Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:50:06 -0500
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From: "Long, Don" <don.long**At_Symbol_Here**WGINT.COM>
Subject: Re: Chemical Safety headlines from Google
In-Reply-To: A<6D240E6E-5414-4960-93EB-C5D41974D999**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>

As long as we maintain this attitude, we will continue to get folks killed.
 
"The University has ruled the fire an accident and the student will not be held responsible. 
Sievers says a fire is just one of the risks, when it comes to chemistry. 

"Seems like every so often something like this happens, this one just happened to be pretty intense," he says."
 

Don A. Long
STS, CAIH
Southwest Research Institute Laboratory
Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility
PO Box 20130
White Hall, AR  71612
870-541-4930

-----Original Message-----
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU]On Behalf Of Ralph Stuart
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2010 6:28 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google

Links to details available at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

CHINA: CHEMICAL LAB BLAST OCCURS IN NORTHEAST CHINA CITY, http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7019939.html

A blast occurred at a chemical lab in northeast China's Liaoning Province Wednesday, causing no casualties.

The explosion happened at a laboratory warehouse of the Dalian Chemical Physics Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Dalian City at around 1:40 p.m., said a man in charge of the security of the institute.

He said the blast happened when hydrogen peroxide in the warehouse was under high temperature.

No one was hurt in the blast, said the man.

Police have cordoned off the area and are looking into the accident.

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US_IL: CHEMICAL FIRE WILL COST SIU $1M, http://www.wsiltv.com/p/news_details.php?newsID=10348&am p;type=top

CARBONDALE- A chemical fire in SIU's Neckers lab last week will cost more than first expected. 
New estimates are more than a million dollars, that's four times the initial estimate. 

After the smoked cleared, it didn't take long for University officials to know their quarter of a million dollar cleanup estimate, was way off. 

Asbestos, a cancer causing fiber used in construction is partially to blame. 

"As they started to clean up, they found Asbestos wrapping on some of the pipes so they're going to have to get that out of there," says University Spokesman Rod Sievers.

Sievers says a lack of insurance is another issue. 

"Some of the contents were insured, some of the contents were not," he says. 

It appears $500,000 will be needed to replace equipment and another $500,000 to fix the building after a student cleaning the lab with hydrocarbons got too close to a heat source. 

"It's a very flammable material=85 because it's a liquid it spread real quick and it caught the rest of the lab on fire," says Sievers. 

As a precaution the entire C wing of Neckers is locked up until further notice. 
Crews are conducting air quality checks trying to make sure the building is safe. 

The University has ruled the fire an accident and the student will not be held responsible. 
Sievers says a fire is just one of the risks, when it comes to chemistry. 

"Seems like every so often something like this happens, this one just happened to be pretty intense," he says.

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US_OK: WORKER, FIREFIGHTER INJURED IN CHEMICAL FIRE, http://enidnews.com/localnews/x1358976646/Worker-fi refighter-injured-in-chemical-fire

WOODWARD =97 Two people were injured in a red phosphorous chemical fire at the Deepwater Chemicals plant west of Woodward Tuesday morning.

Woodward Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer said an employee of the iodine derivative production plant was injured when the fire ignited.

...

The Deepwater press release noted the fire =93occurred during the startup of a separate newly constructed facility at the Deepwater Chemicals plant,=94 which is located near West Woodward Airport along Airpark Road.

Both Finley and Lehenbauer said the fire started shortly before 9 a.m. as a worker was mixing or preparing to mix some of the red phosphorus chemical, which both said is unstable and highly flammable.

=93Friction from the product itself caused it to auto-ignite,=94 Finley said.

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US_GA: BATTERIES BURN IN TRASH, RELEASE CHEMICALS IN GWINNETT, http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/batteries-burn-in-trash-545472.html

A Gwinnett County metal trash bin fire is out and fire officials are waiting for crews to clean up the resulting chemical release near North Berkley Lake.

Around 2 p.m., firefighters responded to reports of a fire from a large roll-off trash container holding household and car batteries in the 6200 block of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, Gwinnett County fire spokesman Lt. Eric Eberly said.

After initially attacking the fire with water, firefighters let the fire burn, because adding water to chemicals in the batteries would create hydrochloric acid, Eberly said.

The initial fire crew was exposed to chemical gases, and four fighters were treated for exposure.

No nearby businesses were closed, and crews protected storm drains from runoff and closed North Berkley Lake around the Peachtree Industrial Boulevard area, Eberly said.

Return to ajc.com for more updates.

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US_GA: CHEMICAL REACTION CAUSES FIRE IN DOUGLAS GARBAGE TRUCK, http://www.wal b.com/Global/story.asp?S=12624146

DOUGLAS, GA (WALB) -A simple mistake turned into a big problem in Douglas Wednesday. Firefighters say someone accidentally threw hazardous chemicals away. After a garbage truck picked up the load, it caught fire.

Hazmat workers were called and people in the area were told to stay inside until the situation was under control.

Officials say the mess could have easily been prevented. "This is an incident that could happen if you do not properly dispose of a chemical," said Fire Chief Tim White.

Chief Tim White drove by the parking lot of Hightower Church around 10:00am this morning and saw the garbage truck with smoke."Once we started to put out the fire we noticed there were some chemicals in the fire," said White.

The chief says about forty gallons of a potentially dangerous chemical had been dumped in the trash. "Some of them had been busted some of them still intact, we contacted various agencies and found out what we needed to do to stop the run off.

Firefighters say the chemical was accidentally thrown away by someone working at Callejas Industries a small fiberglass manufacturing company. "It came out of the jugs when the trash compacted, it had a chemical reaction," said White.

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INDIA: FIRE SERVICE PERSONNEL TOOK 18 HOURS TO PUT OUT AMBATTUR FIRE, htt p://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/City/Chennai/Fire-service-personnel-took- 18-hours-to-put-out-Ambattur-fire/articleshow/6029852.cms

CHENNAI: It took firemen from across Chennai 18 hours to put out the massive fire that broke out at a paint company in Ambattur on Tuesday evening. Preliminary investigations suggest that human error caused the fire. 

As the chemical solvents were lighter than air, the fire spread quite quickly but the firemen were able to contain it. "If there had been inflammable materials that were denser than the air, LPG for instance, fighting the fire would have been a greater challenge. Such denser substances can cause powerful blasts and throw fireballs. Our men did a commendable job and stopped the fire from spreading to nearby areas," S Veeramani, divisional fire officer, who headed the fire fighting operations at the paint company, said. 

Fire service sources said preliminary investigations suggest that human error and failure of the monitoring mechanism in the processing unit of the factory could have lead to the fire. 

Sources said slight impurities in the mixing solvents could also have caused the blast. The security guards heard a loud blast in the processing unit of the factory around 7.45pm. The fire engulfed the factory in no time.


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