Chemical Safety Headlines =46rom Google
Monday, May 16, 2011 8:15:00 AM

Table of Contents (15 articles)

AT LEAST 33 STUDENTS RUSHED TO HOSPITAL WITH BREATHING DIFFICULTIES AND 
STREAMING EYES AFTER PEPPER SPRAY PRANK | MAIL ONLINE
Tags: United, Kingdom, education, release, injury, pepper, spray

FIRE CHIEF SAYS MIXING CLEANING SUPPLIES CAN BE DANGEROUS - KRGV CHANNEL 
5 NEWS - THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY'S NEWS CHANNEL - BREAKING NEWS, BREAKING 
STORIES - RGV NEWS
Tags: us_TX, public, release, injury, ammonia, bleach, chlorine, 
irritant

STUDENTS RETURN TO HARLEM SCHOOL AFTER MERCURY SPILL - ROCKFORD, IL - 
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR
Tags: us_IL, education, release, response, mercury

AMMONIA SPILL SHOULD CAUSE NO PROBLEMS
Tags: Canada, transportation, release, response, ammonia

CHEMICAL-LADEN TRUCK CATCHES FIRE
Tags: India, transportation, fire, injury, hydrogen_peroxide, metals, 
peroxide, phosphoric_acid, plastics, zinc

WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES | TOXIN SPILL LEADS TO EVACUATION AT CLARKSON
Tags: us_NY, laboratory, release, response, styrene

TWO HURT IN CHEMICAL EXPLOSION (FROM THE ADVERTISER SERIES)
Tags: United, Kingdom, industrial, explosion, injury, plastics

THINNERS DUMPED ON WYEE ROAD - LOCAL NEWS - NEWS - GENERAL - LAKES MAIL
Tags: Australia, public, release, response, solvent

HAZMAT TEAM CLEANING UP LEAK FROM GARBAGE TRUCK IN GARNER - TRAFFIC - 
NEWSOBSERVER.COM
Tags: us_NC, transportation, release, response, chlorine, waste

FIRE CREWS TENDING TO HAZMAT INCIDENT - BREAKING NEWS - COLORADO SPRINGS 
GAZETTE, CO
Tags: us_CO, transportation, release, environmental, pesticides

HOMEMADE DEVICE EXPLODES IN NAPA MAILBOX
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, response, bomb

HAZMAT CREW CALLED IN AFTER CRASH - WNEP
Tags: us_PA, transportation, release, environmental, unknown_chemical

FIREFIGHTERS RETURN FOR REKINDLE OF HARBORCREEK BIODIESEL PLANT BLAZE - 
LOCAL NEWS - GOERIE.COM/ERIE TIMES-NEWS
Tags: us_PA, industrial, fire, injury, biodiesel

FIRE REPORTED AT SMUCKER'S BUILDING - CINCINNATI NEWS STORY - WLWT 
CINCINNATI
Tags: us_OH, industrial, fire, response, cleaners

ROMEOVILLE BUTANE LEAK EVACUATES AREA, CLOSES ROADS - CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, response, butane

---------------------------------------------

AT LEAST 33 STUDENTS RUSHED TO HOSPITAL WITH BREATHING DIFFICULTIES AND 
STREAMING EYES AFTER PEPPER SPRAY PRANK | MAIL ONLINE, 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1386722/At-33-students-rushed-hosp
ital-breathing-difficulties-streaming-eyes-pepper-spray-prank.html?ito=f
eeds-newsxml
Tags: United, Kingdom, education, release, injury, pepper, spray

At least 33 students rushed to hospital with breathing difficulties and 
streaming eyes after pepper spray prank

Thirty-three students have been rushed to hospital with breathing 
problems and streaming eyes after a can of pepper spray was set off in 
their school.  

Dozens more students from Another Course to College School in Brighton, 
Massachusetts, were laid out on tarpaulins in front of the building 
while emergency workers treated the worst cases first.

The affected students rubbed their eyes, coughed and struggled to 
breathe. Some wore oxygen masks and were even hooked up to IVs, medical 
workers said.

---------------------------------------------

FIRE CHIEF SAYS MIXING CLEANING SUPPLIES CAN BE DANGEROUS - KRGV CHANNEL 
5 NEWS - THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY'S NEWS CHANNEL - BREAKING NEWS, BREAKING 
STORIES - RGV NEWS, 
http://www.krgv.com/content/news/story/Fire-Chief-Says-Mixing-Cleaning-Sup
plies-Can-Be/sRgisiwG7EGx1m6QawvQkA.cspx
Tags: us_TX, public, release, injury, ammonia, bleach, chlorine, 
irritant

EDINBURG - A hazardous mix of cleaning supplies is all cleaned up in 
Edinburg. The fire chief says what happened inside a bathroom in the 
Edinburg CISD transportation building can happen anywhere, even in your 
own home.

The woman is now out of the hospital. Friday morning, Edinburg 
firefighters rushed in to help a worker at the transportation building. 
The woman was having a reaction to the fumes coming from a trash can.

Lights and sirens signaled something wasn't right inside a bathroom at 
the building. Cleaning supplies tossed into a bathroom trash can caused 
it. Edinburg fire Chief Shawn Snider says with good reason.

"They can cause a lot of harm," says Snider.

The chief says the chemicals caused a reaction. The fumes or vapors 
coming from the trash can were so strong it caused a worker to have 
trouble breathing.

"It was a vapor, and it was an irritant to the respiratory system," says 
Snider.

Snider says this can happen in anyone's home. He says it's important to 
read the labels and never mix products.

"Our hazardous material entry team went in and identified the chemical 
and had a reaction to chlorine bleach," says Snider.

A team trained to handle these types of calls went in. Within an hour, 
the scene was cleared. The worker was later released from the hospital.

Firefighters found several cleaning supplies reacted with the bleach in 
cleaning wipes. The chief says it can happen anywhere if you're not 
careful. The best thing you can do is keep cleaning supplies out of 
reach of your children. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 
never mix bleach and ammonia.

---------------------------------------------

STUDENTS RETURN TO HARLEM SCHOOL AFTER MERCURY SPILL - ROCKFORD, IL - 
ROCKFORD REGISTER STAR, 
http://www.rrstar.com/updates/x600913482/Students-return-to-Harlem-Middle-
School-after-mercury-spill
Tags: us_IL, education, release, response, mercury

LOVES PARK =97 Harlem Middle School students are back in their 
classrooms this morning after being evacuated after a mercury spill.

A thermometer broke while a student was using it shortly after 10 a.m., 
exposing the student and the teacher who helped clean it up to mercury, 
said Loves Park fire Chief Phil Foley.

Students were evacuated for about 30 minutes while firefighters 
inspected the scene. The room was locked down, and the 
hazardous-materials team was called in to make sure the chemical was 
completely cleaned up.

=93Mercury is like melted lead,=94 Foley said. =93It just bubbles 
everywhere.=94

The teacher and student washed their hands immediately upon exposure, 
Foley said, and were later checked by paramedics to confirm they didn=92t 
have any trace amounts of the toxic chemical left on their skin.

---------------------------------------------

AMMONIA SPILL SHOULD CAUSE NO PROBLEMS, 
http://www.thestarphoenix.com/Ammonia+spill+should+cause+problems/4777184/
story.html
Tags: Canada, transportation, release, response, ammonia

Saskatoon Fire and Protective Services anticipates no lingering problems 
after an anhydrous ammonia spill Thursday south of Saskatoon.

The fire department's dangerous goods team was called to a spill, where 
a supplier was transferring ammonia into a farmer's tank. The fire 
department says the supplier's tank developed a leak. About 1,000 
kilograms of chemical had spilled by the time the dangerous goods team 
arrived, even though the supplier had managed to slow down the leak.

Fire crews blocked off the area for about two hours and confirmed the 
leak had been slowed. The team stayed on the site while the supplier 
offloaded and removed the remainder of the ammonia in the tank. No one 
was injured by the leak.

In Thursday's warm weather conditions, the ammonia dissipated quickly 
and no chemical cleanup was required, the fire service says.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL-LADEN TRUCK CATCHES FIRE, 
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Chemical-laden-truck-catches-fire/789794
/
Tags: India, transportation, fire, injury, hydrogen_peroxide, metals, 
peroxide, phosphoric_acid, plastics, zinc

A truck carrying chemicals caught fire at Chandani chowk early on 
Thursday. Two firemen were injured in the extinguishing operation. 
Traffic on both the sides of the highway was disrupted for nearly 
three-and-a-half hours.

Fire brigade officers said the incident took place around 4 am. =93

=93The truck was carrying metal containers of acrylic polymer, hydrogen 
peroxide, phosphoric acid, zinc chloride and calcium chloride. There 
were also some bundles of ropes and utensils in the truck,=94 said 
Prabhakar Umratkar, a station officer with the fire brigade.

He added, =93The incident came to light after some of the passengers in 
the vehicle following the truck saw fumes coming out. We reached the 
spot in 10 minutes after we got the call. It took about two hours for 
our 20 member of fire brigade team to bring the fire under control. We 
had to be extra cautious while extinguishing the fire. Two of the 
firemen suffered minor injuries.=94 The traffic on both the sides was 
dirupted, he said.

---------------------------------------------

WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES | TOXIN SPILL LEADS TO EVACUATION AT CLARKSON, 
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20110513/NEWS05/305139959
Tags: us_NY, laboratory, release, response, styrene

POTSDAM =97 A Clarkson University employee prompted an evacuation when 
he spilled about 2 liters of the chemical solvent styrene monomer 
shortly after noon Thursday in a laboratory at the Center for Advanced 
Materials Processing building on the hill campus, Potsdam fire officials 
said.

Styrene monomer is a flammable, colorless liquid with a strong odor and 
irritant properties. The synthetic chemical is used to manufacture 
plastics, rubber and resins, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health 
Administration website says.

The CAMP building was evacuated at 12:10 p.m. Thursday and remained 
closed for the day, allowing the building to be vented of the residual 
odor, Clarkson officials said.

---------------------------------------------

TWO HURT IN CHEMICAL EXPLOSION (FROM THE ADVERTISER SERIES), 
http://www.theadvertiserseries.co.uk/news/darlington/9027593.Two_hurt_in_c
hemical_explosion/
Tags: United, Kingdom, industrial, explosion, injury, plastics

HOSPITAL staff were on high alert yesterday (FRI) following what turned 
out to be a "minor explosion" at a North-East chemical plant.

Darlington Memorial Hospital=92s accident and emergency department 
(A&E) was in quarantine after two workers from Ineos, in Newton 
Aycliffe, were admitted.

One of the workers had collapsed on site and both of them were taken by 
ambulance to the hospital where there were concerns over exposure to 
hazardous chemicals. A decision to close A&E was taken as a 
precaution following and it later transpired the men had been exposed to 
relatively harmless chemicals.

A spokesman for Ineos, operators of the former Hydro Polymers site in 
Newton Aycliffe, confirmed there had been an incident at 6.30am 
yesterday morning.

He said: "The incident was on the PVC compounding plant whereby on 
starting up a process, two employees came into contact with PVC 
compound.

"As a precaution, both individuals were taken to the local hospital for 
examination and are awaiting treatment for eye irritation.

"PVC compounds are generally non hazardous, and at no point during the 
incident was there any threat to local people or the environment.

---------------------------------------------

THINNERS DUMPED ON WYEE ROAD - LOCAL NEWS - NEWS - GENERAL - LAKES MAIL, 
http://www.lakesmail.com.au/news/local/news/general/thinners-dumped-on-wye
e-road/2163145.aspx
Tags: Australia, public, release, response, solvent

THREE 60 litre and one 20 litre drum containing paint thinners dumped 
beside Wyee Road on the weekend were safely sealed by Newcastle Hazmat 
officers late on Sunday night last week.
A Hazmat spokesperson said Hazmat personnel from their Cook's Hill-based 
branch had packaged the drums securely for staff from Lake Macquarie 
City Council to retrieve and dispose of safely.

The Hazmat personnel had undertaken the safety operation in the early 
hours of Monday morning after the dumping had been reported.

---------------------------------------------

HAZMAT TEAM CLEANING UP LEAK FROM GARBAGE TRUCK IN GARNER - TRAFFIC - 
NEWSOBSERVER.COM, 
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/05/13/1195370/hazmat-team-cleaning-up-lea
k-from.html
Tags: us_NC, transportation, release, response, chlorine, waste

GARNER -- GARNER -- A hazardous material crew is cleaning up what 
appears to be chlorine that leaked from a waste industries truck at a 
busy intersection in Garner this morning.

No injuries were reported, however law officers are detouring motorists 
away from the area, an emergency dispatcher said.

The leak was reported at 10:26 a.m. and occurred at the intersection of 
Ten-Ten and Benson roads, the dispatcher said.

---------------------------------------------

FIRE CREWS TENDING TO HAZMAT INCIDENT - BREAKING NEWS - COLORADO SPRINGS 
GAZETTE, CO, 
http://www.gazette.com/articles/incident-118080-springs-fire.html
Tags: us_CO, transportation, release, environmental, pesticides

The Colorado Springs Fire Department has cleaned up a hazardous 
materials spill at East Platte Avenue and North Circle Drive in Colorado 
Springs, and roads that were blocked have now reopened.

According to fire officials, an orange-colored, mild herbicide  -- 
glyphosate -- leaked from a small landscaping trailer in the parking lot 
on the northwest corner of Platte Avenue and Circle Drive. An online 
toxicology network of several extension offices, including Cornell 
University's, says glyphosate is relatively nontoxic, but can cause 
significant eye irritation. It is the key ingredient in Roundup, a  
popular weed killer.

Fire officials said there was no danger to the immediate area, and 
hazardous materials crews were able to absorb the chemical and put it 
into containers for disposal.

---------------------------------------------

HOMEMADE DEVICE EXPLODES IN NAPA MAILBOX, 
http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/article_edb36dde-7e84-11e0-b7cb-0
01cc4c002e0.html
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, response, bomb

A homemade device exploded early Saturday morning inside a residential 
mailbox in northwest Napa, Napa Fire officials said.
A resident called at 1:21 a.m. from the 3900 block of Stover Street to 
report a loud explosion, Napa Fire Capt. Mike Dombrowski said. The 
resident saw smoke coming from the mailbox, which was moderately 
damaged, he said.
There were no injuries, he said. Fire crews cleared the scene at 2 a.m., 
he said.
A Napa Fire hazardous material technician was called out to investigate 
the chemical used in the incident, he said. It appears the explosive 
device in the mailbox was a large water bottle filled with pieces of 
aluminum foil and a Drano-type liquid, Dombrowski said.
Teenagers in other communities have been known to build them, he said, 
referring to the homemade device. =93We are aware that this is becoming 
a problem,=94 he said.

---------------------------------------------

HAZMAT CREW CALLED IN AFTER CRASH - WNEP, 
http://www.wnep.com/news/countybycounty/wnep-hazmat-crew-called-in-after-c
rash-20110514,0,5475038.story
Tags: us_PA, transportation, release, environmental, unknown_chemical

A hazardous materials crew was called to help clean up a crash in of 
Lackawanna County.

A pick-up truck crashed on Seaman's Road near Factoryville just before 
10:00 a.m. Saturday.

The truck flipped over, trapping the driver.

Gallons of paint, oil, fuel and other chemicals spilled from the 
vehicle.

Emergency officials say the spill will not impact the environment.

Lackawanna County Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Bob Flanagan 
said, "Most of it spilled in five gallon buckets so they're fortunate 
about that.  It wasn't anything from a tanker or anything like that. It 
looks like quite a bite of a mess, but they'll get it taken care of 
pretty quickly."

The driver of the pick-up truck was taken to the hospital. 

No word on his name or condition.

---------------------------------------------

FIREFIGHTERS RETURN FOR REKINDLE OF HARBORCREEK BIODIESEL PLANT BLAZE - 
LOCAL NEWS - GOERIE.COM/ERIE TIMES-NEWS, 
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110515/NEWS02/3051598
90
Tags: us_PA, industrial, fire, injury, biodiesel

Firefighters returned to a burning biodiesel plant in Harborcreek 
Township on Sunday night after flames rekindled in several areas of the 
facility.

Light, hazy smoke rose off the building, the home to both American 
Biodiesel Energy Inc. and North American Powder Coatings.

Firefighters from at least five companies were called to the property, 
at 4680 Iroquois Ave., at 7:30 p.m. They were still there two hours 
later.

Much of the building had burned Saturday night. About 100 firefighters 
from multiple volunteer departments had spent more than six hours 
controlling the blaze then. Three were injured.

Investigators have not yet determined what caused the fire.

Fire officials headed back this morning to investigate.

No one was believed to have been inside plant when the fire broke out 
Saturday evening. However, three firefighters did suffer minor injuries, 
said Ronald Hawryliw, first assistant chief of Fairfield Hose Co.

---------------------------------------------

FIRE REPORTED AT SMUCKER'S BUILDING - CINCINNATI NEWS STORY - WLWT 
CINCINNATI, http://www.wlwt.com/news/27900134/detail.html
Tags: us_OH, industrial, fire, response, cleaners

CINCINNATI -- A fire was reported Saturday night at the J.M. Smucker 
Company in Saint Bernard.
The business, located on Spring Grove Avenue, was closed for the 
weekend, but cleaning crews were inside.
Firefighters said the flames were ignited by a reaction of a cleaning 
chemical with a pot of oil. No one was injured in the fire.
Additional fire crews from Elmwood Place, Wyoming, Golf Manor and 
Springfield Township were called in to help put out the flames.

---------------------------------------------

ROMEOVILLE BUTANE LEAK EVACUATES AREA, CLOSES ROADS - CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 
http://www.suntimes.com/5384048-417/hazmat-crews-working-as-butane-leaks-f
rom-romeoville-pipeline.html
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, response, butane

ROMEOVILLE =97 HazMat crews remained at the scene of a large butane leak 
in Romeoville until the early morning hours on Sunday. Local roads are 
expected to remain closed until sometime later in the day.

Crews must flush out sewers in the area where liquied butane has 
collected and is posing a risk of explosion, said police Chief Mark 
Turvey.

Until that work is completed - probably sometime Sunday, Turvey said - 
an 800-foot area will remain evacuated and stretches of Weber Road and 
Romeo Road (135th Street), will remain closed.

=92An 8-inch pipeline owned by ONEOK Inc. began leaking butane Saturday 
afternoon.

---------------------------------------------

All article summaries and tags are archived at 
http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post