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From: Secretary ACS DCHAS <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (11 articles)
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2014 07:35:15 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 9880B83E-5C45-4EA6-A861-68B0032276C6**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines
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Table of Contents (11 articles)
HAZMAT TEAM, POLICE RESPOND TO SPILL IN CHEMISTRY BUILDING
Tags: us_GA, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO HAZMAT EVENT AT POOL IN WACHESAW PLANTATION
Tags: us_SC, public, release, response, chlorine
FEDERAL REPORT: REGULATORY CONFUSION CONTRIBUTED TO TEXAS CHEMICAL DISASTER
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ammonium_nitrate
MAJOR FIRM TO DISCLOSE FRACKING CHEMICALS
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
CSB: REACTIVE CHEMICAL RULES LACKING
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, death, ag_chems, ammonium_nitrate
HOW HAZMAT CREWS HANDLE METH & DRUG LABS
Tags: us_PA, public, discovery, response, meth_lab
UNPOPULAR RECYCLING FACTORY HIT BY FIRE IN RATCHABURI
Tags: Thailand, industrial, fire, response, other_chemical, bomb, flammables, gasoline, paints, waste
CHEMICAL HAZARD AT REST HOME
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, response, unknown_chemical, cleaners
RAGING FIRE ENGULFS TWO FACTORIES IN MAHARASHTRA AND GUJARAT
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
DANGEROUS CHEMICAL SPECIALISTS CALLED IN (FROM THIS IS LOCAL LONDON)
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
CHEMICAL SPILL AT EAST NAPLES CVS SENDS SIX TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_FL, public, release, injury, pharmaceutical
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HAZMAT TEAM, POLICE RESPOND TO SPILL IN CHEMISTRY BUILDING
http://www.redandblack.com/cops/hazmat-team-police-respond-to-spill-in-chemistry-building/article_5540e172-cc14-11e3-a173-0017a43b2370.html
Tags: us_GA, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
University of Georgia and local safety departments responded to a call about a chemical spill in the Chemistry Building Thursday evening at approximately 6:10 p.m., an Athens-Clarke County official said. Later that night they found no one was hurt and the building was safe.
?We received a call, it was an unidentified chemical, we responded. We did the reconnaissance to determine what the chemical was,? said Roger Evans, battalion chief of ACC Fire & Emergency Services.
Both Athens-Clarke County Fire & Emergency Services and the UGA police responded to the scene Thursday, and Evans said fire department officials identified the spill as an alcohol-based substance.
?It was just an accident with a very small spill,? he said. ?We identified the product. It was basically an alcohol-type product with no threat to the environment or to personal safety. The product is contained and now we?ve stabilized the incident.?
Evans said upon arriving at the scene, UGAPD evacuated the building, and it is now safe for students to enter.
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FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO HAZMAT EVENT AT POOL IN WACHESAW PLANTATION
http://www.thestate.com/2014/04/24/3407333/firefighters-respond-to-hazmat.html
Tags: us_SC, public, release, response, chlorine
Firefighters with Murrells Inlet-Garden City Fire Rescue responded to a HAZMAT situation about 5 p.m. Thursday, according to authorities.
Specific details about the incident were not immediately available including information about any injuries, but firefighters said it involves chlorine at the pool on Riverwood Road in Wachesaw Plantation.
Firefighters were still at the scene at 6:15 p.m. The Georgetown County Sheriff?s Office was not dispatched to the scene, said Lt. T.L. Staub.
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FEDERAL REPORT: REGULATORY CONFUSION CONTRIBUTED TO TEXAS CHEMICAL DISASTER
http://www.govexec.com/management/2014/04/federal-report-regulatory-confusion-contributed-texas-chemical-disaster/83167/?oref=dropdown
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ammonium_nitrate
Before violently exploding and killing 14 people last April, a Texas fertilizer plant first fell through multiple regulatory loopholes -- some real and some likely imagined, a federal advisory panel says.
In a release of some preliminary findings from its investigation into the incident this week, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board noted that under federal law, companies must report the use of chemicals that the Environmental Protection Agency considers to be "extremely hazardous substances."
Ammonium nitrate, the substance believed to have caused the deadly 2013 blast, along with some other industrial explosions in recent years, is not on the EPA list, however, the board noted. The board is an independent federal body that investigates chemical incidents and advises regulatory agencies.
The West, Texas, facility did give notice of its use of ammonium nitrate -- under a separate requirement by the same federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act to report the use of those substances deemed "hazardous chemicals" by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
But state officials, who are responsible for enforcing the law in Texas, determined -- incorrectly, according to EPA guidelines -- that the facility was exempt from the statute's requisite emergency-planning requirements, the board says.
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MAJOR FIRM TO DISCLOSE FRACKING CHEMICALS
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2014/04/24/fracking-fluid-disclosure/8117133/
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
In a major shift quietly announced Thursday, a leading hydraulic fracturing supplier said it would begin disclosing all of the chemicals used in so-called fracking without regard to trade secrets.
Houston-based Baker Hughes said it "believes it is possible to disclose 100% of the chemical ingredients we use in hydraulic fracturing fluids without compromising our formulations ? a balance that increases public trust while encouraging commercial innovation."
The declaration, first reported by EnergyWire, contained one potentially big hedge: The company said it would provide "complete lists" of products and chemicals only "(w)here accepted by our customers and relevant governmental authorities."
The shift comes a month after a U.S. Energy Department task force recommended changes to improve transparency at FracFocus, where companies can voluntarily report the chemicals they use. The Energy Department's March report found that hat 84% of the wells registered on FracFocus invoked a trade secret exemption for at least one chemical.
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CSB: REACTIVE CHEMICAL RULES LACKING
http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i17/Reactive-Chemical-Rules-Lacking.html
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, death, ag_chems, ammonium_nitrate
On the one-year anniversary of the West Fertilizer Co. explosion, the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) returned to the West, Texas, community where the retail fertilizer warehouse had been located. There, at a public meeting on April 22, CSB released its preliminary accident report that proposes changes to federal laws overseeing reactive chemicals.
CSB?s investigation found severe shortcomings in existing regulations and standards for ammonium nitrate at the federal, state, and county levels as well as a ?failure by the company to take necessary steps to avoid a preventable accident,? CSB Chairperson Rafael Moure-Eraso said.
The West accident occurred when some 40 to 60 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer held in a wooden building caught fire and exploded, killing 14 people?12 volunteer firefighters and other emergency responders and two residents. Another 226 citizens of West were injured. Some 150 homes were destroyed by the blast and twice that many were damaged. An apartment complex, three schools, a nursing home, and a hospital were also damaged.
Moure-Eraso noted that Texas lacks a statewide fire code, which could have encouraged county fire departments to closely monitor and would have held companies responsible for safe storage and handling of chemicals. Such codes, CSB said, could have also kept populations away from hazardous facilities, such as the warehouse.
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HOW HAZMAT CREWS HANDLE METH & DRUG LABS
http://www.1011now.com/home/headlines/Hamzat-Crews-Handle-Meth-256268481.html
Tags: us_PA, public, discovery, response, meth_lab
After a daylong investigation Monday, hazmat crews uncovered a meth lab at an apartment complex in downtown Lincoln. Tuesday, crews gave us an inside look at what it takes to identify the drug.
It took crews at least 7 hours to investigate the scene, time the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department says is necessary when handling hazardous materials.
"You don't know what you're going into at the time," said Environmental Health Supervisor, Nancy Clark. "It's important to identify as soon as possible what kind of risks might be involved, whether it's safe for people to be in that environment or not."
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UNPOPULAR RECYCLING FACTORY HIT BY FIRE IN RATCHABURI
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/406404/unpopular-recycling-factory-hit-by-fire-in-ratchaburi
Tags: Thailand, industrial, fire, response, other_chemical, bomb, flammables, gasoline, paints, waste
The fire began at the Wax Garbage Recycle Centre Co in tambon Rang Bua of Jom Bueng district about 5am. Aty least 10 fire trucks were sent to combat the flames.
The fire started in a building storing inflammable materials such as recycled paints, plastic containers and gasoline, the source of bomb-like sounds during the inferno.
Three of five warehouses at the factory complex and their contents were destroyed by the blaze. Police suspected it was started by an electrical short circuit, Pol Cap Jarin Thiengtham, a case officer at Jom Bueng police station, said.
The factory recycles industrial waste such as plastic pellets, dish washer liquid, paints and other chemical materials. It earlier had problems with surrounding communities with complaints of water pollution and fool odours.
The factory was also hit by fire on March 16, 2013. The estimated damage is still under evaluation.
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CHEMICAL HAZARD AT REST HOME
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/9975140/Chemical-hazard-at-rest-home
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, response, unknown_chemical, cleaners
The Fire Service says a potentially explosive cleaning product mix-up is behind an emergency at a rest home in northern Wellington.
Elderly residents and kindergarten children in the suburb of Johnsonville have been told to stay indoors for safety after two different cleaning products were "accidentally" mixed together at the Johnsonvale Rest Home this afternoon, Fire Service Incident Commander Paul Smith said.
It is not certain whether it was a rest home staff member who mixed the two cleaning products together in a 20 litre plastic container.
When mixed together the two chemical products set off a heat reaction that could have caused an explosion, Smith said.
The Fire Service evacuated the nearby area while hazard controllers released the pressure in the container.
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RAGING FIRE ENGULFS TWO FACTORIES IN MAHARASHTRA AND GUJARAT
http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ani/raging-fire-engulfs-two-factories-in-maharashtra-and-gujarat-114042301161_1.html
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
Raging fire engulfed the warehouse of a chemical factory and a cloth industrial unit in Gujarat and Maharashtra on Tuesday, as firefighters struggled to douse the inferno.
A major fire broke out in a chemical factory in the industrial estate in Gujarat's Vapi as goods worth millions were reduced to ashes.
Around five fire tenders immediately reached the spot to douse the blaze.
Police Sub-Inspector of Vapi Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), R. F. Bariya, said that the firefighters were battling to douse the fire.
"We had received information about fire in a warehouse. Fire tenders immediately reached the spot and the fire was brought under control. We are not aware of any casualties till now," said Bariya.
No casualties were reported.
Four factories and a godown were also gutted by fire in Bhiwandi city in Thane district of Maharashtra.
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DANGEROUS CHEMICAL SPECIALISTS CALLED IN (FROM THIS IS LOCAL LONDON)
http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/11165032.Fire_breaks_out_at_labaratory___dangerous_chemical_specialists_called_in/
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
A man has been injured after a laboratory was set ablaze.
Thirty-five firefighters battled a fire on the first floor of an industrial estate in Willow Lane, Mitcham at 7.18am today.
Six fire engines with specialist equipment to combat potentially dangerous chemicals attended at the scene.
A 39-year-old man was treated for burns and taken to St George's Hospital as a priority, a London Ambulance spokesman said.
Paramedics also sent a hazardous area response team.
Fire crews did a sweep of the building to see whether there were any raised levels of chemicals inside the laboratory but none were found.
The fire was under control by 9.16am and the building was handed back to the owners.
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CHEMICAL SPILL AT EAST NAPLES CVS SENDS SIX TO HOSPITAL
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2014/apr/23/chemical-spill-east-naples-cvs-sends-six-hospital/?CID=happeningnow
Tags: us_FL, public, release, injury, pharmaceutical
A chemical spill in an East Naples CVS pharmacy sent six employees to local hospitals Wednesday night, according to East Naples/ Golden Gate Fire Control and Rescue District Assistant Fire Chief J. Nolan Sapp.
?We received a complaint about employees suffering from respiratory difficulties, a metallic taste in their mouths and they thought it was a gassy substance of some type was released in the store,? Sapp said. ?What we believe happened was a spill of some compounds in which they make medicine.?
Sapp said employees of the CVS, 6800 Collier Blvd., had been working in an area where the chemical compound was spilled when they began feeling ill. Firefighters received the call around 5 p.m.
The spilled chemical, which was not identified, is used to make antibiotics and is meant to be take orally, not inhaled, according to Sapp.
?So as they?ve been working and stirring that up ? it?s almost like a dust-type situation ? they?ve inhaled that and aggravated their respiratory system,? Sapp said.
The employees transported to local hospitals suffered no major injuries, according to Sapp.
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