkema plant followed secondary prevention, which involves the strengthening of reaction vessels and pipes, the use of neutralizing baths, and the venting of toxic or explosive chemicals. This approach focuses on minimizing, but not eliminating, the consequences once a facility has already been seriously damaged.
Inherent safety approaches, on the other hand, seek to prevent major damage from occurring in the first place. Organizations following this approach design production and storage facilities with significantly smaller probabilities of untoward human and commercial disasters. The European Union has adopted a chemical accident prevention approach focused on inherent safety over secondary prevention. The U.S. has taken the other route.
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EVACUATION LIFTED AROUND ARKEMA‰??S CROSBY SITE
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, response, peroxide
Residents living near the flooded Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas, were allowed to return to their homes early Monday, a day after federal, state, and local safety officials coordinated with Arkema to ignite flammable containers of organic peroxides at the site that posed explosion and fire dangers.
Evacuation orders were first issued by local officials on Tuesday, Aug. 29 in response to danger posed by the organic peroxides after Tropical Storm Harvey flooded the plant with close to two meters of water.
The facility, 43 km northeast of Houston, lost primary and backup power systems used to keep the peroxides cool. As the chemicals warmed up they began to degrade. Three trailers of stored chemicals exploded on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, and six remaining ones were expected to explode as well.
Arkema did not specify exactly how officials ignited the six containers, but after being ignited, they burned themselves out.
Later on Monday, Rich Rowe, the CEO of Arkema‰??s U.S. operations, apologized to the facility‰??s residential neighbors. ‰??I hope that they can know how profoundly sorry we are for the impact we had on their lives. And how committed we are to working with them to bring their lives back to normal,‰?? Rowe said at a press conference.
Residents were not given advance warning that the six trailers would be purposely set on fire. But Rich Rennard, Arkema U.S.‰??s president, said that aerial surveillance showed that peroxides were leaking from the containers. ‰??At that point we made the decision that, in order to maintain the safety and security of the site and the area for the residents, a more aggressive approach was necessary.‰??
---------------------------------------------
CROSBY ARKEMA PLANT HAD 10 VIOLATIONS OSHA CONSIDERED SERIOUS
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental
HOUSTON -- Fire burned at the Arkema plant in Friday night, the second issue there in 24 hours.
KHOU 11 looked into past issues at the plant. In the latest OSHA report, which was from August of last year. OSHA had 10 violations, all of which were considered by OSHA as being serious. Nine of those 10 dealt with safety management of highly-hazardous chemicals.
Those violations include:
Not ensuring equipment was safe for hazardous location
Having safety and inspection procedures that didn‰??t follow good engineering practices
Not inspecting and testing 11 pieces of equipment, including pipelines
Not having records showing employees had proper training on operational procedures
Not implementing written procedures for maintaining ongoing integrity of equipment
OSHA says all of the problems were fixed and the company paid $91,714 in fines.
The company says the fire was because of Harvey. What‰??s not clear if any of the PAST violations played a part.
Massive flames, thick black smoke seen at Arkema plant
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CROSBY EVACUEES RETURN VENTING IRE AIMED AT ARKEMA
Tags: industrial, follow-up, environmental
CROSBY - Weary residents in the 1.5-mile evacuation zone around a chemical plant started returning to their flood-ravaged homes early Monday, just hours after a controlled burn destroyed six final trailers of decomposing chemicals at the troubled Arkema facility.
But even as the week-long ordeal came to a close, the French-owned company declined to disclose key details, including the full chemical inventory for the 18000 Crosby Eastgate site or how officials ignited the trailers.
Meanwhile, some upset residents said they are considering suing the company for the ordeal, which kept them from returning to their waterlogged homes and businesses for several days.
"It's been a nightmare," said Elda Garza, who lives with her special-needs son in a trailer near the plant.
Photo: Scott Olson, Staff
IMAGE 1 OF 12 FBI agents confront protesters at the gate of the Arkema plant on Monday. One activist accused the company of poisoning the community and wants the firm to provide free medial care to those affected.•ÈÀ
Arkema apologized to the Crosby community during a Monday morning news conference at the local fire station, less than 12 hours after authorities lifted the evacuation order.
"I hope that they can know how profoundly sorry we are for the impact that we've had on their lives," Arkema CEO Richard Rowe said, vowing to help the community recover.
The storm knocked out power to the plant, along with primary and backup generators and even a nitrogen cooling system. With no ability to cool nine trailers of highly volatile organic peroxides, the company warned there was "no way" to prevent an explosion.
Employees were evacuated early last week and authorities set up a 1.5-mile evacuation zone that was not enforced until after the first trailer burst into flames early Thursday.
Two more followed suit Friday, but initially the company said that waiting for the remaining six trailers to combust on their own was the safest course of action, even after the 6-foot-deep floodwaters began to recede.
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CHINA TO MOVE CHEMICAL PLANTS OUT OF POPULOUS URBAN REGIONS
Tags: China, industrial, discovery, environmental
BEIJING (Reuters) - China will relocate all chemical plants out of urban areas by 2020, the country‰??s cabinet said in statement on its website, following a blast from a major refinery in Dalian.
Small and medium scale chemical plants will be relocated by 2020, while large plants will be relocated by 2025, the state planner said.
A fire at PetroChina‰??s Dalian refinery, one of its largest, has raised worries about safety and pollution from the refining sector.
Chemical companies that are not able to relocate will be shut, the cabinet said.
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CHEMICAL COMPANIES HAVE ALREADY RELEASED 1 MILLION POUNDS OF EXTRA AIR POLLUTANTS, THANKS TO HARVEY
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, environmental, benzene, hexane, hydrogen_sulfide, sulfur_dioxide, toluene, xylene
Oil refineries and chemical plants across the Texas Gulf Coast released more than 1 million pounds of dangerous air pollutants in the week after Harvey struck, according to public regulatory filings aggregated by the Center for Biological Diversity.
While attention has zeroed in on the crisis at the Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Tex., other facilities ‰?? oil refineries, chemical plants and shale drilling sites ‰?? have been reporting flaring, leaks and chemical discharges triggered by Harvey.
Emissions have already exceeded permitted levels, after floating rooftops sank on oil storage tanks, chemical storage tanks overflowed with rainwater, and broken valves and shutdown procedures triggered flaring at refineries.
The chemicals released in the week after Harvey made landfall, including benzene, 1,3-butadiene, hexane, hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, toluene and xylene.
---------------------------------------------
BERKS REFINER IS PA.‰??S SHINING EXAMPLE OF SAFETY
Tags: us_PA, industrial, discovery, environmental, metals
Keeping workers safe helps a company make more money, say the safety chief and union boss for Global Advanced Metals, a rare-metals plant near Boyertown. The company refines prized elements from ore shipped from Australia.
The most important reason for keeping a workplace safe is ‰??so people go home to the people who sent them to work,‰?? said Gerald Setley, who worked at the Global Advanced Metals plant for decades and now is regional director for the 619 Chemical Workers Council of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
But a good safety program also improves profitability.
‰??It‰??s an investment that pays unbelievable dividends,‰?? Setley said.
That‰??s why government safety inspectors are partners, not opponents, said Joseph Atkinson, safety director of Global Advanced Metals on County Line Road in Colebrookdale Township.
‰??We‰??re happy when they get here because they might find something we missed and help us improve our process,‰?? said Atkinson, who has a bachelor‰??s degree in safety science and a Master of Business Administration.
Last year, Global Advanced Metals was one of five companies to earn a Governor‰??s Award for Safety Excellence. Sixty-five companies were nominated.
The plant has come a long way in preventing accidents since the early 2000s, Setley said.
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