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Previous by Date: Subject: [DCHAS-L] Journal of Chemical Health and Safety Volume 19, Issue 4 Date: June 3, 2012 12:33:43 PM EDT Author: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" |
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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, June 4, 2012 8:05:25 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 (14 articles)
HAZMAT SITUATION UNDER CONTROL IN PAWTUCKET
Tags: us_RI, transportation, release, response, natural_gas
3 INJURED IN HAZMAT SITUATION IN SCARBOROUGH
Tags: us_ME, industrial, release, injury, hydrofluoric_acid, nitric_acid
3 CHEMICAL TANKERS CATCH FIRE IN NANDESARI
Tags: India, transportation, fire, response, flammables, solvent
BEST PRACTICES: SAFETY RULES FOR ELNS
Tags: laboratory, discovery, response
SIX SENT TO HOSPITAL AFTER NITRIC ACID SPILL IN K-STATE LAB
Tags: us_KS, laboratory, release, injury, nitric_acid
HAZMAT BUILDING OWNER ISSUES STATEMENT
Tags: us_OH, laboratory, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL SPILL INJURES WORKER
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, injury, potassium, hydroxide
EQUIPMENT MALFUNCTION BLAMED WHEN FARM CHEMICALS END UP ON A HOME
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, ag_chems, dust
WHS EVACUATED; NINE SENT TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_RI, education, release, injury, formaldehyde
CHEMICAL SPILL SHUTS DOWN SUDDEKOR PLANT IN EAST LONGMEADOW
Tags: us_MA, industrial, release, injury, ammonia
MAN JAILED AFTER EXPLOSIVE LIQUID FOUND IN BATHROOM
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, follow-up, response, explosives, illegal
EXPLOSION AT PASCAGOULA PLANT; 1 DEAD, 2 INJURED
Tags: us_MS, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical
FIRE TEMPORARILY SHUTS DOWN PORTION OF PPG PLANT
Tags: us_WV, industrial, fire, response, chlorine, water_treatment
BC CHEMISTRY LAB EVACUATED AFTER GRADUATE ASSISTANT IS EXPOSED TO DANGEROUS CHEMICAL
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, release, injury, Piperdine
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HAZMAT SITUATION UNDER CONTROL IN PAWTUCKET
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/blackstone/hazmat-situation-in-pawtucket
Tags: us_RI, transportation, release, response, natural_gas
PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WPRI) - An area of downtown Pawtucket had to be shut down Sunday night due to a hazmat situation.
Residents were told to stay in their homes and a perimeter was set up to stop traffic from entering the area at the intersection of Exchange and Montgomery Streets at about 9:15 p.m.
A tanker carrying liquefied natural gas was pulled over there after the driver noticed vapors coming from the truck.
Public safety officials said a malfunctioning valve is to blame, but the scene was secured and no injuries were reported.
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3 INJURED IN HAZMAT SITUATION IN SCARBOROUGH
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article/202671/314/3-injured-in-hazmat-situation-in-Scarborough
Tags: us_ME, industrial, release, injury, hydrofluoric_acid, nitric_acid
SCARBOROUGH, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Three people went to the hospital Sunday afternoon after inhaling a dangerous combination of chemicals at a business in Scarborough.
It happened at Quantum Clean on Gibson Road just after 4pm. The company provides highly specialized restoration services for the semiconductor industry.
There was a chemical reaction of hydroflouric acid, nitric acid, and de-ionized water. The gas was contained to one room in the building, and the rest of the employees were evacuated.
It took crews from 5 different departments to secure the area and test the air to make sure it was stabilized. Deputy Chief Tony Attardo says those chemicals can be extremely dangerous to come in contact with.
Attardo says Quantum Clean will conduct an internal investigation to figure out why the reaction happened.
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3 CHEMICAL TANKERS CATCH FIRE IN NANDESARI
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-06-03/vadodara/32005134_1_inflammable-chemical-fire-tenders-tankers
Tags: India, transportation, fire, response, flammables, solvent
VADODARA: A major fire broke out in a tanker carrying inflammable chemical in Nandesari Industrial Estate near here on Saturday afternoon. The fire engulfed two other tankers parked near the tanker. Fire officers had a tough time controlling it. The fire started at around 1 pm on Saturday on road number 11 in the estate that has chemical units. The tanker with (GJ-6Y-6365) caught fire due to unknown reasons.
Officials from the Nandesari Fire Brigade attributed the fire's intensity to the tanker carrying a solvent-like inflammable chemical. One of the other tankers parked near was empty while yet another one was filled with acid.
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BEST PRACTICES: SAFETY RULES FOR ELNS
http://www.bio-itworld.com/2012/06/04/best-practices-safety-rules-for-elns.html
Tags: laboratory, discovery, response
Keeping track of all of the safety rules for reactions and reagents was an overwhelming proposal, so the chemistry safety officers at Bristol-Myers Squibb recruited informatics help to see if there was another option. The resulting electronic laboratory notebook customization earned a best practices nod by the judges in the 2012 Bio-IT World Best Practices Awards competition.
For a Bristol-Myers Squibb medicinal chemist, numerous compendia have been assembled to capture the safety parameters of thousands of chemical reactions: manufacturer safety data sheets, Bretherick's Handbook, and corporate directives based on historic safety data. But it was up to the chemist to go through all of those sources, determine which reactions would be considered unsafe, and report those reactions to the safety officer. The expectation was that chemists would "pull" this information from each source and apply it to a planned experiment, said the Best Practices entry authors.
It was an overwhelming proposal, so a team of chemists and IT professionals collaborated to fundamentally transform the safety-IIT interface from a "pull" into a "push" process.
"The impetus here was really a deep analysis by our chemistry safety colleagues, our safety officers, who recognized that we really didn't have a good capability in place to remember the incidents that happened in the past and prevent them in the future," explains Ramesh Durvasula, director of informatics at BMS. "Every chemistry lab has accidents, but the key is if you can learn from the mistakes of those accidents and never let those incidents happen again, you can increase the safety."
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SIX SENT TO HOSPITAL AFTER NITRIC ACID SPILL IN K-STATE LAB
http://www.wibw.com/home/localnews/headlines/Six_Sent_To_Hospital_After_Nitric_Acid_Spill_In_K-State_Lab_156476915.html
Tags: us_KS, laboratory, release, injury, nitric_acid
MANHATTAN, Kan. (WIBW) -- Manhattan fire officials say six people were taken to the hospital Friday afternoon after an acid spill in a lab on Kansas State University's campus.
A hazmat unit with the Manhattan Fire Department responded to Mosier Hall around 2:15 PM.
According to Steve Galitzer, the university's Director of Environmental Health and Safety, a College of Veterinary Medicine faculty member carrying a 9-pound bottle of nitric acid in a second-floor laboratory hit the doorway of the lab, causing about two and half liters of the chemical to spill.
Manhattan Fire Department's Deputy of Chief of Operation Scott French says the solution in the bottle was 70% nitric acid, meaning it was at full strength and some of it splashed onto the faculty member's feet, going through her shoes and leaving her with minor burns. French says she immediately took a shower while others in the lab put absorbent down on the acid until firefighters and emergency crews arrived.
The faculty member was treated by EMS at the scene and was taken to Mercy Regional Health Center as a precautionary measure, French told 13 News at the scene.
He says five other people who were in the vicinity of the spill were also taken the hospital to be checked out because they inhaled a small amount of nitric acid fumes. A press release from Kansas State University on the chemical spill indicated that a majority of the people taken to the hospital were staff members.
---------------------------------------------
HAZMAT BUILDING OWNER ISSUES STATEMENT
http://www.13abc.com/story/18679701/hazmat-building-owner-issues-statement
Tags: us_OH, laboratory, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
TOLEDO, Ohio -
13abc has received a statement from the man at the center of Thursday's HAZMAT situation in South Toledo. Just 24 hours after EPA and health department crews went into the former medical lab, the owner of the place says he's being profiled.
The owner of the building at 1021 Broadway is Doctor Prakash Thombre. It's now boarded up after investigators went in Thursday. He says part of the reason anyone went in is because he's a foreign born citizen.
Following the investigation neighbors wanted to know if there was a threat to their neighborhood. So 13abc posed that question to the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department: Is there an immediate health threat there? The answer is no, nothing like a threat of explosion but here is what else we were told.
"There is a threat, if you would, to public health in the sense that you have these chemicals that the owner needs to handle and that issue will be taken care of, next week," said Eric Zgodzinski, the director of Community and Environmental Health Services for the health department.
Here's how the health department describes what was inside.
"If you would look at a typical college bio chem lab, that's kinda what this looked like. You had a lot of those types of chemicals and those agents and things of that nature," said Zgoszinski.
It was a working medical research lab, but is not active anymore according to the health department.
Doctor Thombre sent 13abc a statement. He says he's a model US citizen and that, "It is unfortunate the city of Toledo continues its 'ongoing' harassment of 'foreign born Americans' citizens in such a public over use of force."
He also says, "I will have to think about my response, as I have been falsely accused, my good name dragged in dirt."
Meantime the health department is actually happy with his cooperation.
"The owner is concerned enough that he says let's sit down and figure out what we can do. He's working with us," said Thombre.
A meeting has been set up for next week to discuss what happens next in this process and how the place can be cleaned up.
No criminal charges have been filed. The original complaints filed here were involving the condition of the building, that's how the city got involved. A city of Toledo spokesperson says they are not harassing doctor Thombre, just trying to keep the building in code
---------------------------------------------
HAZARDOUS CHEMICAL SPILL INJURES WORKER
http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/660340_Hazardous-chemical-spill-injures-worker--.html
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, injury, potassium, hydroxide
A hazardous materials emergency crew was called to a company in the Greenfield Industrial Park at mid-day Friday after a chemical spill injured a worker.
Emergency responders removed the worker from the company, Sensing Devices, and then shut off the company's air-conditioning system, according to dispatches from the East Lampeter Township scene.
The employee had an accident as he prepared to fill a torch with potassium hydroxide. Some of the material splashed, and the worker suffered some minor injuries to his face and eyes, Chief Ron Nolt of the Lafayette Fire Company said.
The employee was decontaminated Ñ his clothing was removed and then he was hosed down Ñ as a safety precaution.
A Haz-Mat team tested the air inside the company to ensure it was safe for workers to return, he said. No problem was detected.
The Old Homestead Lane business supplies a type of thermometer used in industries such as textiles, petrochemicals, food and dairy, according to its website.
---------------------------------------------
EQUIPMENT MALFUNCTION BLAMED WHEN FARM CHEMICALS END UP ON A HOME
http://www.bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/Equipment-malfunction-blamed-when-farm-chemicals-end-up-on-a-home-156523775.html
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, ag_chems, dust
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A plugged-up nozzle appears to be the reason a Bakersfield couple was exposed to farm chemicals. Kim and George Dunn were outside their home Friday morning, when they were covered with the material. They worry about the effects, and what could happen in the future.
"They were crop-dusting right above us, and we looked around and noticed that we were getting covered with it," Kim Dunn said. "It was covering the house, our dogs, us."
Dunn said she and her husband quickly noticed something was wrong.
"My throat started burning, my tongue started burning really bad, he started getting a headache," Dunn said. She was also very worried about effects on their animals, especially a miniature horse, "Bonita."
"That little horse is 35 years old," Dunn said. About an hour after being sprayed, the couple was out washing down the small horse in their back yard.
Fire crews and an ambulance were called out. The Dunns were instructed to shower and change clothes as a precaution for the exposure. Ambulance crews checked them, but the couple didn't need medical attention.
Dots of a white powder-like material hit the Dunns, their cars, and could be seen on the patio of their home on South "H" Street, south of Houghton Road. It happened at about 11:00 a.m.
---------------------------------------------
WHS EVACUATED; NINE SENT TO HOSPITAL
http://www.thewesterlysun.com/news/whs-evacuated-nine-sent-to-hospital/article_c9675556-ac61-11e1-a5ab-0019bb2963f4.html
Tags: us_RI, education, release, injury, formaldehyde
WESTERLY Ñ Eight Westerly High School students and one adult were taken to The Westerly Hospital for treatment Friday morning after they were inadvertently exposed to a chemical used to preserve specimens in science classes.
The students and adults complained of nausea, headache and dizziness. One student reportedly passed out, officials said.
Westerly Fire Chief David Sayles said that it was eventually determined that the students and adults had been exposed to floramine, a diluted form of formaldehyde. Presence of the chemical was detected in a biology classroom.
It was a morning of uncertainty as the Westerly Fire Department was called to the school at 8:01 a.m. after two students, within 15 minutes of each other, went to the school nurse with similar symptoms. Principal Steven Ruscito ordered the school evacuated. The students were taken to the hospital, one by ambulance, and one by a parent.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL SPILL SHUTS DOWN SUDDEKOR PLANT IN EAST LONGMEADOW
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/06/chemical_spill_shuts_down_sudd.html
Tags: us_MA, industrial, release, injury, ammonia
EAST LONGMEADOW Ñ A spill involving more than 100 gallons of liquid ammonia forced the evacuation of the Suddekor plant on Deer Park Drive for more than five hours Friday, officials said.
One employee was taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield to be checked out after he complained of not feeling well after he was exposed to ammonia fumes from the spill, said East Longmeadow Fire Chief Richard Brady.
At last report, the worker was doing fine, Brady said.
Firefighters were called to the scene shortly after 11 a.m. for a report of a spill. Initially, Brady said, the spill was thought to be less than 100 gallons, but it was soon determined it was somewhat more than that.
He said he immediately placed a call to the Western Massachusetts Regional Hazardous Materials Team to take charge of the scene.
It took until about 4 p.m. before the building was declared safe for employees to re-enter, he said. Suddekor hired a private company to finish cleaning up the contaminated area.
---------------------------------------------
MAN JAILED AFTER EXPLOSIVE LIQUID FOUND IN BATHROOM
http://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/news/local-news/man-jailed-after-explosive-liquid-found-in-bathroom-1-4609378
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, follow-up, response, explosives, illegal
A CONVICTED armed robber from Bulwell has been jailed for 15 years for storing a deadly explosive chemical in the bathroom of his flat.
Police raided the home of Darren James (26) as part of a routine search for a stolen car.
But they ended up having to evacuate his neighbourhood, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
For inside the flat, they found a stash of nitroglycerine, which is used in the manufacture of dynamite.
An explosives expert said the amount of explosives found would have been enough to blow up a house and, depending on its purity, "kill lots of people".
The court heard that quantities of the nitroglycerine were stored in cupboards at the flat on Central Avenue, Mapperley. James had since moved to Bancroft Street, Bulwell.
Officers also found an illegal shotgun, an air rifle, ammunition and stolen knives and axes. They also recovered the stolen Renault Megane car they were originally looking for.
The discovery of the nitroglycerine, on Thursday October 13 last year, prompted an evacuation of hundreds of people from the area and the adjoining Plains Road. More than 60 homes and businesses were affected.
---------------------------------------------
EXPLOSION AT PASCAGOULA PLANT; 1 DEAD, 2 INJURED
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20120601/NEWS01/120601003/Explosion-Pascagoula-plant-1-dead-2-injured
Tags: us_MS, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical
PASCAGOULA Ñ One person is dead and two injured in an explosion at the Mississippi Phosphates plant in Pascagoula.
Jackson County Sheriff Mike Byrd tells the Associated Press that the explosion occurred about 7:15 a.m. Friday and was a steam explosion.
The identities of the dead and injured have not been released.
Company officials did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
Byrd said the explosion occurred in the work yard.
Earl Etheridge, state on-scene coordinator for the state Department of Environmental Quality, says there was no danger to the public or the environment. He says plant officials report no chemical release.
"It was another steam explosion; no danger to the public or environment," Etheridge said.
On May 21, an explosion killed 39-year-old Jeffrey Simpson. Company officials said the accident occurred during a maintenance procedure in a portion of the plant that was not operational at the time.
---------------------------------------------
FIRE TEMPORARILY SHUTS DOWN PORTION OF PPG PLANT
http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/570541/Fire-Temporarily-Shuts-Down-Portion-of-PPG-Plant.html
Tags: us_WV, industrial, fire, response, chlorine, water_treatment
A Thursday morning fire at PPG's Natrium plant has left the plant temporarily closed as officials evaluate the extent of the damage.
The fire was reported just after 7 a.m. at the plant's facility for the creation calcium hypochlorite, which is used in water treatment applications. PPG spokesman Jeremy Neuhart said the facility was evacuated and the on-site PPG fire brigade responded and extinguished the fire within 30 minutes.
While crews fought to extinguish the blaze, traffic along W.Va. 2 was closed for 20 minutes as a precaution. Neuhart said one employee who responded to the fire was treated for chlorine inhalation at a first aid center at the site and released.
Neuhart said while there are no environmental concerns or health risks stemming from the fire, a fence line monitoring system detected chlorine at low concentration levels. Though the levels are low enough to not present any risks, PPG staff worked Thursday afternoon to conduct off-site precautionary measures. In the meantime, the calcium hypochlorite facility remains closed as officials evaluate the damage and search for a cause of the fire
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BC CHEMISTRY LAB EVACUATED AFTER GRADUATE ASSISTANT IS EXPOSED TO DANGEROUS CHEMICAL
http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/06/01/chemistry-lab-evacuated-after-graduate-assistant-exposed-dangerous-chemical/uDNUgeus47kspZvummEThO/story.html
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, release, injury, Piperdine
A graduate assistant in the Boston College chemistry department was taken to a local hospital after he came in contact with a dangerous chemical this morning that forced officials to evacuate the building, authorities said.
The man was unpacking a box in a chemistry laboratory when he was exposed to a chemical that had spilled in the box. It was exposed to his skin and clothing, said Ed Hayward, spokesman for the school.
The man decontaminated himself using facilities in the building and was later transported to a local hospital, authorities said.
A Boston Fire Department Hazmat team responded to the scene and has evacuated the Merkert Chemistry Center at 2609 Beacon St.
It is unclear how many people were in the building at the time.
Hayward also reported that all students are safe and there is "no immediate threat" to the school.
The exposure did not cause life-threatening injuries for the man, he said. He could not identify the chemical.
Boston Fire spokesman Steve MacDonald said the chemical was identified as Piperdine.
No further information was immediately available.
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