Chemical Safety Headlines =46rom Google
Monday, December 5, 2011 6:55:03 AM
A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Table of Contents (17 articles)
SPRINKLERS HELP PUT OUT FIRE AT ROCKLAND PLANT =97 MAINE NEWS =97BANGOR DAILY NEWS
Tags: us_ME, industrial, fire, response, ethanol
CHEMICAL EMERGENCY ORLANDO: FIRE OFFICIALS ARE RESPONDING TO A CHEMICAL EMERGENCY, OFFICIALS SAID.
Tags: us_FL, public, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid
I-40 REOPENED AFTER HAZMAT TRUCK CRASH
Tags: us_OK, transportation, release, response, calcium_carbide
BUTTE, MONTANA SUPERFUND SITE, TOURIST ATTRACTION
Tags: us_MT, education, release, environmental, metals, follow-up
FIREFIGHTERS WORK TO CONTAIN CHEMICAL FIRE
Tags: us_TN, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
CHEMICAL FACTORY, SLUMS GUTTED IN KANPUR, PUNE
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, response, petroleum
13 HOSPITALIZED AFTER AMMONIA EXPLOSION IN YUMA
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, explosion, injury, ammonia
WAREHOUSE EMPLOYEES EVACUATE FOR AMMONIA SPILL
Tags: us_OH, industrial, release, response, ammonia
CHEMICAL FIRE SPAWNS FISH KILL, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, environmental, follow-up
MAJOR CHEMICAL SPILL CLOSES CITY STREET
Tags: United_Kingdom, transportation, release, response, corrosives
LINCOLN CHLORINE SPILL CLEANED
Tags: us_NE, industrial, release, injury, chlorine
4 STUDENTS BURNED AT MAPLE GROVE JUNIOR HIGH =AB CBS MINNESOTA
Tags: us_MN, laboratory, explosion, injury, methanol
BIOTECH, PHARMACEUTICAL, FACULTY, POSTDOC JOBS ON SCIENCE CAREERS
Tags: laboratory, explosion, response, follow-up
MYSTERIOUS BOX THAT PROMPTED HAZMAT RESPONSE CONTAINED HARMLESS ROCKS
Tags: us_MA, public, discovery, response, radiation, follow-up
TEN HOSPITALIZED IN CORAL SPRINGS HAZMAT INCIDENT
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, injury, water_treatment
CRUSHED BULBS FOUND IN BARRELS AT MESA HOSPITAL
Tags: us_AZ, public, discovery, response, waste
JFE SAYS EXPLOSION HAS NO IMPACT ON STEEL OUTPUT AT CHIBA PLANT
Tags: Japan, industrial, explosion, injury, sulfuric_acid
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SPRINKLERS HELP PUT OUT FIRE AT ROCKLAND PLANT =97 MAINE NEWS =97 BANGOR DAILY NEWS
Tags: us_ME, industrial, fire, response, ethanol
ROCKLAND, Maine =97 When the Rockland Fire Department learned at about 6 a.m. Sunday that there was a fire in the alcohol room at a major carrageenan processing plant at the harbor, officials feared the worst.
Four fire engines with about a dozen firefighters and three ambulances raced to the FMC BioPolymer manufacturing facility on Crockett=92s Point.
Nearby Rockport sent two engines and about 10 firefighters, according to Assistant Chief Ken Elwell of the Rockland Fire Department.
But when they got into the building, they found that the company=92s sprinkler system had activated, tamping down the fire and minimizing damage.
=93It certainly had the potential to be catastrophic, because we were dealing with alcohol,=94 Elwell said. =93Obviously, when we get into a building like that, we don=92t know what we have until we get down in there.=94
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CHEMICAL EMERGENCY ORLANDO: FIRE OFFICIALS ARE RESPONDING TO A CHEMICAL EMERGENCY, OFFICIALS SAID.
Tags: us_FL, public, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid
Two resort employees were hospitalized after they were exposed to dangerous pool-cleaning chemicals that had been mixed incorrectly, Orange County Fire Rescue officials said.
Emergency personnel responded to the Sheraton Vistana Villas resort at 12401 International Drive this morning after resort security reported that the employees were injured while moving a drum containing chlorine, muriatic acid and algaecide, according to spokesman John Mulhall.
The employees were trying to move the liquids away from hotel guests after they were mixed.
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I-40 REOPENED AFTER HAZMAT TRUCK CRASH
Tags: us_OK, transportation, release, response, calcium_carbide
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A metro interstate is again open after a hazardous materials truck crash on Saturday afternoon.
According to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, both I-40 westbound at Council Road and I-40 eastbound at the Kilpatrick Turnpike have been reopened.
Troopers said the spill happened about 1:30 p.m. Saturday when a truck carrying calcium carbide overturned, spilling its contents.
Trooper Betsy Randolph said, "The substance is highly flammable when wet."
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BUTTE, MONTANA SUPERFUND SITE, TOURIST ATTRACTION
Tags: us_MT, education, release, environmental, metals, follow-up
=93To go to Berkeley Pit Lake, you have to complete a forty-hour Hazmat program=97and that=92s just to stand next to the water,=94 advises Andrea Stierle, a research professor at the University of Montana-Missoula, who began studying samples from the Pit sixteen years ago. And when employees of the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology venture out onto the lake, they do so in a boat that=92s made of fiberglass (as opposed to aluminum), =93because they don=92t want it to dissolve before they get back to shore,=94 she continues. It=92s probably best that the privately-owned Berkeley Pit=97a mile by a mile-and-a-half across, and encircled by a barbed-wire fence=97is off-limits to all but a select few. After all, it=92s an abandoned open pit copper mine filled with an estimated forty billion gallons of acidic, metal-contaminated water=97part of the largest Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund site in the United States, and an ongoing liability for its =93responsible parties,=94 the Atlantic Richfield Company (which merged into British Petroleum) and Montana Resources.
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FIREFIGHTERS WORK TO CONTAIN CHEMICAL FIRE
Tags: us_TN, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
LA VERGNE, Tenn.- There was a big fire at a chemical plant in La Vergne Saturday night. Fire fighters worked to contain the blaze at the Palm Commodities Chemical Company.
A worker who was in the building heard an internal alarm. Firefighters say several chemicals were burning, but they are not sure exactly what at this point.
There is no damage to the building and no one was hurt.
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CHEMICAL FACTORY, SLUMS GUTTED IN KANPUR, PUNE
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, response, petroleum
Kanpur/Pune, Dec 4: Lakhs of rupees worth chemicals were destroyed in a big fire at a chemical factory in Jajmau near Kanpur on Saturday.
Workers said, there was a sudden explosion at Ayesha Petrochemicals factory and soon flames began leaping from a section of the factory.
As workers tried to douse the fire with water, the fire spread further and there were explosions in chemical containers.
Six fire tenders reached the spot and controlled it after two hours. The factory used to refine mobil oil.
In Pune's Patil Estate slums, a major fire gutted 25-30 slums. LPG cylinders being used in the slums began exploding one after another. The fire was controlled after nearly three hours.
Local residents alleged that the fire brigade reached the spot late. They blocked the Pune-Mumbai highway for sometime. There was no casualty.
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13 HOSPITALIZED AFTER AMMONIA EXPLOSION IN YUMA
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, explosion, injury, ammonia
An ammonia explosion Friday afternoon at Yuma Express Cooling resulted in 13 people being taken to hospitals, including two who were flown to treatment centers in Phoenix.
Yuma Fire Department has confirmed that several people were exposed to varied degrees of ammonia near Avenue 4E and Gila Ridge Road at about 4 p.m. Eleven patients were evaluated and taken to Yuma Regional Medical Center, spokesman Mike Erfert said.
In addition, three Yuma Fire Department and four Rural Metro personnel were also decontaminated and evaluated for their exposure to contaminated patients, Erfert said.
A hazmat team was at the scene to ensure the safety of those who were exposed. The facility was evacuated and leaks had been contained by Friday evening, Erfert siad.
Officials believe the ammonia leak resulted from a failure of a connection to a condensing coil on a cooling tower.
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WAREHOUSE EMPLOYEES EVACUATE FOR AMMONIA SPILL
Tags: us_OH, industrial, release, response, ammonia
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A West Side warehouse is evacuated for a small ammonia spill overnight Friday.
Columbus fire and its HAZMAT team responded to a cold-storage warehouse run by Capitol City Ice at 11:58 p.m. Thursday.
HAZMAT was called in because of an ammonia spill, caused by a leaking pump gasket on a 2-1/2-inch line.
Employees evacuated the building at 3080 Valleyview Dr.
Columbus fire told NBC4 about 12 to 15 gallons spilled.
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CHEMICAL FIRE SPAWNS FISH KILL, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, environmental, follow-up
AXAHACHIE - Since that massive chemical plant fire in Waxahachie two months ago, local residents have been assured there was no cause for health concerns.
News 8 has learned of not only a major fish kill in a nearby pond, but of a criminal investigation into actions at the plant in the wake of the fire.
We have learned both the EPA and Texas Commission on Environmental Quality have opened investigations into conditions at the Magnablend plant in Waxahachie before and after the Oct. 3rd fire. The TCEQ has assigned an investigator from its Environmental Crimes division to explore potential violations of Texas criminal statues in association with the fire. The EPA is exploring possible violations of environmental guidelines.
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MAJOR CHEMICAL SPILL CLOSES CITY STREET
Tags: United_Kingdom, transportation, release, response, corrosives
An Aberdeen street has been closed as emergency services deal with a "significant" chemical spill.
Emergency crews wearing special gas-tight suits are trying to contain the spill at Kirkhill Drive in Dyce, Aberdeen.
The street has been closed but a police spokeswoman said nobody had been injured and there were no evacuations as a result of the spill.
Some staff in the nearby Rolls Wood Group building are unable to leave as Kirkhill Drive is their only exit from work.
A fire spokesman said two 25-litre drums containing ammonium bisulphite, a corrosive liquid, had leaked onto the street from an ARR Craib Transport lorry coming from the Altens area.
Eddie Anderson, ARR Craib managing director, said the lorry was being hired by another company to transport the chemical drums.
"The driver was en route and noticed a leakage when he stopped," he said.
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LINCOLN CHLORINE SPILL CLEANED
Tags: us_NE, industrial, release, injury, chlorine
LINCOLN (AP) =97 Firefighters in Lincoln cleaned up a chlorine spill at the ADM Mill in Lincoln.
The Lincoln Fire Department=92s hazardous materials team responded to the mill about 9 p.m. Thursday.
Fire officials say crews were able to shut off the chlorine tank and stop the leak by 1 a.m. Friday.
Health department officials and other technical staff were also called to the scene.
There were no reports of any injuries and officials say there was no risk to the community.
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4 STUDENTS BURNED AT MAPLE GROVE JUNIOR HIGH =AB CBS MINNESOTA
Tags: us_MN, laboratory, explosion, injury, methanol
MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (WCCO) =97 Four students were transported to the Hennepin County Medical Center for burns after a methanol experiment blew up at Maple Grove Junior High.
All the students, ninth graders, are currently in satisfactory condition. The experiment was being conducted by their ninth grade science teacher, Mr. Matt Achor.
Authorities say Achor was performing an experiment with a flammable liquid when the accident happened. It is not clear if the students suffered chemical burns or were burned by fire.
Fifteen-year-old Dane Neuberger got the worst of it and was still being treated at HCMC Thursday afternoon.
=93My face was actually on fire,=94 said Neuberger.
Neuberger had a front seat to the demonstration when he said his teacher lit a match. Three other students surrounded him.
=93He just took a jug of menthol and dropped a match in there. That=92s like the last I know,=94 he said.
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BIOTECH, PHARMACEUTICAL, FACULTY, POSTDOC JOBS ON SCIENCE CAREERS
Tags: laboratory, explosion, response, follow-up
As the hideous revelations from Pennsylvania State University reverberate across the country, another scandal involving willful inattention and bureaucratic power continues to endanger vulnerable young people on campuses nationwide. This second scandal lacks a sickening sexual component, but the resulting deaths and injuries are every bit as real. And many of those deaths and injuries were every bit as preventable had university officials fulfilled their responsibility to those entrusted to their care.
A groundbreaking document from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) has removed the excuse that academic officials do not know about the risks that students, postdocs, and others face when working in academic laboratories or how institutions can protect them better. Issued in October, a CSB report entitled Texas Tech University: Laboratory Explosion lays out in 23 pages of straightforward, nontechnical language what went wrong in a near-fatal 2010 incident on the Lubbock campus and what needs to be done to prevent anything like it from happening again.
The report goes far beyond the usual accident investigation=92s list of technical mishaps. It views the maiming of Texas Tech University (TTU) graduate student Preston Brown not as an isolated series of individual errors but as the predictable outcome of a culture, set of values, and system of organization prevalent not only at TTU but also at many other campuses. Having collected at least =93preliminary information=94 on 120 other such incidents, CSB declares itself =93greatly concerned about the frequency of academic laboratory incidents in the United States.=94
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MYSTERIOUS BOX THAT PROMPTED HAZMAT RESPONSE CONTAINED HARMLESS ROCKS
Tags: us_MA, public, discovery, response, radiation, follow-up
The mysterious box with radiation hazard labels on it that caused some alarm when it was found Wednesday in a Dorchester basement was opened this morning by a federal expert at a Boston Fire Department training facility.
It turned out to contain nothing but rocks.
=93It was just someone=92s collection that they left in the basement of this house,=94 said Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald.
He said a federal inspector with a nuclear incident response team opened the box. The rocks are =93perfectly safe,=94 he said.
MacDonald said fire officials would see if a local college with a geography department might want the rocks.
The box was found shortly before 2 p.m. at 64 Julian St. A hazardous materials response was initiated, but tests soon found that the radiation emitted by the box was within acceptable limits.
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TEN HOSPITALIZED IN CORAL SPRINGS HAZMAT INCIDENT
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, injury, water_treatment
Ten people were hospitalized after a mixture of chemicals made them sick at the water plant in Coral Springs Thursday morning.
The incident happened shortly before 9 a.m. at the plant at 3800 Northwest 85th Avenue, according to Coral Springs Fire Department Capt. Richard Antonini.
Antonini said a man was delivering a tanker truck filled with chlorine and when he transferred the chemicals into a tank, they mixed with some fluorine which was left in the tank.
The mixture created a potentially toxic gas, which caused the truck driver to be overcome with fumes.
The driver and nine others were taken to Coral Springs Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, Antonini said.
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CRUSHED BULBS FOUND IN BARRELS AT MESA HOSPITAL
Tags: us_AZ, public, discovery, response, waste
MESA, AZ (KPHO) -
Mesa firefighters found seven 55-gallon drums filled with crushed fluorescent light bulbs in a garage on property owned by Banner Desert Hospital on Wednesday morning.
A fire department spokesman said a police K-9 and officer deemed the barrels safe, but at a hazard material level. Mesa Fire HAZMAT crews later opened the barrels and discovered the crushed light bulbs.
The barrels were labeled "HONEY" and found in the garage on the hospital grounds, though the garage is not owned by the hospital.
Officials said they did not know how the barrels got into the garage.
A private disposal company was used to transport them away, according to Forrest Smith of Mesa Fire.
He said police did evacuate the area near the garage as a precaution.
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JFE SAYS EXPLOSION HAS NO IMPACT ON STEEL OUTPUT AT CHIBA PLANT
Tags: Japan, industrial, explosion, injury, sulfuric_acid
JFE Holdings Inc., Japan=92s second- largest steelmaker, said its steel mill in Chiba, near Tokyo, is operating normally after four workers were injured by an explosion at JFE Chemical Co.=92s sulfuric acid tank.
The explosion, which occurred within the site of JFE=92s steel works at 9:55 a.m., Japan time, didn=92t cause a fire and hasn=92t impacted steel production, spokesman Seiji Iwashita said today by telephone.
JFE is investigating the cause of the accident, he said. JFE Chemical is a wholly owned unit of JFE.
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