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**At_Symbol_Here**ACSDCHAS and **At_Symbol_Here**LabSustain tweets and Chemical Safety Headlines
A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
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Table of Contents (12 articles)
MADISON FIRE SAY CLEANING MAY HAVE LEAD TO A CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: us_WI, industrial, release, injury, chlorine_dioxide
WEST VIRGINIA CHEMICAL SPILL DECLARED FEDERAL DISASTER
Tags: us_WV, industrial, release, response, water_treatment
MULLICA HILL CHLORINE LEAK CONTAINED, AIR QUALITY IS SAFE, AUTHORITIES SAY
Tags: us_NJ, industrial, release, injury, chlorine
FRACKING TANK EXPLOSION
Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, injury, unknown_chemical
HAZMAT CLEANS POWAY MERCURY SPILL
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, mercury
FOUR INJURED AS CHEMICAL TANKER OVERTURNS
Tags: Malaysia, transportation, release, injury, formaldehyde
TANKER FLIPS ON SR 60 NEAR LAKE WALES, CAUSING LONG DETOURS
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, corrosives, sodium_hydroxide
AGENCIES OFFER IDEAS FOR PREVENTING CHEMICAL DISASTERS
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, response, ag_chems
FUGITIVE ODOR CLOSES TRINIDAD SCHOOLS
Tags: Trinidad_and_Tobago, public, release, response, pesticides
8 VIOLATIONS FOR SCHOOL IN WAKE OF LAB FIRE
Tags: us_NY, laboratory, follow-up, injury, flammables, methanol
BLAST AT JAPAN CHEMICAL PLANT KILLS 5, INJURES 17
Tags: Japan, industrial, explosion, death, hydrogen
ONE PERSON SERIOUSLY INJURED IN 'MINOR' AMGEN LAB BLAST IN SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, injury, ether, flammables
acsdchas RT **At_Symbol_Here**RSC_Comms: Missed our debate with **At_Symbol_Here**DrMichaelMosley on avoiding antibiotic apocalypse? Heres YouTube: http://t.co/krgS6th7ly
acsdchas RT **At_Symbol_Here**Hlth_Literacy: #HowTo Improve Temp Worker Safety http://t.co/AlnCe63Skq RT **At_Symbol_Here**MichaelGrabell **At_Symbol_Here**NIOSH
acsdchas The Baker Company Dometic Ultra-Low Freezer De-Icing Procedure http://t.co/NY0mOqKg2u
labsustain RT **At_Symbol_Here**JCI_BEnews: Report: Data center air conditioning market in Americas to grow more than 10% per year thru 2016 http://t.co/HW01k3UgG9
acsdchas Two people injured in 'minor' Amgen lab blast in South San Francisco http://t.co/B4z9neYsC4 http://t.co/NXkv82Gh9e
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MADISON FIRE SAY CLEANING MAY HAVE LEAD TO A CHEMICAL LEAK
http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/Madison-Police-block-off-road-after-chemical-spill-on-Science-Dr-239512771.html
Tags: us_WI, industrial, release, injury, chlorine_dioxide
Madison fire said cleaning cabinets led to a hazmat situation at drug manufacturing company, Mentor Biologics, in Research Park.
"Three people were in the room where the leak got into," said Madison fire chief, Art Price.
Chief Price said they inhaled fumes from chlorine dioxide, a highly toxic chemical.
"It's in a gassiest form. It leaked into another room. They noticed it because they could smell it. They immediately left the room, dialed 911," said Price.
Madison Police had Science Drive closed off for a couple of hours as hazmat and fire crews went inside.
"Our teams are going in to monitor the air to make sure everything's alright," said Price.
The three people exposed to the chemical were taken away in ambulances to UW Hospital.
"They were all alert and oriented," said Price.
Chief Price said the chemical was contained to the building and will clear up on its own.
"It's going to dissipate. The air handler scrubs it, and it releases into the atmosphere," said Price.
Science Drive was reopened around 8:00 p.m. No word on the conditions of the three people in the hospital.
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WEST VIRGINIA CHEMICAL SPILL DECLARED FEDERAL DISASTER
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/01/10/west-virginia-chemical-spill-gov-declares-emergency/
Tags: us_WV, industrial, release, response, water_treatment
CHARLESTON, W. VA. ? A federal disaster declaration has been issued for a West Virginia chemical spill that may have contaminated tap water and prompted officials to order residents in nine counties not to bathe, brush their teeth or wash their clothes.
The declaration, made overnight, allows for direct federal assistance in dealing with the spill, Bill Hines of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said early Friday. It remained unclear how much of the chemical spilled into the river and at what concentration, or how long the advisory would last.
The federal move came shortly after Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency Thursday when the spill from Freedom Industries hit a river and a nearby water treatment plant.
Customers of West Virginia American Water in the affected areas also got the order from Tomblin on Thursday night: Do not drink, bathe, cook or wash clothes with tap water.
The chemical, a foaming agent used in the coal preparation process, leaked from a tank at Freedom Industries, overran a containment area and went into the river earlier Thursday.
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MULLICA HILL CHLORINE LEAK CONTAINED, AIR QUALITY IS SAFE, AUTHORITIES SAY
http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2014/01/mullica_hill_chlorine_leak_contained_air_quality_is_safe_authorities_say.html
Tags: us_NJ, industrial, release, injury, chlorine
HARRISON TWP. ? A chlorine leak at a Mullica Hill public water well sent two utility company workers to the hospital and shut down a stretch of Main Street to foot and vehicle traffic before it was contained by 8 p.m. Wednesday night.
An emergency call went out neat 5 p.m. calling for an unconscious person inside a small, brown water company building off Mill Road. A New Jersey American Water worker in the process of changing chloride tanks to feed into the town?s water supply was overcome by chlorine fumes and unconscious, according to municipal police Chief Tom Mills.
The unconscious man was taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Pennsylvania, and another water company worker was taken to Inspira Medical Center in Woodbury as a precaution.
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FRACKING TANK EXPLOSION
http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/436551/W-Va--DEP-investigates-explosion-at-drilling-site.html?isap=1&nav=5045
Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, injury, unknown_chemical
MIDDLEBOURNE, W.Va. (AP) ? State regulators are investigating a tank explosion at a drilling site in Tyler County that injured a worker.
Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Tom Aluise tells The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register (http://bit.ly/1cAyMWE">http://bit.ly/1cAyMWE ) that investigators suspect vapors inside the tank ignited somehow.
The explosion occurred last week at Jay-Bee Oil & Gas' Lisby well about 6 miles southeast of Middlebourne.
Aluise says the explosion injured one Baker Hughes employee who as on site during hydraulic fracturing operations.
He says Jay-Bee suspended the operations last Friday. A cleanup of soil contaminated by the explosion is continuing.
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HAZMAT CLEANS POWAY MERCURY SPILL
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jan/08/hazmat-cleans-poway-mercury-spill/
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, mercury
POWAY ? Hazardous materials teams were called to a Poway doctor?s office Wednesday when mercury spilled from a broken blood pressure meter, a fire official said.
The broken device was reported about 9:20 a.m. at the office on Pomerado Road near Glenoak Road, Poway Fire Department Division Chief Jon Canavan said.
Employees left the patient room where the spill happened and closed the door, Canavan said. He did not know how much mercury was spilled.
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FOUR INJURED AS CHEMICAL TANKER OVERTURNS
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/01/09/lorry-carrying-formaldehyde-overturns/
Tags: Malaysia, transportation, release, injury, formaldehyde
IPOH: A tanker lorry transporting industrial chemical believed to contain formaldehyde overturned on a south-bound lane of the North-South Expressway here, forcing temporary closure of that stretch on the highway.
Ipoh Fire and Rescue Station chief P. Sumasivam said two cars collided into the overturned tanker and four people, one of them the lorry driver, were injured in the accident at KM269.8, some three kilometres from the Jelapang toll plaza at 7.20am Thursday.
The injured people were sent to the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital, he told reporters at the scene.
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TANKER FLIPS ON SR 60 NEAR LAKE WALES, CAUSING LONG DETOURS
http://www.theledger.com/article/20140108/NEWSCHIEF/140109278?Title=Truck-Carrying-Corrosive-Gas-Crashes-S-R-60-Lane-Closed
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, corrosives, sodium_hydroxide
RIVER RANCH | A semi-truck carrying more than 7,000 gallons of a corrosive gas, sodium hydroxide, overturned early Wednesday afternoon on State Road 60 east of Lake Wales near Grape Hammock Road.
Officials initially closed both lanes of the highway during hazmat cleanup, reopened one lane for a short period and then, at 7:30 p.m., again closed both lanes for approximately three hours.
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AGENCIES OFFER IDEAS FOR PREVENTING CHEMICAL DISASTERS
http://www.govexec.com/management/2014/01/agencies-offer-ideas-preventing-chemical-disasters/76469/?oref=dropdown
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, response, ag_chems
Eight months after last spring?s chemical fertilizer explosion that took 15 lives in West, Texas, the Obama administration has released a set of new regulatory safety options.
The nonprofit advocacy community appears encouraged, but industry less so.
An August 2013 executive order set a deadline of 90 days for an analysis from a working group including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Environmental Protection Agency, Homeland Security Department and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. But October?s 16-day government shutdown, among other factors, delayed the release of nine options for comment, including some that would shift industry compliance with preventive measures from a voluntary to a mandatory basis.
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FUGITIVE ODOR CLOSES TRINIDAD SCHOOLS
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,188922.html
Tags: Trinidad_and_Tobago, public, release, response, pesticides
AS THE country continues to grapple with the major oil spill which affected a number of sea side communities along Trinidad?s south west peninsula, scores of workers and school children in close proximity to the Point Lisas Industrial Estate (Plipdeco) had to be evacuated yesterday after a pungent odour from a suspected chemical leak was detected yesterday.
However, intense investigations by HSE personnel from both the National Gas Company (NGC) and Plipdeco on gas pipelines in and around the estate revealed the source of the odour was not from any of the plants at the Estate but may have been associated with spraying of an insecticide at a housing settlement in Couva.
A NGC source told Newsday that the insecticide chemical Malathion, used to control mosquitoes was mixed with another chemical, phosphorous, and sprayed in and around a housing settlement in Sevilla, Couva yesterday.
Malathion is a manmade organo-phosphate insecticide commonly used to control mosquitoes and a variety of insects which attack fruits, vegetables, landscaping plants and shrubs. Short-term exposure to high levels of malathion can affect the nervous system causing a variety of symptoms including headaches, nausea, dizziness, weakness, cramps, diarrhea, excessive sweating, blurred vision and increased heart rate.
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8 VIOLATIONS FOR SCHOOL IN WAKE OF LAB FIRE
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/nyregion/8-violations-for-school-in-wake-of-lab-fire.html?hpw&rref=education&_r=0
Tags: us_NY, laboratory, follow-up, injury, flammables, methanol
Fire Department investigators have cited Beacon High School in Manhattan for eight violations, finding that dangerous chemicals were being stored unsafely and that safety equipment and practices were lacking in at least three rooms. One was the makeshift lab where two students were engulfed in flames last week when a chemistry demonstration went horribly awry.
The department gave the school, which is on the Upper West Side, 10 days to correct some of the violations of fire and building codes, and 30 days for others. But it did not issue a ?cease and desist? order, which could have closed the teaching labs, James Long, a Fire Department spokesman, said on Wednesday.
The state Labor Department is also investigating the accident and its context, state officials said, because regulations require safety equipment like chemical fume hoods when teachers handle potentially explosive flammable liquids and toxic chemicals in the workplace. There was none in Room 317, a ?science demo room,? where Alonzo Yanes, 16, was badly burned when fumes from the methanol used by a teacher to burn different substances ignited. Alonzo remained in critical condition on Wednesday in the burn unit of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. The other student suffered relatively minor burns.
The Fire Department violations, issued to the principal, Ruth Lacey, also focused on the chemical storage room, Room 331; the school was ordered to immediately reduce the supply of hazardous chemicals to the amounts allowed by law, including no more than 15 gallons of flammable liquids and no more than five pounds of toxic substances. In a formal science laboratory, Room 321, the school was ordered to provide a safety shower and eye wash for decontamination, and to show that a chemical fume hood there was being tested annually for safe ventilation of dangerous fumes.
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BLAST AT JAPAN CHEMICAL PLANT KILLS 5, INJURES 17
http://www.fireengineering.com/ap-news/2014/01/09/blast-at-japan-chemical-plant-5-killed.html
Tags: Japan, industrial, explosion, death, hydrogen
TOKYO (AP) ? An explosion at a chemical factory in central Japan on Thursday killed at least five workers and injured 17 others, authorities said.
Investigators suspect chemical reaction involving hydrogen caused the blast at metal and chemical company Mitsubishi Materials Corp.'s Yokkaichi plant, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) west of Tokyo.
The blast appeared to have occurred when plant workers were rinsing heat exchange equipment at the silicone plant during maintenance, according to a Mie prefectural police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to department rules.
Police said five workers died. Fire department officials said that 17 people were taken to hospitals.
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ONE PERSON SERIOUSLY INJURED IN 'MINOR' AMGEN LAB BLAST IN SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_24872625/south-san-francisco-two-injured-minor-explosion-at
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, injury, ether, flammables
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO -- One person was seriously injured and another was hurt Wednesday afternoon in a "minor" explosion at biotech firm Amgen's South San Francisco lab facility, a fire marshal confirmed.
One employee suffered burns to their face and another employee suffered burns to their hands after an explosion that began in a "flammable liquids" cabinet in a third-floor laboratory, said South San Francisco deputy fire chief Travis Nuckolls. The explosion was reported about 3:30 p.m.
Officials don't know what caused the dangerous mixture to explode, but the cabinet in which the explosion occurred was knocked over from the force, and windows on the third floor were also blown out, fire officials confirmed.
Nuckolls said at least one of the chemicals involved was ether.
According to a spokeswoman at the St. Francis Memorial Hospital burn unit in San Francisco, one patient was taken there with injuries deemed "noncritical." She would not provide further information about the patient's condition.
The region's other burn unit, at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, reported no patients from Amgen.
All buildings in the complex in addition to the Amgen building were evacuated as a precaution. An Amgen spokeswoman did not respond to multiple calls for comment.
Decontamination tents were set up for employees who may have been affected by chemicals or toxins that spread after the explosion, but Nuckolls said it had been determined early Wednesday night that nothing dangerous had gone airborne.
The incident was the second to injure a worker in the facility in the last year. In May, a worker for a waste disposal company was seriously burned while collecting waste at the facility.
According to Cal-OSHA spokesman Peter Melton, the firm and two other businesses -- Clean Harbors Environmental Service Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.'s Unity Lab Services -- received "serious" citations for the May incident on Nov. 14. Melton said the most serious citation issued was in the amount of $77,400 to Clean Harbors Environmental Service Inc.
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