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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 (14 articles)
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2014 08:02:04 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 4ADBCB7A-67A6-4F57-9A88-37CA71A13BED**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, October 8, 2014 at 8:01:54 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 (14 articles)
LOS ALAMOS LAB‰??S SAFETY LAPSES FAULTED FOR RADIOACTIVE LEAK
Tags: us_NM, industrial, release, response, radiation, waste
HAZMAT CREWS DISINFECT 5 DALLAS COUNTY SQUAD CARS
Tags: us_TX, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
PARKLAND HIGH SCHOOL ODOR THAT LED TO PARTIAL EVACUATION, HAZMAT RESPONSE IDENTIFIED
Tags: us_PA, education, release, response, batteries
EPA INCREASES PUBLIC ACCESS TO CHEMICAL DATA
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
HERMISTON: CLEANUP FINISHED OF UMATILLA CHEMICAL WEAPON DEPOT
Tags: us_OR, industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
EMERGENCY CREWS RESPOND TO MIT CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, release, response, hexane
LOCAL FIRE CREWS RESPOND TO LIQUID PHOSPHORIC ACID SPILL ON INTERSTATE 70 (10/07/14)
Tags: us_IN, transportation, release, response, phosphoric_acid
DENVER TEACHER FIRED AFTER CAUSING CHEMICAL FIRE THAT INJURED 4 STUDENTS
Tags: us_CO, education, follow-up, injury, flammables, methanol
THE GLOBAL MOVEMENT AND TRACKING OF CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING EQUIPMENT: A WORKSHOP SUMMARY
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
ROAD CLOSED DUE TO CHEMICAL SPILL BACK OPEN
Tags: us_OK, transportation, release, environmental, bleach
EX-PAWTUCKET CHEMICAL COMPANY FINED $200K FOR CLEAN AIR ACT VIOLATIONS
Tags: us_RI, industrial, follow-up, environmental, diethyl_ether
TWO INJURED IN UNB LABORATORY EXPLOSION
Tags: Canada, laboratory, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical
EXPLOSION AROUND MILITARY SITE JOLTS TEHRAN, AND 2 ARE MISSING
Tags: Iran, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical, flammables
THREE BURNED AFTER CHEMICAL REACTION LEADS TO EXPLOSION
Tags: us_GA, public, explosion, injury, meth_lab
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LOS ALAMOS LAB‰??S SAFETY LAPSES FAULTED FOR RADIOACTIVE LEAK
Tags: us_NM, industrial, release, response, radiation, waste
A radioactive material leak that affected 22 workers and closed the US‰??s only permanent nuclear waste repository was likely the result of a failure to follow safety procedures.
The US Department of Energy‰??s (DOE) Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) generates large volumes of transuranic waste ‰?? mostly contaminated items like clothing and tools. Since January 2012, the lab has shipped more than 3700m3 of such waste to a DOE facility in New Mexico, for eventual permanent disposal.
However, a barrel containing transuranic waste from the lab ruptured at the nuclear waste repository on 14 February, contaminating the facility and exposing personnel to radiation, according to a report from the DOE‰??s Office of Inspector General (OIG). Operations were immediately suspended at the facility and the event reportedly led to the reassignment of four LANL employees.
The drum in question was processed at LANL and is known to have contained nitrate salts and organic material, which the DOE has said are likely to have been contributing factors in the release.
The repository‰??s closure is expected to last two years and the financial implications are estimated from the tens of millions of dollars to more than half a billion dollars. The closure will slow remediation at numerous DOE sites by delaying permanent waste disposal, the OIG said.
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HAZMAT CREWS DISINFECT 5 DALLAS COUNTY SQUAD CARS
Tags: us_TX, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
Several of the Dallas County deputies who entered the apartment visited by an Ebola patient are on paid leave and the vehicles they used are being cleaned.
The Dallas County Sheriff's Department deputies were at the Ivy Apartments to ensure the family obeyed a court order that forbade them from leaving their apartment.
UPDATEDEbola Hazmat Crew Finishes Work at Dallas Apartment
Officials said they had five vehicles towed to a county-owned temporary storage location in Hutchins where hazmat crews are cleaning them.
Crews will fog each vehicle for 30 minutes. Then, after the chemicals dissipate, each vehicle will be wiped down with more chemicals designed to kill any virus remaining on the surface.
Crews Continue Disinfecting Duncan's Family's Apt.
Hazmat crews must wear air-tight, full-body biohazard suits and respirators while cleaning.
Officials said they don't think the vehicles have the Ebola virus living on their surfaces, but they're cleaning them to remove any doubt. The vehicles will be returned to duty soon.
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PARKLAND HIGH SCHOOL ODOR THAT LED TO PARTIAL EVACUATION, HAZMAT RESPONSE IDENTIFIED
Tags: us_PA, education, release, response, batteries
A problem with a battery back-up system at Parkland High caused the odor that prompted a partial evacuation of the school Tuesday afternoon, officials said.
The issue led a foul odor in one room of the South Whitehall Township school's C-wing, according to Parkland School District spokeswoman Nicole Mehta McGalla. The wing was evacuated, but the rest of school continued to operate normally, she said.
A hazmat team and other emergency workers responded to the 2700 N. Cedar Crest Blvd. school and resolved the issue, McGalla said. Normal operations have since resumed in the wing, she said.
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EPA INCREASES PUBLIC ACCESS TO CHEMICAL DATA
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
The Environmental Protection Agency moved on Tuesday to increase the amount of data made available to the public on regulated chemicals.
The changes are being made to its "one-stop online tool" called ChemView, the agency said, which provides information on chemicals regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
"In the absence of Treform, EPA is moving ahead to improve access to chemical health and safety information, and increase the dialogue to help the public choose safer ingredients used in everyday products,‰?? said James Jones, assistant administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.
‰??The additional data along with a customer satisfaction survey will make chemical information more readily available for decision-makers and consumers," Jones added.
The new functions include improving the display and content for the reporting tool, and new links to pollution prevention information.
The database will also include information on consent order, and new use rules for new and existing chemicals.
The federal government and Congress has come under mounting pressure to act on TSCA reform after a recent chemical spill in West Virginia, which left communities without clean water for days.
---------------------------------------------
HERMISTON: CLEANUP FINISHED OF UMATILLA CHEMICAL WEAPON DEPOT
Tags: us_OR, industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
HERMISTON ‰?? All that's left of the contaminated plant that destroyed some of the nation's deadliest nerve and chemical agents is some paperwork.
Cleanup and demolition of the chemical incineration plant at the Umatilla Chemical Depot near Hermiston is done.
Still to be done is the documentation for the state of Oregon to show that cleanup work is finished to the requirements of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. That should be completed in early 2015.
The plant was used to destroy 220,604 munitions and 3,720 tons of chemical agent, including GB and VX nerve agent and mustard blister agent. They had been stored at the depot since the 1960s.
---------------------------------------------
EMERGENCY CREWS RESPOND TO MIT CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, release, response, hexane
A chemical spill on MIT's campus has been contained and cleaned up, and the buliding has been reopened, MIT Police said.
Cambridge, Massachusetts, fire officials said the chemical spill was a bottle of Hexane solvent that had been dropped in a lab. The solvent has evaporated and the scene was cleared, officials said.
Fire officials said the hazmat response was just a precaution when something flammable spills. MIT Police had asked people to avoid the area.
---------------------------------------------
LOCAL FIRE CREWS RESPOND TO LIQUID PHOSPHORIC ACID SPILL ON INTERSTATE 70 (10/07/14)
Tags: us_IN, transportation, release, response, phosphoric_acid
Local fire crews were able to contain dozens of gallons of liquid phosphoric acid on Thursday that leaked from a semi-trailer driving Interstate 70 in Clay County.
Indiana State Police was notified of the problem around 2 p.m. when a tractor-trailer driver reported his vehicle may have been struck by another tractor-trailer on I-70 in Illinois. The reporting driver also told police they were now traveling through the Terre Haute area, according to an ISP‰??news release.
ISP Master Trooper Jason Owen was patrolling eastbound I-70, near the 19-mile marker and spotted and stopped the vehicles, the release states. Further investigation revealed no visible signs of a collision, but did show leaking chemicals from the reporting driver's trailer.
---------------------------------------------
DENVER TEACHER FIRED AFTER CAUSING CHEMICAL FIRE THAT INJURED 4 STUDENTS
Tags: us_CO, education, follow-up, injury, flammables, methanol
DENVER - The chemistry teacher who caused an explosion that injured four students, one critically, at a Denver charter school has been terminated according to a letter mailed to parents at STRIVE Preparatory Schools SMART Academy.
First-year teacher Daniel Powell was demonstrating the burning properties of methanol to his high school class on Sept. 15 when he started a fire that shot to the back of the classroom and hit a 16-year-old boy in the chest.
Three other students were treated and released from the hospital.
According to U.S. Chemical Safety Board, Powell was not adequately trained.
Investigators said he ignited methanol to create a flame in front of the students, and when the flame didn't rise as high as he had hoped, he poured more methanol onto it.
That created a "jet fire" that shot 15 feet. Methanol is highly flammable, and the CSB says it should not be used in such large quantities.
Student Dominic Vargas remains in the hospital with serious burns to the upper part of his body, according to his brother. He said Dominic may be released in the next two weeks, but will have lasting injuries.
"The fire ball hit him from his chest up. So his face, his neck, his chest, his arms and his legs were burned," said Johnny Vargas Tuesday. "He's very athletic, plays football, and this is going to play a big part in where he's going in life."
---------------------------------------------
THE GLOBAL MOVEMENT AND TRACKING OF CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING EQUIPMENT: A WORKSHOP SUMMARY
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
Dual-use applications for chemical manufacturing equipment have been recognized as a concern for many years, and export-control regulations worldwide are in place as a result. These regulations, in conjunction with the verification and inspection requirements of Article VI of the Chemical Weapons Convention, are designed to support non-proliferation of manufacturing equipment suitable for production of chemical warfare agents. In recent years, globalization has changed the distribution of chemical manufacturing facilities around the world. This has increased the burden on current inspection regimes, and increased the amount of manufacturing equipment available around the world. Movement of that equipment, both domestically and as part of international trade, has increased to accommodate these market shifts.
---------------------------------------------
ROAD CLOSED DUE TO CHEMICAL SPILL BACK OPEN
Tags: us_OK, transportation, release, environmental, bleach
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol has reopened the interesection of North 193rd east ave and State Highway 266 in Rogers County after being closed for nearly three hours due to a chemical spill.
According to OHP, shortly before 2:30 PM Monday a truck loaded with a chemical identified as bleach, lost eight barrels onto the roadway. Each barrel is a 55 gallon drum and two, (2) drums have ruptured, causing the contents to spill.
State Troopers working the scene at the time say there was a minor inhalation hazard for those in the direct vicinity, but no evacuation were necessary.
A team from Tulsa Hazmat responded to the scene and was able to contain the spill until a the chemical remediation team arrived to clean the area.
---------------------------------------------
EX-PAWTUCKET CHEMICAL COMPANY FINED $200K FOR CLEAN AIR ACT VIOLATIONS
Tags: us_RI, industrial, follow-up, environmental, diethyl_ether
PROVIDENCE, R.I. ‰?? A federal judge Monday imposed a $200,000 fine and five years probation against a chemical company that admitted to violating the federal Clean Air Act by failing to develop a plan to minimize the chance release of highly flammable ethyl ether at its Pawtucket facility.
U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. noted that the sentence against now-Attleboro-based Roberts Chemical Company Inc. was intended to deter other companies from making similar violations and to protect Rhode Islanders. McConnell ordered that the fine be paid across four annual installments, the first within the next 30 days.
The company also ran an advertisement in The Journal in August apologizing for the violations as part of a plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors. It read: ‰??The company regrets and apologizes for these actions, and has instituted new policies and procedures at our new location to demonstrate our commitment to protecting the environment.‰??
Robert McIntyre Jr. told the court Monday that company was not aware it was in violation, despite two employees being trained on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations governing the storage of hazardous chemicals. The company immediately corrected the violations and has remained in compliance since, he said.
Roberts Chemical stored 27,467 pounds of the highly volatile and flammable ethyl ether at its then 258 Pine St. location in Pawtucket, just off Route 95, court documents show. The Clean Air Act specifies that companies storing more than 10,000 pounds of the hazardous substance develop a plan with local fire, police and environmental officials to minimize risk to workers, the public and first responders.
---------------------------------------------
TWO INJURED IN UNB LABORATORY EXPLOSION
Tags: Canada, laboratory, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical
FREDERICTON -- Two people were slightly injured Monday by a small explosion inside a lab at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.
Two people were slightly injured Monday by a small explosion inside a lab at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.
Emergency responders were called to the second floor of the Enterprise Building on Garland Court at around 9:45 a.m. and the building was evacuated.
City spokeswoman Alycia Morehouse said she didn't know what chemicals were involved in the explosion, but she said there was no fire and that two researchers were taken to hospital to be treated for minor injuries.
She said it was unclear what caused the explosion, but she confirmed it involved some kind of chemical inside a "small glass vessel."
"They're still trying to determine the nature of what was in there," she said. "From what we understand, the building is used for research on pulp- and paper-type products."
Firefighters were called in to clean up the mess inside the lab, but they weren't required to wear gear to protect them from hazardous materials.
"The type of materials used weren't very volatile," Morehouse said. "We did not require them for this incident."
---------------------------------------------
EXPLOSION AROUND MILITARY SITE JOLTS TEHRAN, AND 2 ARE MISSING
Tags: Iran, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical, flammables
TEHRAN ‰?? A mysterious explosion at or near an important military complex rocked the Iranian capital on Sunday, lighting up the skies over the city.
Iranian official sources denied the explosion had taken place at the complex, the expansive Parchin military site east of the city, where international monitors suspect Iran once tested triggers for potential nuclear weapons. But the enormous orange flash that illuminated Tehran around 11:15 p.m. local time clearly came from that direction, several witnesses said.
Officials at Iran‰??s Defense Industries Organization, though also denying that the explosion took place at Parchin, confirmed that two people were missing after ‰??an ordinary fire‰?? caused by ‰??chemical reactions of flammable material‰?? at an unspecified production unit, according to the semiofficial Iranian Students‰?? News Agency. There was no word on the location of the fire.
Witnesses in the east of Tehran said that windows had been shattered in the vicinity of the military complex and that all trees in a hundred-yard radius of two villages, Changi and Hammamak, had been burned. The villages are on the outskirts of the military site.
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THREE BURNED AFTER CHEMICAL REACTION LEADS TO EXPLOSION
Tags: us_GA, public, explosion, injury, meth_lab
WORTH COUNTY, GA -- Three people were injured Friday night after making methamphetamine according to information released by the Worth County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies say that James Stoyle, Joshua Coxwell, Stephen Bedford, Terri Young and Mary Lawson were making meth in a bedroom when the chemicals involved in the process apparently reacted, leading to an explosion.
Stoyle was taken to Phoebe Worth Medical Center by a family member and was treated for burns to 40% of his body before being transferred to the Augusta Burn Center for further treatment.
Coxwell and Young were also burned, but did not seek treatment at Phoebe Worth. Instead, they left the hospital with Lawson and Bedford to go to the Tifton Wal-Mart, where they were spotted by Tifton police according to deputies.
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