| About This Archive | | DCHAS-L 2020 Index | | DCHAS-L Yearly Index | |
Check out Safety Emporium for your N95, N99, and face shield needs.
|
Previous by Date: Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] The Story of OSHA Date: Sunday, March 22, 2020 at 9:35:53 PM Author: ILPI Support <info**At_Symbol_Here**ILPI.COM> |
Next by Date: Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] The Story of OSHA Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2020 10:03:49 -0400 Author: James Keating |
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, March 23, 2020 at 7:58:50 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 (8 articles)
PENTAGON CLEANUP OF TOXIC 'FOREVER CHEMICALS' LIKELY TO LAST DECADES
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
HOW COMPANIES ARE GETTING 1,4-DIOXANE OUT OF HOME AND PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
MAJOR FIRE AT CHEMICAL PLANT IN GREECE
Tags: Greece, industrial, explosion, response, styrene
SEVERED HEAD, HAND FOUND NEAR BLAST SITE- THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, explosives
CHEMISTRY WORLD: SEEING HOW OTHER CHEMISTS DO THEIR WORK CAN BE AN EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCE, IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE
Tags: United_Kingdom, industrial, discovery, environmental
EPA OVERHAULS PESTICIDE BIOLOGICAL EVALUATIONS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, pesticides
INCIDENT AT WORKPLACE PROMPTS HAZ-MAT RESPONSE
Tags: us_NY, industrial, discovery, response, hydrogen_peroxide
ARAB COUNTRIES URGE UN TO INSPECT DECAYING OIL TANKER OFF YEMEN'S COAST
Tags: Yemen, transportation, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
---------------------------------------------
PENTAGON CLEANUP OF TOXIC 'FOREVER CHEMICALS' LIKELY TO LAST DECADES
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/488723-pentagon-cleanup-of-toxic-forever-chemicals-likely-to-last-decades
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
A recent report from the Pentagon says it may take decades to remove toxic ‰??forever chemicals‰?? from the water supply near military bases following a surge in the number of sites with suspected contamination.
The Defense Department now has 651 sites it suspects could be contaminated with PFAS, a class of chemicals used in a number of everyday products and in fire fighting foam used by the military.
That‰??s a more than 50 percent jump from earlier tallies, an increase revealed in a report this past week from the Pentagon‰??s PFAS Task Force.
Now the military must test each site for PFAS, identify how the chemical has spread and craft a plan to remove it -- a process that could stretch over 30 years.
‰??We‰??ve been pretty clear that the 651 [figure] is where [PFAS] may have been used, which means we need to go in and investigate. So we just don‰??t know at this point that at all 651 there has been an actual release into the environment,‰?? Maureen Sullivan, the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for environment, told The Hill.
---------------------------------------------
HOW COMPANIES ARE GETTING 1,4-DIOXANE OUT OF HOME AND PERSONAL CARE PRODUCTS
https://cen.acs.org/business/consumer-products/companies-getting-14-dioxane-home/98/i11
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
When it comes to cleaning, ethoxylated fatty alcohols are the good stuff, beating conventional soap in cleaning power while being gentle on skin and clothes.
They and their foamy, sulfated cousins are the chemical backbone of the cleaning and personal care industries. These biodegradable workhorse surfactants have polar heads and long, nonpolar tails. As is the case with soap, this structural motif lets them play the intermediary between greasy substances and watery ones, binding emulsions together in a lipstick or helping a dish detergent wash away butter.
But the ethoxylation and sulfation steps involved in producing these surfactants can create 1,4-dioxane as a by-product. The US Environmental Protection Agency calls dioxane ‰??a likely human carcinogen‰?? that ‰??does not readily biodegrade in the environment.‰?? Growing worries about dioxane are forcing cleaning product makers‰??and the chemical companies that supply them‰??to adapt.
---------------------------------------------
MAJOR FIRE AT CHEMICAL PLANT IN GREECE
https://www.thenationalherald.com/293187/major-fire-at-chemical-plant-in-greece/
Tags: Greece, industrial, explosion, response, styrene
VATHY, Greece ‰?? A major fire broke out on Saturday at the AKFA chemical plant owned by Interkem in Vathy, Avlida has been brought under control, the fire brigade announced.
Fire-fighters remain on the scene as a precaution and an investigation into the causes of the fire has been launched by fire brigade investigators.
The fire started at 8:30 on Saturday in a massive metal vat containing 500 tonnes of the solvent styrene. It was reported by a guard that heard an explosion and saw flames coming out of the tank.
The fire brigade mobilised immediately and sent a large force of 40 fire fighters and 19 fire engines to the scene. The fire fighters focused on containing the fire by dousing the vat in foam and trying to cool the exterior to prevent it spreading to other vats nearby.
There were no injuries as the factory is not working at full capacity and only two sections are currently in operation.
---------------------------------------------
SEVERED HEAD, HAND FOUND NEAR BLAST SITE- THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2020/mar/22/severed-head-hand-found-near-blast-site-2120007.html
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, explosives
VIRUDHUNAGAR: The death toll in the fire accident in the cracker manufacturing unit in Chippiparai rose to nine after a man‰??s charred head and hand were found near the spot on Saturday early morning.
The deceased has been identified as Gurusamy (53). Sources said that his severed head and hand were recovered from a cotton field, some 300 metres away from the cracker unit.
In the fire accident on Friday, seven women were charred to death on the spot. A man later succumbed to injuries later in a hospital. Ten others are undergoing treatment at hospitals in Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kovilpatti. Sources said that the blast occurred while preparing a specific category of crackers for which the unit, Sri Rajammal Fireworks, did not have the licence.
They said that Gurusamy could have been there at the chemical mixing room when the blast happened and he would have been blown away from the blast site. A case has been registered against five persons, including R Ganesan, the proprietor of the unit, and Mathiyazhagan, Maheswaran, Kutty and Ganesan under sections 286, 338, 304 (1) of IPC read with 9B (1)(a) of Indian Explosives Act. Further investigations are on.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMISTRY WORLD: SEEING HOW OTHER CHEMISTS DO THEIR WORK CAN BE AN EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCE, IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE
https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/visiting-chemical-plants/4011279.article
Tags: United_Kingdom, industrial, discovery, environmental
If you‰??ve never been to a chemical plant, your first time can seem like a trip to another planet. I remember the very first time that I visited one as a graduate student. It was a pretty well-heeled facility, with a two-storey room built around what must have been an 8000 or 12,000 litre reactor. We walked into the room, and looked through the sight glass at the top of the reactor to see the agitator. It was a brief glimpse, and the odd crow‰??s-foot shape of the retreat curve agitator against the white reactor background didn‰??t look anything like the familiar blue stir bar in a glass 100ml round bottom flask.
It wasn‰??t until my third job in the chemical industry that I was privileged enough to get to know a plant that I could call my own. Being able to get up from my desk or walk out from my laboratory and go and see the reactor that would belch forth mysterious and unexpected samples that an operator would bring me ‰?? or better yet, product ‰?? was an incredible education. Going out to the plant during day and night allowed me to understand its strange rhythms, sweet smells of solvent and its otherworldly noises to the point where I could practically navigate it blindfolded.
---------------------------------------------
EPA OVERHAULS PESTICIDE BIOLOGICAL EVALUATIONS
https://cen.acs.org/environment/pesticides/EPA-overhauls-pesticide-biological-evaluations/98/i11
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, pesticides
The US Environmental Protection Agency is changing how it evaluates the risks of pesticides to endangered species. Rather than rely on estimates of pesticide use based on maximum-allowed values, the agency will use actual data that reflect how much of a given pesticide has been applied in a particular area.
Such data are not available for all areas, however. Environmental groups claim that the updated method, released March 12, will underestimate risks to endangered species because it excludes large areas where there are data gaps. They also argue that the approach ignores the downstream effects of pesticides that run off into waterways and indirect effects, such as the loss of insect pollinators that feed on endangered plants.
In contrast, the pesticide industry welcomes the new approach. ‰??Pesticide usage data is an important part of this revised method and represents a major step forward by EPA to use the best scientific and commercial data available,‰?? Chris Novak, CEO of CropLife America, which represents pesticide manufacturers, says in a statement.
---------------------------------------------
INCIDENT AT WORKPLACE PROMPTS HAZ-MAT RESPONSE
https://romesentinel.com/stories/incident-at-workplace-prompts-haz-mat-response,94672
Tags: us_NY, industrial, discovery, response, hydrogen_peroxide
VILLAGE OF CAZENOVIA ‰?? A bulging drum of hydrogen peroxide at Knowles Manufacturing in Madison County prompted a hazardous materials response on Wednesday.
The Syracuse Fire Department‰??s Hazardous Materials Response Team was called to assist after the drum was found in the chemical room at the manufacturing plant. The drum contained 50% hydrogen peroxide and was bulging unsafely, officials said.
The building was evacuated and no workers or citizens were exposed, officials said. The chemical room also contained plastic drums of methanol, so crews said they exercised extra precautions.
The hazmat team depressurized the bulging drum within an hour, halting the threat. No one was injured, officials stated.
---------------------------------------------
ARAB COUNTRIES URGE UN TO INSPECT DECAYING OIL TANKER OFF YEMEN'S COAST
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-sudan-djibouti-egypt-jordan-yemen-united-nations-houthi-oil-tanker
Tags: Yemen, transportation, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
Several Arab countries have called on the UN to pressure Yemen's Houthi rebels into allowing the world body to inspect a decaying oil tanker moored off the country's coast, warning that it may explode and cause "widespread environmental damage" to the Red Sea region.
The Safer oil tanker has been docked 60km (37 miles) north of Yemen's port city of Hodeidah since the late 1980s, but has not been in use since the Houthis seized the region in 2015.
Amid a lack of maintenance and breakdown of crude inside the vessel, the UN has repeatedly warned that there is a risk of a chemical explosion.
In August, when a UN team attempted to access the tanker, the rebels blocked them, demanding revenue from the sale of oil aboard the vessel as a precondition for the inspection.
---------------------------------------------
---
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