Chemical Safety Headlines =46rom Google
Monday, June 11, 2012 8:03:50 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:dchasTable of Contents (14 articles)
CHEMICAL COVERED PERSON WALKS INTO ER, HOSPITAL EVACUATED
Tags: us_FL, public, release, response, unknown_chemical
FLORAL PARK CHEMICAL BURNS AT SWIMMING POOL
Tags: us_NY, public, release, response, chlorine, pool_chemicals
FIRE CREWS RESPOND TO HAZMAT SITUATION
Tags: us_RI, industrial, fire, injury, waste
FIRE RAGES A WHOLE DAY AT PALLIKARANAI DUMPING YARD
Tags: India, public, fire, response, wastes
CHEMICAL SPILL FROM TRUCK PARTIALLY CLOSES U.S. 41
Tags: us_WI, transportation, release, response, other_chemical, irritant
1 DEAD IN MEXICO DRUG-LAB EXPLOSION
Tags: Mexico, public, explosion, death, ammonia, meth_lab
HOLLY HILL METH LAB DISCOVERED IN SMOKING MICROWAVE
Tags: us_FL, public, discovery, response, meth_lab
DOW CHEMICAL, BRISTOL, FIRE, CHEMICAL FIRE, LIGHTNING STRIKE
Tags: us_PA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, flammables
HOSPITAL BURN UNIT: 1 IN 4 OF BEDS OCCUPIED BY METH-RELATED BURN PATIENTS
Tags: us_MO, public, follow-up, injury, meth_lab
FREEZER SPARKS LIBERTYVILLE HAZMAT
Tags: us_IL, public, release, response, unknown_chemical
MERCURY SPILL REPORTED AT SOUTH CHARLESTON CAR SHOP
Tags: us_WV, public, release, injury, mercury
FIREFIGHTERS EXTINGUISH HAZARDOUS FIRE AT HAYWARD LABORATORY
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, fire, response, batteries, hexane
UNDERGROUND TRANSFORMER EXPLOSION IN RIDGEWOOD TRIGGERS EVACUATIONS
Tags: us_NJ, public, explosion, response, other_chemical
FOUR BUILDINGS EVACUATED AT CCBC
Tags: us_MD, public, release, response, methane
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CHEMICAL COVERED PERSON WALKS INTO ER, HOSPITAL EVACUATED
http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_north_pinellas/dunedin/chemical-covered-person-walks-into-er-hospital-evacuatedTags: us_FL, public, release, response, unknown_chemical
DUNEDIN - Mease Dunedin Hospital was evacuated Sunday night after a homeless man covered in unknown chemicals walked inside, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
The man reportedly came straight into the emergency room with the unknown chemical, affecting several employees.
The hospital was closed, patients were evacuated and sent to other hospitals.
Milwaukee Avenue from Virginia to Main Street was shut down in response to the HAZMAT situation. The ER has since re-
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FLORAL PARK CHEMICAL BURNS AT SWIMMING POOL
http://www.wbng.com/news/local/Floral-Park-Chemical-Burns-158370285.html
Tags: us_NY, public, release, response, chlorine, pool_chemicals
Johnson City, NY (WBNG Binghamton) Emergency Crews responded to 200 Floral Avenue in Johnson City for reports of victims suffering from chemical burns at the Floral Park Pool.
That chemical was Chlorine, and according to the park supervisor, the levels simply got too high.
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Chlorine levels were checked earlier Sunday morning and it was discovered that more needed to be added to stay within regulation.
What the park doesn't know is why the levels went higher than planned.
"Right now with all the equipment that we have, we as a village and Health Department are investigating the source of how that happened," said Park Supervisor, Eric Putman.
The park reported three known children that were affected by the burns. Symptoms were a red rash and burning eyes.
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FIRE CREWS RESPOND TO HAZMAT SITUATION
http://www.wpri.com/dpp/news/local_news/blackstone/woonsocket-hazmat-incident-at-medical-waste-facility
Tags: us_RI, industrial, fire, injury, waste
WOONSOCKET, R.I. (WPRI) -- Fire crews were called to a fire at a medical waste disposal company in Woonsocket Saturday afternoon.
Fire officials tell Eyewitness News that they were called to 369 Park East Drive for a HAZMAT incident at Stericycle.
According to the company's website, Stericycle handles medical waste disposal, sharps disposal management, hazardous waste disposal, medical device returns, and other disposals. The building is located in an industrial park in Woonsocket that's also home to the CVS headquarters.
Police tell us that a fire was started because of a clogged filter in one of the machines. The smoke from that fire released bacteria into the air and everyone had to be evacuated from the building.
Hazmat crews had to manually ventilate the building and the fire was burned out on its own.
It took over five ours to clear the scene because of the nature of the company's business.
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FIRE RAGES A WHOLE DAY AT PALLIKARANAI DUMPING YARD
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article3509148.ece
Tags: India, public, fire, response, wastes
A major fire broke out in the garbage dumping yard at Pallikaranai on Saturday throwing vehicular traffic off gear on Velachery Main Road and adjoining areas for many hours. Residents near the dumping yard moved to other locations as they suffered breathing problems.
Chennai Corporation sources said the fire in the 15-acre dumping yard started around 2 a.m. on Saturday and quickly spread to the huge pile of garbage, including plastic, paper and chemical wastes.
By daybreak, thick white smoke started billowing from the burning waste and engulfed adjoining areas of Mylai Balaji Nagar, Ram Nagar and Sadasivan Nagar. Some residents were confined to their houses while others left the area after they experienced difficulty in breathing and severe irritation in the eyes.
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CHEMICAL SPILL FROM TRUCK PARTIALLY CLOSES U.S. 41
http://www.thenorthwestern.com/article/20120609/OSH0101/306090027/Chemical-spill-from-truck-partially-closes-U-S-41-near-Prospect-Ave-golf-course?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE
Tags: us_WI, transportation, release, response, other_chemical, irritant
GRAND CHUTE A chemical spill from a semi-trailer on U.S. 41 northbound just north of W. Prospect Avenue/County BB about 9 a.m. Saturday caused lane restrictions and the closure of a few golf holes at Butte des Morts Country Club as a precautionary measure.
The Northeast Regional Hazardous Materials Response Team, consisting of members of the Appleton and Oshkosh fire departments, was called to the scene when a semi-trailer that had been leaking while driving 41 northbound since Oshkosh, stopped on 41 just west of the golf course.
Jesse Pickett, a fire prevention specialist with Grand Chute Fire Department, said the leak was determined to be methyl pyrrolidinone, a combustible liquid that is also an irritant. It was in a plastic container inside the second of two trailers being hauled by the UPS Freight semi-trailer identified as a Motor Cargo trailer. Pickett said about 200 gallons spilled or roughly two-thirds of the plastic container.
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1 DEAD IN MEXICO DRUG-LAB EXPLOSION
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/06/09/1-dead-in-mexico-drug-lab-explosion/
Tags: Mexico, public, explosion, death, ammonia, meth_lab
One person was killed and three others were seriously injured in a blast at a suspected clandestine drug laboratory in the northwestern Mexican city of Culiacan, military spokespersons said.
Four people were doing welding work inside the warehouse when an ammonia tank explosion caused the roof and walls of the building to cave in, they said.
A man identified as Juan Ramon Beltran Beltran was killed in Friday's explosion and the injured suffered severe burns, the spokespersons said.
Military personnel found flasks, lab reactors and chemical products at the scene, leading them to suspect a synthetic drug lab was housed inside, the commander of the 9th Military Zone, Gen. Marco Antonio Covarrubias, said.
A sign on the building's facade said the warehouse sold construction material.
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HOLLY HILL METH LAB DISCOVERED IN SMOKING MICROWAVE
http://www.news-journalonline.com/news/local/east-volusia/2012/06/09/holly-hill-meth-lab-discovered-in-smoking-microwave.html
Tags: us_FL, public, discovery, response, meth_lab
HOLLY HILL -- With the arrests of three people Friday who police say were cooking methamphetamine in an apartment microwave, officials say production of the dangerous and addictive drug has now been uncovered six more times this year than in all of 2011.
A Holly Hill police sergeant responding to the Palo Alto Apartments about 3 a.m. found heavy smoke coming from Unit 9, Holly Hill Police Chief Mark Barker said.
Inside, the sergeant found an active meth lab -- the fourth in the city this year, Barker said.
"This is very dangerous," the chief said. "This drug represents a triple threat: it is easy to produce, its manufacturing methods are easy to conceal and it is highly addictive."
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DOW CHEMICAL, BRISTOL, FIRE, CHEMICAL FIRE, LIGHTNING STRIKE
http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/courier_times_news/fire-at-dow-plant-damaged-gaskets-protective-liners-around-chemical/article_fc6ac2bc-bfae-538c-bbbd-8c5e726b4d9c.html
Tags: us_PA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, flammables
Dow's preliminary investigation into a chemical fire at its Bristol coatings plant last month calls it an "Act of God," which was "neither reasonably foreseeable nor preventable," according to an incident report filed with the state.
The May 25 report filed with the Department of Environmental Protection reveals that the fire in two chemical storage tanks damaged gaskets, lines and protective ground liners outside the tanks, allowing flammable chemicals to leak into the surrounding ground and on-site surface water.
The fire consumed a "significant" amount of the more than 1 million pounds of ethyl acrylate and butyl acrylate in the storage tanks, according to the report filed nine days after the May 16 fire. The flammable chemicals are used in acrylic paint production.
Dow's preliminary calculations are an estimated 2,266 pounds of chemical emissions were released into the air during the 24 hours following the fire, which ignited after a lightning strike.
An estimated 2 million pounds of a water/residual chemical mix left over in the tanks and dikes was pumped into 11 tanker trucks used to store and transport liquid waste and removed from the property in the days after the fire.
"Some" chemicals reached the ground next to the storage tank containment area, according to the report.
"We now know that the dike liners were damaged in the fire. It is earthen underneath the liner and some materials entered the ground," according to the report. "We believe some material was transported from the ground via a surface sewer line to Rohm and Haas' Lake Schmidt."
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HOSPITAL BURN UNIT: 1 IN 4 OF BEDS OCCUPIED BY METH-RELATED BURN PATIENTS
http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/323207/3/Hospital--1-in-4-of-beds-occupied-by-meth-related-burn-patients
Tags: us_MO, public, follow-up, injury, meth_lab
Creve Coeur, MO (KSDK) - The director of the burn center at Creve Coeur's Mercy Hospital says at any given time, as many as 25 percent of patients in the burn unit may be suffering burns related to methamphetamine production.
"The new, what they call 'shake and bake,' or the 'one-pot' meth labs really have become more common over the last few years. And we've seen a significant increase in number of patients we've treated for burns from meth labs," said Dr. Michael Smock, Director of the Mercy Burn Center.
Smock said emergency room personnel are learn to recognize meth burns.
"These can cause very serious injuries, often involving the hands, arms, and face," he said, "because it's frequently something a person is working on in front of their body. Extensive second and third-degree burns to those areas. They can get significant damage to their eyes and damage internally as well from inhalation of either the explosion, the heat, or the chemicals."
Smock said often times people who happen to be around the meth lab are burned.
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FREEZER SPARKS LIBERTYVILLE HAZMAT
http://newssun.suntimes.com/news/13066205-418/freezer-sparks-libertyville-hazmat.html
Tags: us_IL, public, release, response, unknown_chemical
LIBERTYVILLE =97 The Libertyville Fire Department had a hazardous-material situation Friday evening on Johnson Avenue that caused the closure of one lane of traffic on Route 21 just north of the downtown.
A spokesman said a man on Johnson Street was chipping ice out of a freezer of a refrigerator that dated back to the early 1930s when he cracked a coil and an unknown gas started leaking. One person inside the house began to feel ill.
Testing inside the house showed the chemical, an acid and not Freon, was dissipating into the air and posed a risk.
A hazardous-material box alarm was called and the hazard was neutralized with baking soda. Fire personnel had to put on Level B hazardous suits and the refrigerator had to be removed from the basement of the home.
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MERCURY SPILL REPORTED AT SOUTH CHARLESTON CAR SHOP
http://wvgazette.com/News/201206080155
Tags: us_WV, public, release, injury, mercury
SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A woman spilled half a cup of mercury in a Charleston parking lot on Friday before disposing of the toxic chemical in an alleyway.
The woman, who works at the Sav-A-Lot on Charleston's West Side, unknowingly stumbled across the chemical inside a soda bottle while cleaning out her garage, said Kanawha County 911 dispatchers.
The woman took the bottle, wrapped in three plastic grocery bags, to the store at about 9 a.m. to ask her coworkers if they knew what the chemical was. Some of the mercury spilled out into the parking lot before she drove to the Quality Exhaust and Brakes at 702 Short Street in South Charleston.
She then threw the bag with the mercury into a nearby alleyway, said South Charleston Fire Captain Ted Porter.
911 dispatchers were notified at about 9:45 a.m. of the spill at Sav-A-Lot, said supervisor Mike Fannin.
Members of the state Department of Environmental Protection and Division of Homeland Security responded and cleaned up the scene. They then went to South Charleston and cleaned up that spill, said Kathy Cosco, DEP spokeswoman.
Charleston Police are investigating and it's unclear if the woman will face charges.
Paramedics transported her to Thomas Memorial Hospital as a precaution.
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FIREFIGHTERS EXTINGUISH HAZARDOUS FIRE AT HAYWARD LABORATORY
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Firefighters-Extinguish-Hazardous-Fire-at-Hayward-Laboratory-158276345.html
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, fire, response, batteries, hexane
Firefighters responded to a hazardous materials fire at a lithium ion battery company's laboratory in Hayward Friday afternoon, a fire captain said.
The fire was reported at 3:35 p.m. at Seeo, a company located at 3906 Trust Way, Hayward fire Capt. Thor Poulsen said.
Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke and fire at the company's lab, and eventually found the source of the blaze -- a bucket with the chemical hexane in it that had caught fire, Poulsen said.
The chemical is extremely flammable and burns with a nearly invisible flame, he said, adding that investigators do not know why the material caught fire.
The blaze was extinguished at 3:56 p.m. and was contained to the laboratory, according to Poulsen.
About 25 employees at the company were safely evacuated from the building and no injuries were reported to any firefighters or civilians, Poulsen said.
The fire department's hazardous materials coordinator and fire marshal were at the company late this afternoon to try to determine the cause of the fire, which caused about $1,000 in damage to the lab, Poulsen said.
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UNDERGROUND TRANSFORMER EXPLOSION IN RIDGEWOOD TRIGGERS EVACUATIONS
http://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen/bergen_town_news/060712_Underground_transformer_explosion_in_Ridgewood_triggers_evacuations.html
Tags: us_NJ, public, explosion, response, other_chemical
RIDGEWOOD =97 A movie theater and three other businesses on East Ridgewood Avenue were evacuated on Thursday after an electrical transformer exploded in an underground vault, engulfing the buildings in smoke, authorities said.
There were no injuries.
Village firefighters responded to 196 E. Ridgewood Ave. around 6:19 p.m., said Capt. Paul Monton of the Ridgewood Fire Department. Flames and smoke were pouring from three grates in the business district, he said.
"Luckily, we were there prepared," Monton said. "It was definitely burning pretty good."
Firefighters from Ho-Ho-Kus were dispatched to search the buildings, but everyone one had evacuated immediately, Monton said.
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FOUR BUILDINGS EVACUATED AT CCBC
http://catonsville.patch.com/articles/four-buildings-at-ccbc-being-evacuated
Tags: us_MD, public, release, response, methane
Four buildings at CCBC Catonsville have been temporarily evacuated Thursday due to a ruptured gas line, according to CCBC.
Hope Davis, a spokeswoman, said that a contractor hit a gas line while working on Building E. The gas has been shut off and the gas line is being repaired, Davis said.
Buildings D, E, F and G were evacuated to vent the buidlings, she said. Baltimore County fire crews are currently on the scene.
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