Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, September 24, 2014 at 7:59:03 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 (8 articles)
5 DEAD, ONE INJURED AT CENTRAL CHINA CHEMICAL PLANT FIRE
Tags: China, industrial, fire, death, unknown_chemical
CHEMICAL SPILL AT NORTH CANAAN FARM SENDS TWO TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_CT, industrial, release, injury, bleach, cleaners, phosphoric_acid
UPDATE: HAZMAT CALL IN MOUNT JOY THE RESULT OF IMPROPERLY USED CLEANING PRODUCTS
Tags: us_PA, public, release, response, solvent
COURT ALLOWS CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD TO INVESTIGATE OWNER OF DEEPWATER HORIZON RIG
Tags: public, follow-up, death, oils
UNIVERSITY OF DERBY HALLS OF RESIDENCE EVACUATED BECAUSE OF POTENTIAL EXPLOSION
Tags: United_Kingdom, education, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
BUSINESSES EVACUATE, SCHOOL LOCKDOWN AFTER VAPOR RELEASE
Tags: us_AR, transportation, release, injury, flammables
LONGWOOD MEDICAL AREA EVACUATED AFTER HAZMAT LEAK
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, nitrogen
CREWS BATTLE DOCK FIRE IN PORT OF LOS ANGELES
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, response, flammables
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5 DEAD, ONE INJURED AT CENTRAL CHINA CHEMICAL PLANT FIRE
Tags: China, industrial, fire, death, unknown_chemical
CHANGSHA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Five people were confirmed dead and one was seriously injured in a fire that broke out at a barium nitrate plant in central China's Hunan Province early on Tuesday, local authorities said.
The fire happened at around 5:30 a.m. at Xinhuang Luxiang Barium Industry Co., Ltd, in Fangjiatun township of Huaihua City.
Preliminary investigations showed the fire was ignited when factory workers were repairing a machine, which seriously injured six workers. Five died after medical treatment failed. Doctors are still treating the remaining one who was also severely injured.
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CHEMICAL SPILL AT NORTH CANAAN FARM SENDS TWO TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_CT, industrial, release, injury, bleach, cleaners, phosphoric_acid
NORTH CANAAN >> Two people were sent to the hospital Tuesday after a spill of cleaning chemicals at a local farm created a vapor cloud.
The spill at Elm Knoll Farm, located at 294 East Canaan Road, was reported to be under control shortly after 4:30 p.m. According to emergency radio reports, the chemicals involved were sodium hypochlorite and phosphoric acid.
According to Norfolk Public Information Officer Jonathan Barbagallo, ?inappropriate amounts? of the chemicals were mixed after a pump malfunction at the farm.
?[They were] two common cleaning chemicals that they use to clean the milking equipment in the barn,? said Barbagallo, who said two workers in the area spotted the vapor cloud from the chemical reaction and called the fire department.
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UPDATE: HAZMAT CALL IN MOUNT JOY THE RESULT OF IMPROPERLY USED CLEANING PRODUCTS
Tags: us_PA, public, release, response, solvent
Improperly used cleaning products resulted in a hazardous materials call to Mount Joy Monday afternoon.
According to Mount Joy Fire Chief Bill Hall, two workmen had been inside an apartment at 1000 Water Street for about 90 minutes when they began to feel ill from an odor inside the structure.
They exited the building and called police, who summoned the fire company and hazmat.
A "residue" from the previous tenants was found inside the apartment.
Crews wearing breathing apparatus entered the apartment shortly after 6 p.m. What they concluded, Hall said, was that the culprit was cleaning fluids.
"It was an overuse of cleaning fluids, and possibly an improper mixture of cleaning solvents," Hall said Monday evening.
Considering the response, hazmat units from both Lancaster and York counties were on the scene, the findings were anti-climactic.
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COURT ALLOWS CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD TO INVESTIGATE OWNER OF DEEPWATER HORIZON RIG
Tags: public, follow-up, death, oils
A federal appeals court on Sept. 18 affirmed the authority of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) to investigate the owner of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.
Transocean Deepwater Drilling owned and operated the rig that was drilling at BP?s Macondo well in April 2010 when an explosion killed 11 crew members. The rig then leaked oil into the Gulf of Mexico for months, leaving dead wildlife and fouled beaches in its wake.
Transocean challenged CSB?s authority to investigate oil spills in marine waters. In a 2-1 decision, the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld a lower court?s 2013 ruling that CSB has jurisdiction to probe the accident.
The appeals court noted that as an independent federal agency established by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, CSB has broad power to examine the accidental release of hazardous materials into the air from stationary sources.
Transocean had argued that because its drilling rig was portable and moved from one well site to another, it was a mobile vessel and not a stationary source. A Transocean spokeswoman says the company is evaluating the appellate court?s decision and had no further comment.
CSB continued to investigate the causes of the blowout and explosion during the appeal. In June, the board published its initial findings into how and why a safety device known as a blowout preventer was unable to stop the flow of hydrocarbons from the well. CSB expects to complete its inquiry early next year.
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UNIVERSITY OF DERBY HALLS OF RESIDENCE EVACUATED BECAUSE OF POTENTIAL EXPLOSION
Tags: United_Kingdom, education, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
Hundreds of students have been forced to leave their halls of residence after a potentially explosive chemical was accidentally prepared nearby.
The area around Nuns Street, Derby, has been sealed off after the business reported the mistake at 17:30 BST.
Derbyshire police have erected a cordon and evacuated the area while they wait for the bomb squad to arrive.
The University of Derby's Nunnery Court halls of residence is one of the evacuated buildings.
The University of Derby's Nunnery Court was one of the buildings to be evacuated
Buildings in Mill Street, Bridge Street and Nuns Street have all been evacuated and residents sent to rest centres.
Chf Insp Steve Pont said: "There's a company on Nuns Street that used chemicals. They have mixed up chemicals in the wrong way and made a substance that may have explosive potential."
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BUSINESSES EVACUATE, SCHOOL LOCKDOWN AFTER VAPOR RELEASE
Tags: us_AR, transportation, release, injury, flammables
FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- Five businesses were evacuated, and a school and head start program went under lockdown Wednesday following a chemical spill.
The chemical, ethyl acrylate, was released around 10 a.m. from a tanker at Dana Transport, Inc. The company cleans tankers and a vapor form of the liquid chemical released during a cleaning.
Ethyl acrylate is used in latex paints and is highly flammable.
"When they released the tanker by the top domes, it released the vapors out to the outside air," said Calvin Bishop, a battalion chief with the Fayetteville Fire Department.
The vapor caused burning eyes, difficulty breathing, vomiting and headaches for several people working in the area. Bishop said two people were sent to Cape Fear Valley Medical Center with those symptoms and six others were treated near the scene.
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LONGWOOD MEDICAL AREA EVACUATED AFTER HAZMAT LEAK
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, nitrogen
BOSTON ?Three buildings in the Longwood Medical area were evacuated Monday morning as crews responded to a HazMat leak.
A truck near 665 Huntington Avenue was reported to be leaking nitrogen. The area is near the Harvard School of Public Health.
The buildings at 180 and 188 Longwood Avenues were also evacuated after the Level 2 HazMat was declared, the Boston Fire Department said in a Twitter post.
Several streets in the area were blocked off by police as emergency crews responded.
The leak was brought under control just after 9 :30 a.m., and workers were let back into the buildings.
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CREWS BATTLE DOCK FIRE IN PORT OF LOS ANGELES
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, response, flammables
WILMINGTON (CBSLA.com) ? A dock fire in Wilmington threatened warehouses as it burned under a large structure in the Port of Los Angeles Monday night.
A ship that had also been threatened by the fire was moved to safety shortly after 7:30 p.m.
The fire was reported at 6:41 p.m. on the 800 block of Fries Avenue, directly in the center of the Port of Los Angeles.
The fire was centered directly underneath one of the warehouses, which rests on pylons.
The wood is coated in a chemical material, meant to protect it from marine erosion. The chemical is highly flammable, making the flames particularly difficult to extinguish.
Los Angeles City Fire marine units were also among the 115 firefighters on scene, battling the blaze.
?(The divers) are in the water right now, with that dark smoke, trying to manage these hand lines under this burning product that?s above them, trying to fight that fire, knowing that there?s large coils and heavy steel above them, that at any time can fall through,? LA City Fire Capt. Jamie Moore said.
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