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From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (10 articles)
Date: April 26, 2013 8:00:47 AM EDT
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: <F3EA77C9-5410-48EE-8823-24E25B6627D3**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org>
Note that the second entry below contains a close reading of the materials related to the Harran hearing to be held today.
- Ralph
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, April 26, 2013 7:59:57 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 (10 articles)
PART OF I-85 BLOCKED AFTER TRACTOR-TRAILER SPILLS HAZMAT MATERIAL
Tags: us_NC, transportation, release, response, corrosives
PRELIMINARY HEARING FOR PATRICK HARRAN IN #SHERISANGJI CASE: MOTION TO DISMISS OR REDUCE THE CHARGES
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, follow-up, response
ACID SPILLS ON COUPLE, FORCED TO WAIT FOR HELP
Tags: Australia, public, release, injury, nitric_acid
GRANDE PRAIRIE LOCAL NEWS
Tags: Canada, industrial, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical
OFFICIALS INVESTIGATE SUSPICIOUS SMELL IN LEETSDALE
Tags: us_PA, public, release, response, cleaners
CAMBRIDGETIMES ARTICLE: CHEMICAL BACKUP PROMPTS CLOSURE OF JACOB HESPELER HIGH SCHOOL
Tags: Canada, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
2000 LITRES OF CHLORINE SPILLED AT SPORTS CENTRE
Tags: Australia, public, release, response, chlorine
TWO BURN VICTIMS AT ROBINSON PARK KITCHEN FIRE
Tags: us_MA, public, fire, injury, cleaners
UNL REVIEWS ITS CHEMICAL SAFETY AFTER TEXAS EXPLOSION
Tags: us_NE, education, follow-up, environmental, ag_chems
FUEL BARGES EXPLODE, CAUSING LARGE FIRE IN ALABAMA
Tags: us_AL, transportation, explosion, injury, petroleum
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PART OF I-85 BLOCKED AFTER TRACTOR-TRAILER SPILLS HAZMAT MATERIAL
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/Part-of-I-85-blocked-after-hazmat-situation--204824961.html
Tags: us_NC, transportation, release, response, corrosives
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Part of I-85 southbound is blocked at Little Rock Road as hazmat crews work to clean up a corrosive liquid Friday morning.
Officials say a barrel fell off of a truck after midnight.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol said the left side of a tractor-trailer collapsed spilling barrels onto roadway. One barrel came open spilling corrosive material onto road.
Crews are working to clean up the material and have opened two lanes of I-85. Possibly all lanes by 8 a.m.
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PRELIMINARY HEARING FOR PATRICK HARRAN IN #SHERISANGJI CASE: MOTION TO DISMISS OR REDUCE THE CHARGES
http://cenblog.org/the-safety-zone/2013/04/preliminary-hearing-for-patrick-harran-in-sherisangji-case-motion-to-dismiss-or-reduce-the-charges/
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, follow-up, response
University of California, Los Angeles, chemistry professor Patrick Harran returns to court tomorrow to conclude a preliminary hearing on felony charges of labor code violations. The charges stem from the death of researcher Sheharbano (Sheri) Sangji from injuries sustained in a 2008 fire in Harran's lab. The judge hearing the case is expected to rule whether to send the case forward to trial.
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ACID SPILLS ON COUPLE, FORCED TO WAIT FOR HELP
http://www.maitlandmercury.com.au/story/1455378/acid-spills-on-couple-forced-to-wait-for-help/?cs=171
Tags: Australia, public, release, injury, nitric_acid
Paxton firefighters could not respond to a man and woman who spilt nitric acid on themselves yesterday because the station was offline.
Paxton fire station was three streets away from the incident in Frances Street, yet the call centre had to send fire crews from Weston, Bellbird and Maitland, two from Cessnock and the heavy Hazmat vehicle from Newcastle.
Fortunately the man and woman knew enough first aid to treat themselves until firefighters arrived and flushed the wounds with water while paramedics were en route.
Maitland Community Unions Alliance spokeswoman Mary Yaager said this was the second time in weeks that an incident had occurred in Paxton and fire crews had to be brought in from other areas to respond.
She emphasised the need for Fire and Rescue NSW to staff every fire station in case of an emergency.
"We need people ready and waiting to respond quickly if something happens," she said. "What would have happened if this incident was catastrophic? The state government has to stop putting stations offline."
Ms Yaager said the Maitland and Cessnock area needed a heavy Hazmat vehicle with specialised firefighters who were equipped with the knowledge, skills and resources to deal with -dangerous substances.
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GRANDE PRAIRIE LOCAL NEWS
http://hqgrandeprairie.com/news/local/news/v/Local/176758/Man-burned-in-workplace-incident-Tuesday
Tags: Canada, industrial, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical
A 26 year old man is suffering from burn injuries after an industrial incident last night west of Grande Prairie.
County Fire crews were called to the scene just before 6:30pm Tuesday in the Mountview Industrial Park.
They say a grinder was being used on a 45 gallon hazmat labelled drum when it exploded.
No one else was injured in the blast.
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OFFICIALS INVESTIGATE SUSPICIOUS SMELL IN LEETSDALE
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/04/24/officials-investigate-suspicious-smell-in-leetsdale/
Tags: us_PA, public, release, response, cleaners
LEETSDALE (KDKA) - Part of a Leetsdale street was blocked off Tuesday night while police investigated strange odors, which prompted several complaints from neighbors.
Residents started calling authorities about strong odors coming from a multi-car garage in the 100-block of Broad Street around 8 p.m.
Officials now say it was carburetor cleaner that caused the Hazmat situation.
Emergency Management Coordinator Amos Cameron said the cleaner had possibly eaten away at the container it was stored in, leaking onto the floor of the garage.
"It was a pungent odor that was all over Broad Street at the time," Leetsdale Police Chief James Santucci said.
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CAMBRIDGETIMES ARTICLE: CHEMICAL BACKUP PROMPTS CLOSURE OF JACOB HESPELER HIGH SCHOOL
http://www.cambridgetimes.ca/news/local/article/1609150--chemical-backup-prompts-closure-of-jacob-hespeler-high-school
Tags: Canada, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
LATEST: Jacob Hespeler Secondary students were evacuated Wednesday morning, and the school on Holiday Inn Drive was closed following a chemical spill in a science lab.
Walter MacNeil, platoon chief with Cambridge Fire, said something went wrong in the dilution process.
"In the whole system is a holding tank - a dilution tank - where these things go depending on what experiment they're doing," he explained.
MacNeil said there might have been a power interruption, which could have interrupted a pump.
"Something happened in the dilution process or the drainage process to get this stuff in the tank, so they had a little bit of a backup. É Somebody sensed it, smelled it, or saw it, pulled the alarm, and that's where we go from there."
In such cases, firefighters always prepare for the worst, MacNeil said.
Two stations responded along with a hazmat crew.
"Once we figured out where it was, what it was and got the chemicals downloaded onto our command post, we could take a look at exactly what we were looking at É only small quantities," he said.
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2000 LITRES OF CHLORINE SPILLED AT SPORTS CENTRE
http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/2000-litres-of-chlorine-spilled-at-sports-centre/1842415/
Tags: Australia, public, release, response, chlorine
UPDATE, 7.30am: GOONELLABAH Sports and Aquatic Centre was evacuated yesterday afternoon after a break in a chlorine line caused a spill of 2000 litres of the toxic chemical.
About 50 people were evacuated from the centre around 3pm as emergency services including a specialist Fire and Rescue hazmat unit arrived on the scene.
Fire and Rescue Northern Rivers duty commander Phil Sheedy said a PVC piping shut-off valve into the tank had been accidentally broken by a staff member.
The spill occurred in a maintenance area of the centre and was confined to a knee-high concrete bund designed to protect the surrounding area from such a spill.
Firefighters who were first to arrive were unable to stem the flow of chlorine and so they retreated until they were properly equipped.
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TWO BURN VICTIMS AT ROBINSON PARK KITCHEN FIRE
http://winchester.patch.com/articles/report-kitchen-fire-injures-multiple-people-at-robinson-park
Tags: us_MA, public, fire, injury, cleaners
A kitchen fire that broke out at a Robinson Park home Wednesday afternoon resulted in two people suffering serious burns, according to Winchester Fire Capt. John Surabian.
....
"It was a fire that was unintentionally initiated by a contractor, igniting a cleaning chemical or chemicals that burned two patients," Surabian said.
Upon arrival, firefighters saw light smoke emanating from the home and both victims on the front lawn, according to Surabian. Both victims were conscious at the time, he added.
The burn victims were a male contractor and a woman who did not live at the residence but rather was a visiting family member, according to Surabian. The contractor suffered "heavy facial burns," while the woman sustained burns to her legs and hands, he added.
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UNL REVIEWS ITS CHEMICAL SAFETY AFTER TEXAS EXPLOSION
http://www.dailynebraskan.com/news/article_90c6a932-ad54-11e2-8fa0-001a4bcf6878.html
Tags: us_NE, education, follow-up, environmental, ag_chems
When the University of Nebraska Agricultural Research and Development Center Director Mark Schroeder heard of last Wednesday's explosion in a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, his mind went to the many chemicals that are stored here at the university.
The explosion in Texas killed 15 and injured 200. The plant produced and stored a nitrogen-based fertilizer known as anhydrous ammonia.
"Whenever there is national incident like this, it gives us a time to pause and review or adjust our safety policies," Schroeder said. "Specifically after this event, I reviewed our material safety data sheets to see if there was any protocols we needed to reinforce or review and, as I did so, I did not see any needed changes."
No anhydrous ammonia is stored on UNL's campus. However, the university research farms located in Ithaca, Neb. - about 30 miles from Lincoln - could store as much as 4,000 pounds of the nitrogen-based fertilizer in pressurized steel containers. Though the number sounds like a large quantity, Schroeder said it may only cover about six of the facility's 2,000 acres of corn.
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FUEL BARGES EXPLODE, CAUSING LARGE FIRE IN ALABAMA
http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/fuel-barges-explode-causing-large-fire-in-alabama-1.1252991
Tags: us_AL, transportation, explosion, injury, petroleum
MOBILE, Ala. -- A large fire that began with explosions aboard two fuel barges in Mobile, Ala., was rocked by a seventh explosion early Thursday and fire officials said they planned to let the fire, which has injured three, burn overnight.
Firefighters from Mobile and U.S. Coast Guard officials responded after 8:30 p.m. CDT Wednesday to a pair of explosions involving the gas barges in an area of the Mobile River east of downtown, authorities said.
As they were responding, a third explosion occurred around 9:30 p.m., Mobile Fire and Rescue spokesman Steve Huffman wrote in an email to The Associated Press. Additional explosions followed over the next few hours.
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