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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: Wed, 27 Aug 2014 07:13:24 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 10F1F7F4-D314-44F0-8CE3-5CCA43CD515D**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, August 27, 2014 at 7:13:17 AM
A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (10 articles)
HAZMAT GIVES ALL CLEAR AFTER BROWNFIELD ACID SPILL
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid
HAYWARD: ALERT LIFTED AFTER HAZARDOUS VAPOR RELEASE AT SHUTTERED CHEMICAL PLANT
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, epoxy
CHEMICALS SPILLED IN U.S. 23 SEMI ROLLOVER NOT EXPECTED TO HARM THE ENVIRONMENT
Tags: us_MI, transportation, release, response, cleaners, solvent, water_treatment
FIRE ALARM BRINGS OUT HAZMAT CREWS AT MIRAMAR BUSINESS
Tags: us_FL, public, fire, response, unknown_chemical
GRUPO MEXICO GOES FROM FIRST TO WORST ON CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: Mexico, industrial, release, environmental, copper_sulphate, metals
NEW DOCUMENTS DETAIL CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION OF ROSEDALE DERAILMENT
Tags: us_MD, transportation, follow-up, injury, unknown_chemical
SEATAC HOTEL EVACUATES DUE TO CHEMICAL ODOR
Tags: us_WA, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
FIRE ERUPTS AFTER QUAKE ROCKS CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY
Tags: us_CA, public, fire, response, natural_gas
RECYCLING CENTER FIRE CAUSES $10,000 IN DAMAGE
Tags: us_MA, industrial, fire, response, runoff, waste
IOWA RESIDENCE HALL EMPTIED OVER UNKNOWN CHEMICAL
Tags: us_IA, education, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
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HAZMAT GIVES ALL CLEAR AFTER BROWNFIELD ACID SPILL
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid
BROWNFIELD, TX (KCBD) -
An acid spill in Brownfield sent two people to the hospital Tuesday morning. Brownfield Fire Rescue arrived at an unloading station on North 9th Street around 10:45 a.m.
Firefighters say crews were working on a railcar when hydrochloric acid somehow spilled. The workers were burned by the acid, but the extent of their injuries is not known right now.
Fire Chief Dennis Rowe says there is no longer a public safety issue. "Most of the spill is contained to a pit area. We had Wolfforth Hazmat come in and confirmed that the tank car is secure. So at this point, I think we're down to minimal danger, Rowe said.
The area was evacuated as a precaution, and a train passing through was forced to stop for a short period of time. Cleanup is now underway.
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HAYWARD: ALERT LIFTED AFTER HAZARDOUS VAPOR RELEASE AT SHUTTERED CHEMICAL PLANT
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, epoxy
HAYWARD -- Authorities lifted a shelter-in-place order after a hazardous materials release Tuesday afternoon at a chemical company, and police said there were no reports of damage or injuries.
Two schools and a busy state route were closed after workers reported potentially noxious gases seeping into the air, authorities said.
The incident was reported at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Contractors Chemical, located at 3130 Depot Road. The company is out of business but still stores chemicals at the site, including epoxies and catalysts that solidify concrete, said Don Nicholson, a spokesman with the Hayward Fire Department. The all-clear was given about 4:20 p.m., police said.
On Tuesday, workers began mixing large amounts of chemicals in an attempt to turn them into solids, then dispose of them, according to Nicholson. But a reaction spread the vapors through the neighborhood and prompted a shelter-in-place alert.
Students and staff at Ochoa Middle School and Mount Eden High School as well as residents living within a 1-mile radius of the business were asked to stay indoors and close all doors and windows. Nearby residents and businesses were also asked to turn off heating, ventilation and air conditioning units.
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CHEMICALS SPILLED IN U.S. 23 SEMI ROLLOVER NOT EXPECTED TO HARM THE ENVIRONMENT
Tags: us_MI, transportation, release, response, cleaners, solvent, water_treatment
The chemicals that spilled during a rollover crash on southbound U.S. 23 at eastbound M-14 Monday were a silicone cleaner and solvent and a chemical commonly used as a base fluid in personal care products.
A fire official also said the chemicals were contained in the semi trailer and not spilled on the roadway. Earlier information from officials indicated that the chemicals had been spilled on the road.
Michigan State Police officials said one chemical was a mix of hexamethyldisiloxane and octamethyltrisiloxane. Together, that mix makes up Dow Corning?s OS-2 silicone cleaner and solvent.
The other fluid that spilled was the Xiameter PMX-200 Silicone Fluid, officials said.
According to information from Dow Corning, the OS-2 silicone cleaner and solvent is volatile and has a short half-life, which means it doesn?t present a risk to water-based organisms. It can also be more than 90 percent removed during wastewater treatment, ?with approximately equal amounts going to the atmosphere and the sludge.?
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FIRE ALARM BRINGS OUT HAZMAT CREWS AT MIRAMAR BUSINESS
Tags: us_FL, public, fire, response, unknown_chemical
MIRAMAR?
A hazardous materials team and Miramar Fire Rescue responded to a fire alarm Monday night at a business that routinely handles cleaning materials that could be considered hazardous.
Miramar Fire Rescue received a call around 8:40 p.m. about a fire alarm going off at Propulsion Technology, 15301 SW 29th St., spokesman Jose Gregorisch said.
When crews arrived, the building?s occupants were already evacuating to the parking lot. With a light haze in the air, the public was asked to stay at least a half mile from the building while hazmat crews investigated.
Sprinklers extinguished a very small fire underneath a container of chemicals; a small chemical spill was contained and the company was completing cleanup, Gregorisch said.
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GRUPO MEXICO GOES FROM FIRST TO WORST ON CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: Mexico, industrial, release, environmental, copper_sulphate, metals
Spilling chemicals into two rivers near the U.S. border is making Grupo Mexico SAB (GMEXICOB) the country?s worst performing major stock.
The shares have lost 5.3 percent, the most among 35 companies on the benchmark IPC index, since an Aug. 6 copper sulfate solution spill at its Buenavista del Cobre mining operation that the company says contains the world?s largest copper reserves. In the preceding month, it led gains among the index?s materials stock to a 16-month high 49.24 pesos.
Mexican congressional commissions are asking for operations to be suspended and that the Economy Ministry consider canceling the mine?s concession. The country?s environmental prosecutor, known as Profepa, filed a criminal complaint against the company. Metal content in the Sonora River remains above permissible consumption levels, Mexico?s water commission, known as Conagua, said Aug. 22.
?The shares have been falling and the noise around this case will continue until the water commission lifts the environmental alert,? Rodrigo Garcilazo, an analyst at Corporativo GBM, said in a phone interview from Mexico City. ?If there is a temporary suspension of the plant, it could have a more long-term impact on Grupo Mexico than expected.?
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NEW DOCUMENTS DETAIL CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION OF ROSEDALE DERAILMENT
Tags: us_MD, transportation, follow-up, injury, unknown_chemical
The only signs investigators found of the chemical-laden railroad hopper car that exploded after it derailed last year in Rosedale were twisted and deformed pieces of its aluminum shell that shot out like shrapnel, landing as far as 370 feet away.
"Of the larger wreckage pieces recovered along [adjacent] Lake Drive, was a brake valve weighing about 70 pounds, a piece of aluminum rail car frame, and a fractured piece of burnt rail tie," wrote Paul L. Stancil, the National Transportation Safety Board's senior hazardous materials investigator, in a factual report on the explosion released Monday.
The document, one of 179 made public with the opening of the NTSB's investigative docket in the case Monday, stands out because it details the strength of the explosion and the scope of the chemical fire and spills caused by the derailment. While the cause of the accident is known already ? the CSX train jumped the tracks after a dump truck pulled out in front of it, the nature of the chemical release has only been vaguely described until now.
A final NTSB report on the accident is still pending but can be expected soon.
Not long after the explosion occurred, officials announced that the chemical spill posed no danger to local residents, but details were limited.
Stancil's report also notes that the May 28, 2013, explosion ? which seriously injured the truck driver and a worker at an adjacent building ? has compounded existing concerns about contamination in the area.
The accident scene overlaps with an 18-acre site known as the "68th Street Dump," a collection of landfills used from the 1950s through the 1970s that since 1984 has been listed as a priority for intense environmental remediation by the Environmental Protection Agency.
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SEATAC HOTEL EVACUATES DUE TO CHEMICAL ODOR
Tags: us_WA, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
EATAC, Wash. -- Hotel guests near Sea-Tac Airport are back in their rooms after a chemical smell prompted an evacuation of the entire building Monday.
The incident happened at the Coast Gateway Hotel along International Boulevard.
Both guests and employees reported a chemical smell on the fourth floor. Thirteen people were sent to the hospital for respiratory irritations, including members of a flight crew getting ready to depart.
"We certainly didn't want anybody at 30,000 feet suffering respiratory or any kind of illness that we couldn't help them at that point, so all of those people were sent to the hospital," said Kent Fire Capt. Kyle Ohashi. "It was precautionary for all of the patients. We didn't know what they were being affected by so we didn't want to take a chance."
Kent Fire officials were unable to locate the source of the smell. Their attempts to recreate the smell were unsuccessful.
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FIRE ERUPTS AFTER QUAKE ROCKS CALIFORNIA WINE COUNTRY
Tags: us_CA, public, fire, response, natural_gas
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION) A mobile home complex was consumed by fire early Sunday morning (August 24) in damage sustained from the 6.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Napa Valley in California. Residents of Napa Valley Mobile Home Park were evacuated from their homes into the center's clubhouse after four homes were destroyed and eight other units suffered damage, according to local media reports
Napa Fire Department officials told local media outlets that authorities were still investing the cause of the fire but it initially seems to be caused by a gas line that ruptured. The City of Napa reported the area has sustained breaks in 50 gas lines and leaks in 30 water mains. The 6.0 magnitude earthquake is the biggest in the region in 25 years jolted many residents out of bed when it hit at 3:20 a.m. local time (1020 GMT), centered 6 miles (10 km) south of the City of Napa, population 77,000. The city of Napa reported on its website that 87 patients were being treated at Queen of the Valley Hospital with three of those injuries serious. Most damage appeared centered around Napa, a famous wine-producing region and a major tourist destination in northern California, north of San Francisco, damaging historic buildings, setting some homes on fire and causing power outages around the picturesque town. There have been no reports of any fatalities.
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RECYCLING CENTER FIRE CAUSES $10,000 IN DAMAGE
Tags: us_MA, industrial, fire, response, runoff, waste
South Boston firefighters were called to the recycling center, Gerhau Metallics on U.S. 58 just outside the town limits, Saturday where fire destroyed several scrapped vehicles, causing some $10,000 in damages.
The cause of the blaze 10:35 a.m. fire is undetermined, a South Boston Fire Department spokesman said, but Hazmat officials were called in to help deal with the runoff from the blaze.
South Boston firefighters responded with three trucks and 12 people were on the scene for nearly three hours.
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IOWA RESIDENCE HALL EMPTIED OVER UNKNOWN CHEMICAL
Tags: us_IA, education, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
OWA CITY, Iowa (AP) ? Police say a University of Iowa residence hall was evacuated the night before classes began after an unknown chemical was reported and a student was found unresponsive.
The 500-person capacity Slater Hall was evacuated for about four hours Sunday night. Students were allowed to return around 11:30 p.m. after police said there were no toxic or explosive dangers. Police didn't identify the chemical.
Police spokesman Chuck Green said a male student was transported to an area hospital after he was found in a third-floor lounge.
An update on his condition was not available Sunday night, but Green says no one was injured by the chemical. It's unclear what was wrong with the student.
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