Chemical Safety Headlines =46rom Google Friday, May 20, 2011 8:15:01 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 (23 articles) PICTURES, AUDIO: MASSIVE FIRE AT DANDENONG SOUTH CHEMICAL FACTORY Tags: Australia, industrial, fire, response, petroleum VIC MAN DIES AFTER EXPOSURE TO CHEMICALS Tags: Australia, industrial, release, death, ag_chems, phenol LOCAL NEWS: CHEMICAL CAUSES FUMES AT WASTE TRANSFER STATION Tags: us_GA, public, release, response, corrosives, waste MANGALOREAN.COM- SERVING MANGALOREANS AROUND THE WORLD! Tags: India, industrial, explosion, injury, explosives FIRE CHIEF: 26 FIREFIGHTERS EXPOSED TO CHEMICALS DURING HARBORCREEK PLANT FIRE Tags: follow-up CREWS EXTINGUISH FLAMES AT OIL PUMPING SITE Tags: us_OH, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical CHEMICAL EXPLOSION KILLS MAN IN LAVERTON Tags: Australia, industrial, explosion, death, phenol 58-YEAR-OLD MAN KILLED IN HARTLEPOOL CAR EXPLOSION Tags: United, Kingdom, public, explosion, death, unknown_chemical POLICE AND FIRE BRIEFS FOR MAY 19, 2011 Tags: follow-up FIRE BREAKS OUT AT CHEMICAL COMPANY Tags: us_OH, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical EVACUATION WARNING FOR MOBILE HOME PARK NEAR HAZMAT SITUATION Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, ammonia HAZMAT CREWS DEAL WITH CHEMICAL SPILL AT TRANSFER STATION Tags: us_WA, industrial, release, response, waste LSUPD INVESTIGATING HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL SPILL AT CHOPPIN HALL Tags: laboratory, release, response, butyllithium WESTMINSTER BUILDING EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL REACTION Tags: us_CA, education, release, injury, cleaners SPORTS CENTRE IS EVACUATED AFTER =91MINOR=92 CHEMICAL ALERT Tags: United, Kingdom, public, release, response, pool_chemicals TRUCK CARRYING POISONOUS CHEMICAL TIPS OVER, HAZMAT RESPONDS Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, unknown_chemical HAZMAT CREWS IDENTIFY MYSTERIOUS VAPORS AT EVERETT TRANSFER STATION Tags: us_WA, industrial, release, response, waste ROLLOVER CRASH SPILLS YELLOW PAINT ACROSS LOCAL ROAD Tags: us_PA, transportation, release, environmental, paints CHEMICAL SPILL LEADS TO EVACUATIONS Tags: us_CA, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical SEYMOUR 'BLEACH BOMB' UNDER INVESTIGATION Tags: us_CT, public, discovery, response, chlorine PROPANE ODOR SHUT DOWN HOSPITAL ER FOR HOURS Tags: us_MD, public, release, response, propane LSP HAZMAT TEAM WORKS FUEL LEAK IN WEST MONROE Tags: us_LA, public, release, environmental, gasoline RADIATION ALERT FIZZLES OUT Tags: us_MA, public, discovery, response, radiation --------------------------------------------- PICTURES, AUDIO: MASSIVE FIRE AT DANDENONG SOUTH CHEMICAL FACTORY http://cranbourne-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/massive-fire-at-dand enong-south-chemical-factory/ Tags: Australia, industrial, fire, response, petroleum DANDENONG South residents are being warned to stay inside after a fire broke out at a Dandenong South factory last night. The CFA has issued warnings to people living in Dandenong South, Cranbourne North, Hampton Park and Lynbrook to close all windows to avoid the thick black smoke. Fire crews battled the giant factory blaze, which was fuelled by 700,000 litres of engine oil, for more than eight hours The fire, at the TriTech Lubricants on Williams Rd, started about 8pm, with 130 firefighters fighting through the night. ... CFA Operations officer Mark Kennedy said the main chemical involved was engine oil and took more than eight hours to control. --------------------------------------------- VIC MAN DIES AFTER EXPOSURE TO CHEMICALS http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/vic-man-dies-after-exposure- to-chemicals-20110519-1euly.html Tags: Australia, industrial, release, death, ag_chems, phenol A man has died after being exposed to a toxic chemical used to make weed killer at a Melbourne agricultural chemicals plant. Four colleagues tried in vain to resuscitate the 54-year-old when he collapsed while trying to wash off the chemical, while another man suffered a minor chemical burn to his wrist. The dead man had been working on an exterior pipeline at the Nufarm chemical plant in Laverton North when he was sprayed with the toxic chemical on Thursday morning. Advertisement: Story continues below Police said the man ingested some of the acid-based solvent. WorkSafe spokesman Michael Birt said the man was exposed to phenol, a substance used in the manufacture of herbicides. --------------------------------------------- LOCAL NEWS: CHEMICAL CAUSES FUMES AT WASTE TRANSFER STATION http://heraldnet.com/article/20110518/NEWS01/705189808/-1/news01 Tags: us_GA, public, release, response, corrosives, waste EVERETT -- Fumes that rose from a Snohomish County waste transfer station on Wednesday morning apparently were caused by a corrosive chemical dumped in with garbage. Hazardous material crews from several fire departments responded to the chemical spill inside a county waste transfer station near Paine Field. Snohomish County Fire District 1 spokeswoman Leslie Hynes said tests showed the chemical was potassium hydroxide. It has a number of industrial uses, but it also is sometimes used in the manufacture of illegal drugs. Firefighters located two five-gallon plastic buckets with residual amounts of potassium hydroxide in the area where the vapor cloud was seen, Hynes said. "Potassium hydroxide had to react with some other substance to generate a vapor cloud like the one described by the transfer station employees," Hynes said. --------------------------------------------- MANGALOREAN.COM- SERVING MANGALOREANS AROUND THE WORLD! http://mangalorean.com/news.php?newstype=local&newsid=239641 Tags: India, industrial, explosion, injury, explosives Nagpur, May 19 (IANS) At least four people were critically injured in a major fire that broke out following a blast at an explosives factory near Nagpur in Maharashtra, police said here Thursday. "The fire broke out following a chemical blast in Dhaga village premises of AMA Industries that manufactures explosives," an official from Kalmeshwar police station told IANS. According to an eyewitness, the entire factory building has collapsed due to the blast that took place at one of the chemical tankers lodged at the factory. Police, however, said they were looking into the exact cause of the fire and awaiting more details. --------------------------------------------- FIRE CHIEF: 26 FIREFIGHTERS EXPOSED TO CHEMICALS DURING HARBORCREEK PLANT FIRE http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110519/NEWS02/3051999 44/-1/news Tags: follow-up Firefighters who fought a blaze that heavily damaged a Harborcreek Township biodiesel plant Saturday night were exposed to a mixture of at least nine chemicals, Fairfield Hose Co. Chief Jim Hawryliw said Wednesday. Authorities also said as of Wednesday evening, at least 26 of the estimated 100 firefighters at the blaze had sought medical treatment in the past few days for a variety of respiratory-related problems. None of the symptoms are life-threatening, and no firefighters have been admitted to a hospital, said Carrie Colleran, medical director for prehospital services at Saint Vincent Health Center. "I know there were at least 10 firefighters from both companies in North East -- Fuller and Crescent Hose -- who were treated,'' Colleran said. --------------------------------------------- CREWS EXTINGUISH FLAMES AT OIL PUMPING SITE http://www.wtov9.com/news/27945793/detail.html Tags: us_OH, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical PERRYSVILLE, Ohio -- A sizable fire at an oil pumping site about 20 miles south of Carrollton has been extinguished. A Carroll County dispatcher told NEWS9 there were five fire departments dispatched to the fire at 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. At least one of those crews used a chemical fire suppressant foam on the flames. The pumping station is on Plum Road, near the community of Perrysville near state Route 43. The area is sparsely populated, but the fire was reported by a resident of one of the four closest houses. --------------------------------------------- CHEMICAL EXPLOSION KILLS MAN IN LAVERTON http://media.theage.com.au/news/national-news/chemical-explosion-kills-man -in-laverton-2372162.html Tags: Australia, industrial, explosion, death, phenol Chemical explosion kills man in Laverton (01:22) A worker at the Nufarm factory in Laverton, in Melbourne's west, dies after a pipe explodes and covers him with carbolic acid. 19/05/11 --------------------------------------------- 58-YEAR-OLD MAN KILLED IN HARTLEPOOL CAR EXPLOSION http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2011/05/19/58-yea r-old-man-killed-in-hartlepool-car-explosion-61634-28721649/ Tags: United, Kingdom, public, explosion, death, unknown_chemical EMERGENCY services in the region were last night dealing with a major chemical contamination scare, following a car explosion which left a man dead. The University Hospital of Hartlepool was put on high alert following a blast in the town, which claimed the life of a 58-year-old local man. The body was found in a burned out Nissan Micra, on the town=92s Old Cemetery Road in the early hours of yesterday. Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. A nearby block of flats was evacuated and a 250m cordon was put in place around Navigation Point, in Hartlepool Marina, after unknown chemicals were understood to have been found in the back of the car. Emergency services working at the scene had to be decontaminated after coming into contact with the substance, while two police officers and three ambulance staff had to be taken to hospital. They were later discharged. --------------------------------------------- POLICE AND FIRE BRIEFS FOR MAY 19, 2011 http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/Police-and-fire-briefs-for-May-19-2011.ht ml Tags: follow-up LSU=92s Choppin Hall reopened Wednesday evening after a chemical leak caused an evacuation, according to a Fire Department news release. The building was closed after the hazardous substance N-Butyllithium leaked in a lab, according to LSU=92s website. No one was injured. The substance leaked from a glass 800-milliliter container that broke during shipping, said Curt Monte, a Fire Department spokesman. The substance is =93extremely flammable when exposed to air,=94 according to a Fire Department news release. Professors in the lab eventually contained the leak with a metal can filled with sand, the release said. The building was evacuated about 4:45 p.m., when LSU=92s emergency operations center sent students and faculty a text message and an email, warning them to avoid the area. Few people appeared to be in the building at the time of the evacuation, Monte said. The Fire Department=92s Hazardous Materials Unit was called to the scene, Monte said. --------------------------------------------- FIRE BREAKS OUT AT CHEMICAL COMPANY http://www.fox19.com/story/14675401/fire-breaks-out-at-chemical-company Tags: us_OH, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical WINTON HILLS, OH (FOX19) - A fire broke out last Wednesday night at a chemical company in Winton Hills. It happened around 11:45 p.m. at Emery Industries on Este Avenue. When firefighters arrived, they found a 250-gallon vessel with heavy fire from the top that was threatening a building next to it. It was determined that the product in the tank was Dowtherm, a heat transfer fluid. It was determined that streams would be directed on the tank to cool it and a misting spray was placed on the flames to keep them from entering the building but not extinguishing them. Once the tank was cooled down the vapors stopped escaping and the fire went out. --------------------------------------------- EVACUATION WARNING FOR MOBILE HOME PARK NEAR HAZMAT SITUATION http://www.ksby.com/news/evacuation-warning-for-mobile-home-park-near-hazm at-situation/ Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, ammonia Residents of a local mobile home park have been warned they may have to evacuate their homes as crews check out a possible hazardous materials incident in the Oceano area Thursday morning. Crews were called to the 900 block of Pacific Boulevard, behind the Oceano Dunes State Park's maintenance building, at about 8:00a.m. Thursday. Workers had reported smelling a strong odor of ammonia. Emergency crews say there is an evacuation order in effect for the state park maintenance facility, and evacuation warnings for the County Mobile Home Park and anyone living in homes on State Park property around the maintenance building. --------------------------------------------- HAZMAT CREWS DEAL WITH CHEMICAL SPILL AT TRANSFER STATION http://everett.komonews.com/news/911/hazmat-crews-deal-chemical-spill-tran sfer-station/641880 Tags: us_WA, industrial, release, response, waste Fire department hazmat crews spent Wednesday morning at the transfer station near the south end of Paine Field after a chemical spill. "They were moving garbage from this truck into a hopper and they saw a cloud of this chemical come out and immediately called 911 and evacuated, which was the right thing to do," said Snohomish County Fire District 1 spokeswoman Leslie Hynes. They determined almost right away the chemical cloud did not escape from the building and posed no danger to the public. Four workers and a waste truck driver that were inside where the spill occurred were OK. "The employees are fine," said Snohomish County spokesperson Christopher Schwarzen. "No reports of any eye irritation or any problem breathing." --------------------------------------------- LSUPD INVESTIGATING HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL SPILL AT CHOPPIN HALL http://www.lsureveille.com/lsupd-investigating-hazardous-chemical-spill-at -choppin-hall-1.2576530 Tags: laboratory, release, response, butyllithium LSUPD and the Baton Rouge Fire Department Hazardous Materials Division are investigating a hazardous spill at Choppin Hall, according to Sgt. Blake Tabor, LSUPD spokesman. Tabor said LSUPD believes a University student was conducting an authorized experiment on the seventh floor when a hazardous substance fell or leaked. A University email identified the substance as N-Butyllithium. Tabor said no injuries were reported. The building was evacuated following the spill. Tabor said he does not know when the building will be reopened. --------------------------------------------- WESTMINSTER BUILDING EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL REACTION http://www.ocregister.com/news/evacuated-301003-chemicals-six.html Tags: us_CA, education, release, injury, cleaners WESTMINSTER - Six floors in a building were evacuated Wednesday morning after people inside reacted to a mixture of chemicals, officials said. Firefighters and the Orange County Fire Authority's hazmat team were called to the 5400 block of Garden Grove Boulevard at 8:47 a.m. after employees inside said they had a negative reaction to cleaning chemicals, said Capt. Greg McKeown. Six floors of the building were evacuated as a precaution, he said. About 150 people were escorted out of the building. A maintenance crew was mixing cleaning materials when firefighters were called, he said. A total of 12 people were treated by paramedics at the scene, but they all declined to be taken to a nearby hospital, he said. Hazmat personnel were sent inside the building to take samples and make sure the building is safe for employees to return, McKeown said. --------------------------------------------- SPORTS CENTRE IS EVACUATED AFTER =91MINOR=92 CHEMICAL ALERT http://www.lutterworthmail.co.uk/news/local/sports_centre_is_evacuated_aft er_minor_chemical_alert_1_2692236 Tags: United, Kingdom, public, release, response, pool_chemicals A SPORTS centre in Lutterworth was evacuated after chemicals used to help keep swimming pools clean were spilt. The accident happened at Lutterworth Sports Centre, in Coventry Road, last Wednesday evening at about 8pm. A chemical used to keep water clean in the centre=92s swimming pool is thought to have overflowed, which then sparked an automatic fire alarm. Justin Butlin, contracts manager for the Harborough District Leisure Trust, said: =93The chemicals are fed into a machine which is well away from the swimming pool and any areas where members of the public would be. =93It appears that it overflowed into a bund underneath the machine, which is designed to collect the chemicals if the machine is ever overfilled, and this then triggered the alarm. --------------------------------------------- TRUCK CARRYING POISONOUS CHEMICAL TIPS OVER, HAZMAT RESPONDS http://www.ktxs.com/news/27945665/detail.html Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, unknown_chemical ABILENE, Texas -- An 18-wheeler truck carrying more than 1,300 gallons of a poisonous chemical caused quite the scene in south Abilene Wednesday night after it tipped over. It happened near South Treadaway and Danville. The Abilene Fire Department hazardous material team responded because there was a leak caused by the accident but fire officials say luckily it wasn't a container that had the poisonous material inside. The truck was carrying 1,320 gallons of a mildly poisonous chemical used in oil fields. Fire officials say had that substance leaked they would have quarantined an area half a mile around the wreck. The Abilene Hazmat team is always called out as a precautionary measure when dangerous chemicals are involved and some will stay until the containers holding those chemicals are removed from the rig. The driver of the truck was able to escape the wreck uninjured. "Luckily this time the containers are made to take a pretty good beating so they stayed in tact," said Battalion Chief with Abilene Fire Department, Joey Kincaid, "Driver's fine no injuries to the driver and he was able to get out on his own before our arrival." --------------------------------------------- HAZMAT CREWS IDENTIFY MYSTERIOUS VAPORS AT EVERETT TRANSFER STATION http://www.king5.com/news/local/Hazmat-crews-responding-to-spill-at-Everet t-transfer-station-122151524.html Tags: us_WA, industrial, release, response, waste EVERETT, Wash. -- Snohomish County Solid Waste crews and local fire and hazmat investigators have identified a mysterious substance at the county's Airport Road Transfer Station in Everett as potassium hydroxide. The transfer station was closed around 7 a.m. Wednesday when work crews noticed vapors coming from a load of commercial debris brought to the station. ... Hazmat crews later determined a couple of drops of potassium hydroxide had interacted with another substance at the site, creating the vapors. There were no injuries and no one was exposed to the chemical. --------------------------------------------- ROLLOVER CRASH SPILLS YELLOW PAINT ACROSS LOCAL ROAD http://www.wjactv.com/news/27938875/detail.html Tags: us_PA, transportation, release, environmental, paints BRADFORD TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A tractor-trailer rollover crash early Wednesday spilled bright yellow paint, caused a potential hazmat situation and backed up traffic for hours. As of noon, crews were still working on the cleanup, but said any steady rain may hinder their efforts. Department of Environment officials said the load was water-based paint, which means it will have minimal if any environmental impact. "We contained it. It did get into some drainage ditches and we've contained it at the end of the drainage ditches. It didn't make it to any waterways. Environmental damage is going to be very contained and very isolated," said Emergency Management Agency Director Jerry Pollock. --------------------------------------------- CHEMICAL SPILL LEADS TO EVACUATIONS http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_18084626?nclick_check=1 Tags: us_CA, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical About 30 people were briefly evacuated from an office building in the Parktown Plaza shopping center in Milpitas on Tuesday afternoon after a chemical spill at a dental office, fire officials said. The small amount of liquid chemical being used at a dental lab in a poorly ventilated area permeated offices on the top floor of a two-story building at 1788 Clear Lake Ave., said Battalion Chief Americo Silvi of the Milpitas Fire Department. Silvi did not know the chemical that caused about 10 people to have trouble breathing and experience mild nausea. All were evaluated at the scene and none were taken to hospitals, he said. The incident was reported about 4:15 p.m. Traffic backed up on Landess Avenue as police and fire vehicles directed cars away from the area. Building tenants were allowed back into their offices by about 5:30 p.m. --------------------------------------------- SEYMOUR 'BLEACH BOMB' UNDER INVESTIGATION http://valley.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/Seymour_Ble ach_Bomb_Under_Investigation Tags: us_CT, public, discovery, response, chlorine Police, the fire marshal=92s office and the state Department of Environmental Protection are investigating who left a potentially dangerous chemical mixture in a bottle in downtown Seymour =97 and why it was left there in the first place. =93We don=92t know if this was accidental or intentional. We don=92t know precisely what the substance was. That=92s why there is an investigation,=94 said Deputy Fire Marshal Timm Willis. =93We=92re following up to determine whether this was a crime or an accident.=94 A business owner called 911 at 9:50 a.m. saying there was a chlorine bottle on the sidewalk along First Street that appeared =93swollen,=94 according to information from police spokesman Lt. Paul Satkowski. Emergency crews responded to the scene to check it out. --------------------------------------------- PROPANE ODOR SHUT DOWN HOSPITAL ER FOR HOURS http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Propane-Odor-Shut-down-Hospital-fo r-Hours-121990859.html Tags: us_MD, public, release, response, propane Southern Maryland Hospital in Clinton, Md., shut down its emergency room for two hours Monday night while HAZMAT crews searched for the source of a strong odor. The administrator worried it could have been a natural gas leak. After two hours, HAZMAT crews determined the smell came from the building=92s propane storage tanks. The hospital called in the propane supplier to make repairs, and the hospital was given the all clear. --------------------------------------------- LSP HAZMAT TEAM WORKS FUEL LEAK IN WEST MONROE http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20110518/NEWS01/105180317 Tags: us_LA, public, release, environmental, gasoline The Louisiana State Police Hazardous Materials Response Team worked Tuesday to contain a gasoline leak in West Monroe. The team was called out Monday to respond to the leak near the intersection of North Seventh Street and Arkansas Road at a convenience store. Troop F spokesman Trooper Mark Dennis said gasoline from a previous leak at the site had been pushed up toward the surface of the ground because of saturated soil from recent heavy rains. A portion of Arkansas Road that was closed while the site was cleaned reopened Tuesday night. "It is going to take another day or two to devise an extraction well and get the remainder of the gas out of there," Dennis said. "This isn't an underground rupture." Dennis said the ground moisture pushed existing gasoline in the soil into an underground phone line junction box. Dennis said no water or sewer lines had been contaminated by the seeping gasoline. --------------------------------------------- RADIATION ALERT FIZZLES OUT http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/2011_0517radiation_alert_f izzles_out/srvc=home&position=also Tags: us_MA, public, discovery, response, radiation A =93very old=94 piece of surveying equipment inside the Tip O=92Neill Building triggered a Level 3 Hazmat Response late this afternoon on Causeway Street after it caused radiation-detecting badges worn by two federal protective service officers in the building to go off, fire officials said. The dosimeters went off around 4:10 p.m., prompting the officers to call fire officials, said spokesman Steve MacDonald. The piece of shoebox-sized equipment, which is now boxed up and in the process of being removed from the site, was sitting on a first floor storage room shelf, MacDonald said. ---------------------------------------------
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