Chemical Safety Headlines =46rom Google
Wednesday, October 29, 2014 at 7:13:38 AM
A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at
http://pinboard.in/u:dchasTable of Contents (13 articles)
OSHA ISSUES 2 CITATIONS IN DISCOVERY MUSEUM FLASH FIRE
Tags: us_NV, public, follow-up, injury, other_chemical
2 STUDENTS SPLASHED BY CHEMICAL IN SCIENCE LAB AT VILLANOVA U.
Tags: us_PA, laboratory, release, injury, hydrogen_peroxide
FIRST RESPONDERS IN THE BAY AREA SEE RISE IN 'CHEMICAL SUICIDES'
Tags: us_CA, public, release, death, suicide
POLICE: HAZMAT RESPONSE TO WILMINGTON AVENUE THE RESULT OF A HOAX
Tags: us_OH, public, discovery, environmental, illegal
BLOG DE BIOSEGURIDAD / BIOSAFETY BLOG: THE POST-NORMAL SCIENCE OF PRECAUTION, BY JERRY RAVETZ
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
UC SPENT NEARLY $4.5 MILLION TO DEFEND LAB DEATH CASE
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, follow-up, death, butyllithium
HAZMAT CALLED TO EAU CLAIRE OFFICE BUILDING
Tags: us_WI, public, release, response, mercury
STUDENTS AT POMPERAUG HIGH SCHOOL EVACUATED AFTER MERCURY SPILL
Tags: us_CT, education, release, response, mercury
18-WHEELER SPILLS MORE MORE THAN 2K GALLONS OF GAS ON SCENIC HIGHWAY IN BATON ROUGE
Tags: us_LA, transportation, release, response, gasoline
HONEYWELL PROBES CHEMICAL LEAK AT ILLINOIS PLANT
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, response, radiation, uranium
CHEMICAL LEAK IN RIVERSIDE SENDS 11 PEOPLE TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_CA, public, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
REPORT: CHEMICAL PLANT PUTS THOUSANDS OF KIDS AT RISK
Tags: us_NV, public, discovery, environmental, bleach
SITE OF EXPLOSION AT ALLEGED NANTICOKE METH LAB CORDONED OFF
Tags: us_PA, public, explosion, response, illegal, meth_lab, waste
---------------------------------------------
OSHA ISSUES 2 CITATIONS IN DISCOVERY MUSEUM FLASH FIRE
Tags: us_NV, public, follow-up, injury, other_chemical
A Reno children's science museum has been issued two citations after a tornado demonstration last month led to a flash fire that injured 13 people.
Spokeswoman Teri Williams of the Nevada Occupational Health and Safety Administration says each of the citations issued to the Terry Lee Wells Nevada Discovery Museum carries a penalty of $1,050.
Reno fire officials said a three- to five-second blaze erupted Sept. 3 after an employee poured alcohol on a cotton ball that had been dusted with boric acid and partially ignited.
Nine people were treated at Renown Regional Medical Center. All were released within 24 hours.
OSHA says the museum didn't assess personal protective equipment for employees, and didn't train employees on using hazardous chemicals.
The museum didn't immediately comment on the citations Monday.
---------------------------------------------
2 STUDENTS SPLASHED BY CHEMICAL IN SCIENCE LAB AT VILLANOVA U.
Tags: us_PA, laboratory, release, injury, hydrogen_peroxide
VILLANOVA., Pa. (CBS) =E2=80" According to Villanova University, police and fire crews responded to the school after two students were splashed by a chemical on campus.
The University says a higher concentration of hydrogen peroxide got splashed onto the arms of two students in a science lab. The students suffered skin irritation. They washed the affected area with soap and water and both declined medical transportation.
---------------------------------------------
FIRST RESPONDERS IN THE BAY AREA SEE RISE IN 'CHEMICAL SUICIDES'
Tags: us_CA, public, release, death, suicide
HILLSBOROUGH, Calif. (KGO) -- First responders cordoned off a Hillsborough neighborhood Sunday night after they found a young man dead in his car. He'd committed what's being called "chemical suicide." Authorities say it's a disturbing trend among young suicide victims.
Thousands of cases of chemical suicides have been reported in Japan. It became almost cult-like.
"It originated in Japan, and then turned into something that ended up being more significant," said Deputy Chief John Kammeyer with the Central Coast Fire Department. "So it was sort of copycat type of thing and it became significant by way of the Internet."
And now, they're on the rise in here. The latest happened Sunday night in Hillsborough.
---------------------------------------------
POLICE: HAZMAT RESPONSE TO WILMINGTON AVENUE THE RESULT OF A HOAX
Tags: us_OH, public, discovery, environmental, illegal
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - A Hazmat response that forced police to shut down a stretch of Wilmington Avenue Tuesday night has ended.
The incident took place in the 900 block of Wilmington Avenue between Shroyer Road and Citation Street.
Police and medics were called around 9 p.m. They say a man said his brother had just returned from Liberia and was showing symptoms of the Ebola virus.
After investigating for about two hours, police determined the call was a hoax.
They say the man in question was at home in a different part of Dayton, had not been to West Africa and is not sick. Police are still trying to track down the person who made the call.
"We want people to know that this is going to be zero tolerance on a hoax like this. We can't afford to have other people get hurt as the result of a prank or a hoax. So we are taking this very seriously and we're doing everything we can to find this person," said Dayton Police Lt. Andrew Booher.
Lt. Booher says the caller will face criminal charges of inducing panic.
---------------------------------------------
BLOG DE BIOSEGURIDAD / BIOSAFETY BLOG: THE POST-NORMAL SCIENCE OF PRECAUTION, BY JERRY RAVETZ
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
Science now finds itself in a new and troubled situation. The traditional optimistic picture is problematic and compromised at every turn. The scientific system now faces a crisis of confidence, of legitimacy and ultimately of power. We can usefully distinguish two sorts of science. The =E2=80=98mainstream' is reductionist in style, and increasingly linked to industry. By contrast, the =E2=80=98post-normal' approach embodies the precautionary principle. It depends on public debate, and involves an essential role for the =E2=80=98extended peer community'. It is based on the recent recognition of the influence of values on all research, even including the basic statistical tests of significance. It is the appropriate methodology when either systems uncertainties or decision stakes are high; under those conditions the puzzle-solving approach of =E2=80=98normal science' is obsolete. This is a drastic cultural change for science, which many scientists will difficult to accept. But there is no turning back; we can understand post-normal science as the extension of democracy appropriate to the conditions of our age.
---------------------------------------------
UC SPENT NEARLY $4.5 MILLION TO DEFEND LAB DEATH CASE
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, follow-up, death, butyllithium
The University of California paid nearly $4.5 million to outside law firms to defend itself and UC Los Angeles chemistry professor Patrick Harran from felony charges of labor code violations relating to the death of a staff researcher.
The numbers were released by the UC Office of the President in response to a public records request filed by C&EN.
Researcher Sheharbano (Sheri) Sangji was using a syringe to transfer tert-butyllithium, which ignites spontaneously in air, when the plunger came out of the syringe barrel. Sangji was not wearing a flame-resistant lab coat, and her clothes caught fire. She died from her injuries on Jan. 16, 2009. She was 23 years old and had received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from Pomona College in May 2008.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office filed charges against UC and Harran on Dec. 27, 2011. The charges cited failure to correct unsafe workplace conditions and procedures in a timely manner, failure to require work-appropriate clothing and personal protective equipment, and failure to provide chemical safety training to employees.
---------------------------------------------
HAZMAT CALLED TO EAU CLAIRE OFFICE BUILDING
Tags: us_WI, public, release, response, mercury
AU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) The Eau Claire Fire Department says about a dozen people had to be evacuated from an area office Monday afternoon after mercury was dropped under their doorway.
It happened around 4:30 pm at the Teamsters Local Union office on Golf Terrace.
Crews say the same thing has happened more than once at the same office in the last few weeks.
It's unknown if anyone has been arrested.
---------------------------------------------
STUDENTS AT POMPERAUG HIGH SCHOOL EVACUATED AFTER MERCURY SPILL
Tags: us_CT, education, release, response, mercury
SOUTHBURY, CT (WFSB) -
Pomperaug High School students were evacuated Monday morning after mercury was spilled in a classroom.
Officials from the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said a student had an oral thermometer and it broke, and a very small amount of mercury was involved in the spill. The student who reportedly dropped the thermometer has been taken to the hospital as a precaution.
DEEP officials were expected to go into the classroom to test the area and clean it as necessary.
---------------------------------------------
18-WHEELER SPILLS MORE MORE THAN 2K GALLONS OF GAS ON SCENIC HIGHWAY IN BATON ROUGE
Tags: us_LA, transportation, release, response, gasoline
At least 2,000 gallons of gasoline spilled out of an 18-wheeler Monday (Oct. 27) night on Scenic Highway in Baton Rouge. The spill shut down nearby Wyandotte Street west of Interstate 110 in both directions, according to Baton Rouge Fire Department officials.
BRFD spokesman Curt Monte said just before 9 p.m. that the department's hazmat crews and fire trucks were on the scene.
The 18-wheeler was hauling 8,900 gallons of gas, but only one of its multiple cargo compartments was "compromised," Monte said. The incident occurred near the 3700 block of Scenic Highway along an industrial corridor where a number of plants are located.
Monte said the spill occurred after a four-inch pipe somehow sheered off the bottom of the tanker, causing between 2,000 and 2,600 gallons of gas to leak.
---------------------------------------------
HONEYWELL PROBES CHEMICAL LEAK AT ILLINOIS PLANT
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, response, radiation, uranium
METROPOLIS, Ill. (AP) - Honeywell says there's no evidence that a weekend leak of a compound used in uranium enrichment at its southern Illinois plant escaped the building.
Company spokesman Peter Dalpe says no injuries resulted from the leak of uranium hexafluoride Sunday night at Honeywell's site in Metropolis. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been notified.
The plant helps make nuclear fuel, and still is operating.
It was not immediately clear Monday how much of the uranium hexafluoride was released.
The leak comes at a time the company and union-backed workers at the Massac County plant are embroiled in a contract dispute. Employees have been locked out of the site since August.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL LEAK IN RIVERSIDE SENDS 11 PEOPLE TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_CA, public, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
Nearly a dozen people, including fire and police officials, were hospitalized early Monday after they were exposed to an unknown chemical leaking from a tank near Lincoln High School in Riverside.
The leak prompted authorities to shut down the surrounding neighborhood of 130 homes and order residents to shelter in place, said Riverside Fire Division Chief Mitch Wesche. Students arriving at the high school were turned away.
The affected area includes from 10th to 14th streets and Victoria Avenue to Commerce Street.
Three police officers and a firefighter were among those taken to hospitals for observation, Wesche said. Seven residents drove themselves to hospitals.
A chemical odor was reported at 6:16 a.m. to be emanating from a 5-foot-tall welding tank in a resident's backyard, officials said.
Crews were able to stop the leak, but the neighborhood remained closed off.
Residents who sheltered in place were not allowed to leave or enter their homes.
---------------------------------------------
REPORT: CHEMICAL PLANT PUTS THOUSANDS OF KIDS AT RISK
Tags: us_NV, public, discovery, environmental, bleach
LAS VEGAS -- Twenty-six years after a major chemical explosion rocked Las Vegas, more schools than ever before are now at risk.
It was 1988 when the Pepcon explosion shook the valley.
A map shows dozens of schools in southern Nevada that are vulnerable to potential chemical catastrophe from just one plant in town.
The map is based on a report by the Center for Effective Government which found companies like Olin Chlor Alkali in Henderson which makes bleach, can be dangerous because of the amount of chemicals they process.
The report found 60 percent of schools in Nevada are close to a facility that uses chemicals.
Some people didn't know some of these companies are right down the street from where they live.
---------------------------------------------
SITE OF EXPLOSION AT ALLEGED NANTICOKE METH LAB CORDONED OFF
Tags: us_PA, public, explosion, response, illegal, meth_lab, waste
NANTICOKE - A methamphetamine lab is believed to have been the source of an explosion that blew two doors off their hinges at an apartment building here on Saturday night.
The State Police Bureau of Drug Law Enforcement posted and cordoned off the building on Lee Mine Street after the blast, which occurred at about 8 p.m.
The posting states: "A clandestine laboratory for the manufacture of illegal drugs and/or hazardous chemicals was seized at this location on 10/25/14 by the Pennsylvania State Police. Known hazardous chemicals have been disposed of pursuant to law. However, there still may be hazardous substances or waste products on this property either in buildings or on the ground itself. Please exercise caution while on these premises."
Several people who allegedly were cooking meth inside the apartment building fled after the explosion. About a half dozen units in the building were evacuated. Emergency personnel in protective hazmat gear removed chemicals from the building.
---------------------------------------------
