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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 (15 articles)
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 2015 06:06:22 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: A70B6677-90AC-4BE0-B5C5-00A94EB3B067**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at 6:05:59 AM
A membership benefit 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 (15 articles)
STRONG ODOR LEADS TO HAZMAT RESPONSE AT SANTA
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals
2 KILLED IN ULTRATEC EXPLOSION NOT ONLY WORKERS HARMED IN FIREWORKS MANUFACTURER'S HISTORY
Tags: us_AL, industrial, follow-up, death, explosives, fireworks
DROPPED CIGARETTE BUTT BLAMED FOR POWERFUL CHEMICAL PLANT EXPLOSION IN UKRAINE
Tags: Russia, industrial, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical
PLAN TO PROTECT HANFORD WORKERS FROM CHEMICAL VAPORS RELEASED
Tags: us_WA, industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
'ALL CLEAR' GIVEN AFTER OVERNIGHT CHEMICAL FIRE IN SAVANNAH
Tags: us_GA, public, release, response, pesticides
MAYOR: CHEMICAL FIRE‰??S IMPACT ON WINONA LAKE REMAINS UNCLEAR
Tags: us_IN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, methanol
WARSAW CHEMICAL, SITE OF FRIDAY FIRE, HAD BEEN CITED FOR UNSAFE STORAGE
Tags: us_IN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, flammables, methanol
APARTMENT BUILDING EVACUATED AFTER TOXIC CHEMICAL IN THE AREA
Tags: us_CA, public, release, death, carbon_monoxide, suicide
FIRE CREWS CALLED TO PLYMOUTH UNIVERSITY BUILDING
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
OIL REFINERY WORKERS STRIKE FOR SAFETY AT SITE OF DEADLY ANACORTES EXPLOSION
Tags: us_WA, industrial, follow-up, response, gasoline
NO CAUSE FOR CONCERN OVER NUCLEAR EXPLOSION IN 'CLOSED CITY', SAY OFFICIALS
Tags: Russia, industrial, explosion, injury, radiation, uranium
CHEMICAL THAT TRIGGERED SANTA PAULA BLAST IDENTIFIED
Tags: us_CA, transportation, follow-up, response, other_chemical, water_treatment
NEW DOCUMENTS DETAIL SKYVIEW ACADEMY CHEMICAL EXPLOSION
Tags: us_CO, education, follow-up, injury, other_chemical
KEROSENE HEATER EXPLOSION BLAMED FOR BRATTLEBORO FIRE
Tags: us_VT, public, explosion, injury, kerosene
INSPECTOR GENERAL RIPS CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
---------------------------------------------
STRONG ODOR LEADS TO HAZMAT RESPONSE AT SANTA
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals
Several guests were evacuated from a north Santa Rosa motel Tuesday morning when a mixture of chemicals dumped into the swimming pool created a cloud of noxious fumes, firefighters said.
Twenty Santa Rosa firefighters and fire officials responded to the 10:15 a.m. hazardous materials incident at the Best Western Wine Country Inn and Suites on Hopper Avenue. Guests in two rooms were evacuated, but no one required medical attention.
A motel employee mixed pool-cleaning chemicals in a maintenance room, starting a reaction with an unknown substance in the bucket, fire officials said. The chemicals were tossed into the pool, but an overpowering smell lingered in the area. Firefighters called for a hazardous materials response, which requires additional personnel and equipment.
---------------------------------------------
2 KILLED IN ULTRATEC EXPLOSION NOT ONLY WORKERS HARMED IN FIREWORKS MANUFACTURER'S HISTORY
Tags: us_AL, industrial, follow-up, death, explosives, fireworks
Investigators are still looking into the explosion that killed two workers on Friday at an Owens Cross Roads fireworks manufacturing facility that has a long history of similar incidents.
The onsite investigation at Ultratec Special Effects is over and the scene has been released back to the company, said Special Agent Michael P. Knight, a public relations officer with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)'s Nashville office.
Knight said the main focus of the investigation now is to determine the cause of the explosion that killed 43-year-old Aimee Cothran of Huntsville and 51-year-old Marie Sanderson of Union Grove. Knight said that samples of the "blast seat," or the point of detonation in the explosion, have been collected and are being analyzed at the lab.
---------------------------------------------
DROPPED CIGARETTE BUTT BLAMED FOR POWERFUL CHEMICAL PLANT EXPLOSION IN UKRAINE
Tags: Russia, industrial, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical
Kiev officials blamed a dropped cigarette butt for a powerful explosion that set a chemical plant in eastern Ukraine on fire.
The huge blast on Monday triggered the blaze at the plant in Donetsk, a rebel stronghold where Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down last year.
"This was caused by a dropped cigarette butt. Accidents often happen in factories where no one is responsible for fire safety. Well, it's chaos, and they are barbarians," the spokesman said, blaming the pro-Russian rebels for the explosion.
A spokesman for Kiev's Anti-Terrorist Operation said the explosion was the fault of the rebels because of poor safety procedures,
The rebels, however, laughed at claims by Kiev officials that the explosion was set by a dropped cigarette.
---------------------------------------------
PLAN TO PROTECT HANFORD WORKERS FROM CHEMICAL VAPORS RELEASED
Tags: us_WA, industrial, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
A new plan to better protect workers from chemical vapors from Hanford tanks was released Tuesday by Washington River Protection Solutions.
The plan aims to address 47 recommendations made by a team of independent experts, led by the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina.
The Department of Energy has directed WRPS, its tank farm contractor, to move ahead with the plan in two phases, with 30 of the 47 steps completed by September 2016.
Phase I is estimated to cost about $61 million, with $20 million of that spent this fiscal year and $41 million in fiscal 2016 as work ramps up to hire industrial hygiene workers, buy equipment and determine its capabilities, and collect and analyze data.
The proposed strategy should reduce the high reliance on personal protective equipment and administrative controls, such as ropes strung to keep workers away from potentially hazardous areas, according to WRPS.
Instead, worker protection will move toward engineered controls and technologies. They include new ventilation systems and new methods to detect and sample chemical vapors.
---------------------------------------------
'ALL CLEAR' GIVEN AFTER OVERNIGHT CHEMICAL FIRE IN SAVANNAH
Tags: us_GA, public, release, response, pesticides
SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - Savannah Fire, Southside Fire/EMS and Metro Police responded to a chemical situation at the Savannah Marine Terminal off of Magazine Avenue.
According to a police spokesperson, water came in contact with a substance at Savannah Marine, and became volatile. A chemical plume could be seen drifting north from that area just before 11 p.m. Monday night.
According to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division, containers of aluminum phosphide fumigant pellets started the reaction. The pellets contain chemicals used to kill rodents in the grain that gets transported to the terminal. The EPD said if it's not completely deactivated, the pellets will react with moisture or water.
Savannah-Chatham Metro Police were encouraging residents around the Augusta Avenue corridor overnight to stay inside and avoid exposure to the chemical plume as it settles. That has now been lifted and officials say it is okay to go outside and the threat is gone. They say the chemical is isolated to the container.
---------------------------------------------
MAYOR: CHEMICAL FIRE‰??S IMPACT ON WINONA LAKE REMAINS UNCLEAR
Tags: us_IN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, methanol
WARSAW, Ind. (AP) ‰?? State and academic officials are assessing the damage to Winona Lake after thousands of gallons of water used to battle a blaze at a nearby chemical plant mixed with chemicals and flowed into the popular northern Indiana lake, the mayor said.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is gathering information from Warsaw Chemical Co. for a remediation order, and Grace College‰??s Center for Lakes and Streams is playing ‰??an important role in the assessment,‰?? Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer said in a statement Monday.
The fire in a chemical-storage building at the car-wash fluid production plant on the south side of Warsaw burned for three hours Friday, forcing the evacuation of 50 homes and sending at least seven people to the hospital with eye and lung complaints.
State natural resources officers estimate that several thousand gallons of water mixed with chemicals, mostly methanol, and washed into Winona Lake as firefighters doused the fire.
---------------------------------------------
WARSAW CHEMICAL, SITE OF FRIDAY FIRE, HAD BEEN CITED FOR UNSAFE STORAGE
Tags: us_IN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, flammables, methanol
Since 2006, federal environmental inspectors have at least twice found hazardous or flammable chemicals stored in an unsafe manner at a Northern Indiana chemical plant where a large fire erupted Friday in an adjacent chemical-storage building.
Fumes from Friday's fire at Warsaw Chemical Co. forced the evacuation of 50 homes and sent at least seven people to the hospital as a precaution after they complained of burning eyes and lungs.
State natural resources officers estimate that several thousand gallons of water from firefighters' hoses mixed with chemicals, mostly methanol, washed into Winona Lake, a popular recreation spot on the southeast edge of Warsaw, a city of 13,559 people in Kosciusko County.
---------------------------------------------
APARTMENT BUILDING EVACUATED AFTER TOXIC CHEMICAL IN THE AREA
Tags: us_CA, public, release, death, carbon_monoxide, suicide
MISSION VALLEY - Authorities allowed residents back into that apartment building in the 2200 block of River Run Drive in Mission Valley, where a man killed himself with some sort of release of poisonous gas, possibly carbon monoxide, a fire department spokesman says.
The resident's body was found in a bathroom of his third-floor unit along with several portable gas grills that he apparently used to create a lethal buildup of toxic fumes.
About 20 residents had been evacuated.
---------------------------------------------
FIRE CREWS CALLED TO PLYMOUTH UNIVERSITY BUILDING
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
FIRE crews have been called to a Plymouth University building after reports of fumes coming from a laboratory.
There were no reports of any injuries following the call out to the Davy building on the North Hill campus.
Harri Salisbury, a final year student, told student newspaper The Tab: ‰??They took the hoses up there.
‰??I saw two more fire engines go past as I was leaving for a meeting.
‰??Everyone was evacuated.‰??
---------------------------------------------
OIL REFINERY WORKERS STRIKE FOR SAFETY AT SITE OF DEADLY ANACORTES EXPLOSION
Tags: us_WA, industrial, follow-up, response, gasoline
About 200 workers at the Tesoro refinery in Anacortes, Washington, are on strike. They've had a 24-hour picket line at the plant's main gate for more than a week.
Steelworkers at 11 oil refineries, which produce more than a tenth of the nation's gasoline, are striking.
Like many labor disputes, this one includes a push for higher wages, but the United Steel Workers say they're more concerned about their safety on the job.
"Anybody'll tell you, we make a decent living," said Tesoro-Anacortes steelworker Ryan Anderson. "What's important to us is establishing safe staffing at these plants, getting our manpower up to a level that we can feel safe, that our communities feel safe."
---------------------------------------------
NO CAUSE FOR CONCERN OVER NUCLEAR EXPLOSION IN 'CLOSED CITY', SAY OFFICIALS
Tags: Russia, industrial, explosion, injury, radiation, uranium
A small explosion at nuclear facility in a Siberian ‰??closed city‰?? is being downplayed by the authorities, despite panic spreading among the population.
Operators of the Siberian Chemical Industrial Complex say a container housing depleted uranium lost pressure and ignited, seriously injuring a nearby worker.
Officials are reassuring the public there has been no radiation leak into the surrounding area in Seversk, Tomsk region, with the situation being monitored using special equipment.
But concerned local residents have called news channels and taken to social media sites to express their anxiety over the emergency at the sprawling site. Some fear being able to open their windows.
The city, which was not even marked on maps during Soviet times and is still closed off to visitors, is no stranger to major incidents. In 1993 an accident at the Tomsk-7 Reprocessing Complex released a cloud of radioactive gas into the air, in what became one of the world‰??s worst nuclear disasters.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL THAT TRIGGERED SANTA PAULA BLAST IDENTIFIED
Tags: us_CA, transportation, follow-up, response, other_chemical, water_treatment
SANTA PAULA, Calif. - The mid-November explosion at a plant outside Santa Paula has been tied to sodium chlorite, a chemical that was mistakenly mixed with residential sewage, company officials said Monday.
Regulators initially could not identify the exact substance at fault at the plant where the Santa Clara Waste Water Co. keeps an array of chemicals. But an internal investigation now points to sodium chlorite, a water treatment agent the firm says it was using for the first time.
Company officials say the chemical interacted with human and/or vegetable waste, leading to the blast inside a truck parked at the plant at 3:45 a.m. Nov. 18.
About 1,000 gallons of the material spilled and crystallized, igniting into fire after it dried. The incident caused an evacuation of the area, crop losses and the treatment of dozens of p
---------------------------------------------
NEW DOCUMENTS DETAIL SKYVIEW ACADEMY CHEMICAL EXPLOSION
Tags: us_CO, education, follow-up, injury, other_chemical
New documents reveal details of a chemical explosion last winter at Skyview Academy in Highlands Ranch.
A 17-year-old student pleaded guilty to the possession of explosive parts in that incident. The documents, obtained Monday by the CALL7 Investigators, show he made the explosive at the school by creating a chemical reaction with lithium inside a sealed water bottle.
According to the document, the student threw the device at another student. Three students and a teacher were taken to the hospital as a result of chemical exposure or burns.
---------------------------------------------
KEROSENE HEATER EXPLOSION BLAMED FOR BRATTLEBORO FIRE
Tags: us_VT, public, explosion, injury, kerosene
BRATTLEBORO ‰?? A fire that injured two people and displaced seven Friday was accidental, according to a news release from the Brattleboro Fire Department.
Firefighters responded to a reported kerosene heater explosion at 27 Brattle St. at about 5:30 p.m.
Two of the building's occupants were injured in the fire. One was treated for smoke inhalation and the other for minor burns.
The second-floor front apartment of the four-unit building received extensive heat and smoke damage, according to the news release. That apartment's resident was alerted to the fire by a smoke detector, fire officials said.
A joint investigation by the Brattleboro fire and police departments this weekend revealed a strong possibility that the wrong type of fuel was accidentally used in the heater, the news release said.
Brattleboro fire officials reminded area residents to ensure they have working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in their homes, and to be cautious when using portable heaters of any type. The fire department also reminded residents to properly vent fuel-burning heaters.
---------------------------------------------
INSPECTOR GENERAL RIPS CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso and two staff members violated federal law by using private e-mail addresses to conduct official business. That‰??s the finding of EPA Inspector General (IG) Arthur A. Elkins Jr., whose office oversees CSB. It also is the most recent battle in a years-long war between Elkins and Moure-Eraso over the IG‰??s oversight responsibilities in investigating whether CSB executives have violated agency employees‰?? rights. Elkins told the House of Representatives Oversight & Government Reform Committee last week that the use of private e-mail is a problem because those documents are not captured by CSB‰??s official record-keeping system. Elkins testified that CSB had largely complied with his demands for documents and information, a year after the original request. But CSB had not yet explained how it searched for documents, which would help verify that it had given the IG everything he asked for.
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Ralph Stuart
secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Secretary
Division of Chemical Health and Safety
American Chemical Society
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