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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, 25 Mar 2015 05:10:32 -0600
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 492B4A0C-D2FD-4A16-8CE5-84C7E49DEE5D**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at 5:10:20 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 (14 articles)
US HEALTH AGENCY BLASTED OVER LAB SAFETY VIOLATIONS
Tags: laboratory, follow-up, response
REDDING FIRE: HONEY OIL LAB FIRES MORE PREVALENT
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, environmental, butane, drugs
BOMB INJURES LYNCHBURG COLLEGE GROUNDSKEEPER
Tags: us_VA, education, explosion, injury, bomb, cleaners
HAZMAT CREW RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL IN ROADWAY, FINDS PESTICIDES
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, pesticides
POLICE AND HAZMAT REPORT INCIDENT AT WARREN COUNTY COMPANY, TREATING 10 PEOPLE
Tags: us_NJ, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical
POLICE BOOTH SMASHED BY HAZMAT CARGO
Tags: Thailand, transportation, release, response, corrosives, phosphoric_acid
TRAIN IN TEXAS CARRYING METHANOL DERAILS, HAZMAT TEAM CALLED
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, methanol
SISTERS ALLEGEDLY CAUGHT OPERATING MOBILE METH LAB WHEN VEHICLE CAUGHT FIRE ON MORGAN CITY HIGHWAY
Tags: us_LA, public, fire, injury, meth_lab
BURNING PALLETS MAKE PEOPLE SICK IN WARREN COUNTY
Tags: us_PA, public, fire, response, unknown_chemical
CHEMICAL DRUM DISCOVERED IN NEW HOME
Tags: us_WI, public, discovery, response, sodium_cyanide
FATHER, SON INJURED IN ALLEGED DRUG LAB EXPLOSION
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, injury, butane, illegal, meth_lab
GREEN CHEMISTRY: THE NEXUS BLOG: DR. FRANCES AR...
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, discovery, response, biodiesel, drugs, metals
RAILROAD REOPENS, CHEMICAL SPILL CONTAINED AFTER DERAILMENT
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, flammables
10 YEARS LATER, TEXAS CITY EXPLOSION SERVES AS BENCHMARK
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, death, petroleum
---------------------------------------------
US HEALTH AGENCY BLASTED OVER LAB SAFETY VIOLATIONS
Tags: laboratory, follow-up, response
For the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2014 was a bad year. After a series of errors in which some agency employees were potentially exposed to anthrax and others accidentally shipped a dangerous strain of influenza virus to another lab, director Tom Frieden imposed reforms to improve safety practices. Nevertheless, the CDC, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia, reported last December that some of its lab workers had potentially been exposed to the Ebola virus.
The agency subsequently established an external committee to evaluate its biosafety practices. On 13 January, that panel issued a scathing report that was made public by the CDC on 16 March. Nature spoke to two of the report‰??s authors: Joseph Kanabrocki, a microbiologist at the University of Chicago in Illinois, and Kenneth Berns, a molecular geneticist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
---------------------------------------------
REDDING FIRE: HONEY OIL LAB FIRES MORE PREVALENT
Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, environmental, butane, drugs
EDDING, Calif. -
Almost a year later, apartments on Lawrence Road in Redding are still not livable after a butane honey oil lab exploded causing flames to destroy multiple apartments.
"The damage that was created within this unit was very significant," said Patrick O'Conner, a fire investigator with the Redding Fire Department.
O'Conner said the fire department is responding to more fires caused by butane honey oil labs than before.
"They are more prevalent specifically in Northern California and in the Northstate we see a lot of marijuana that's legal, where we wouldn't see it on the East Coast or the Midwest so, because it is legal you are going to see a more prevalent use of it," O'Conner said.
The danger is behind closed doors, O'Conner explained. Honey oil is made with butane, a highly explosive chemical that often ignites during the process.
---------------------------------------------
BOMB INJURES LYNCHBURG COLLEGE GROUNDSKEEPER
Tags: us_VA, education, explosion, injury, bomb, cleaners
A bomb made from tinfoil and drain cleaner in a Gatorade bottle caused minor injuries to a Lynchburg College groundskeeper Monday morning.
According to Bob Driskill, director of campus safety and security, the groundskeeper found the bottle during his morning cleanup duties in the 300 block of College Street and picked it up. As he was walking back to his truck, it exploded, Driskill said in an interview.
The college has determined the device was a ‰??works‰?? bomb.
‰??The chemical reaction between the Drain-o and the Tin Foil makes a volatile buildup of gases and subsequently detonates the bottle with a great amount of force,‰?? wrote Driskill in an email to the campus community. ‰??Once the detonation occurs, the chemical substance that is in the bottle is actually boiling liquid.
‰??The amount of force that is generated at the time of the explosion is enough to sever fingers and also delivers 2nd and 3rd degree chemical burns to the victim. The chemicals can possibly cause blindness and the toxic fumes can be harmful.‰??
Driskill said the chemical splashed the employee on his eyes, skin and clothing. After flushing out his eye at the campus health center and changing clothing, he returned to work later in the day, Driskill said.
---------------------------------------------
HAZMAT CREW RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL IN ROADWAY, FINDS PESTICIDES
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, pesticides
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - The Bakersfield Fire Department responded to a reported chemical spill at Ming Avenue and Grand Islands Drive just after 1 p.m. Tuesday.
When they arrived they found an approximately 100 ft. spill of an unknown chemical as a result of a hit and run accident.
Bakersfield Fire Hazardous Materials Crew obtained a sample of the chemical which later was positively identified as a pesticide.
They are working with the Kern County Ag Commissioner's Office to establish a cleanup plan.
Damage is estimated at $10,000 to the security gates.
---------------------------------------------
POLICE AND HAZMAT REPORT INCIDENT AT WARREN COUNTY COMPANY, TREATING 10 PEOPLE
Tags: us_NJ, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical
WASHINGTON TWP.‰??Following an undetermined incident, Washington Township Police and Warren County HAZMAT requested rehab units and basic life services ambulances for 10 people at a company headquarters on Route 31, according to radio reports.
A level one HAZMAT incident at the Witte Company, which designs and manufactures drying, cooling, screening and other process equipment, was also reported to the Warren County Public Safety website at 10:07 a.m.
A level one incident is described as a minor spill in work or lab area controlled and cleaned up by workers or lab personnel.
According to both Washington Township Police and Warren County HAZMAT, first responders were still on the scene by noon.
---------------------------------------------
POLICE BOOTH SMASHED BY HAZMAT CARGO
Tags: Thailand, transportation, release, response, corrosives, phosphoric_acid
A container full of corrosive liquid smashed into a police booth when a 10-wheeled truck overturned on Rama III Road in Bangkok Monday.
The driver of the container truck was the only injury in the 12.45pm accident in the Bang Phong Phang area of Yannawa district. Mubin Srisuwan, 48, from Roi Et had to be cut from the cab and rushed to a nearby hospital.
The truck carrying a six-metre-long container overturned and the payload was thrown onto the traffic-police booth manned by Bang Phong Phang station. Fortunately no officers were inside as they were changing shifts.
A corrosive liquid, believed to be a phosphoric acid solution, leaked on to the road surface creating noxious fumes. Police closed the road and a cleanup crew covered the liquid with sand and water.
---------------------------------------------
TRAIN IN TEXAS CARRYING METHANOL DERAILS, HAZMAT TEAM CALLED
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, methanol
VALLEY MILLS, Texas -- A dozen train cars, including five carrying methanol, derailed on Saturday near Valley Mills, Texas, sparking an evacuation and a hazardous materials team response.
No injuries or fires were reported and only one or two of the methanol-carrying tanks had leaks, according to Public Safety spokesman Trooper D.L. Wilson. Seven train cars were carrying oil well pipes.
About 10 homes within a thousand feet were evacuated after the accident that happened at about 5 p.m. Residents were allowed to return home at 9 p.m.
There was heavy rain during that time, but it is unclear what caused the derailment and an investigation is ongoing, according to Wilson. Safety vehicles struggled to reach the 70-car train accident due to the weather.
---------------------------------------------
SISTERS ALLEGEDLY CAUGHT OPERATING MOBILE METH LAB WHEN VEHICLE CAUGHT FIRE ON MORGAN CITY HIGHWAY
Tags: us_LA, public, fire, injury, meth_lab
A Morgan City-area woman was hospitalized and her sister arrested after a vehicle police say operated as a mobile meth lab caught fire, Morgan City police report.
Morgan City Police Department officers responded around 2 a.m. Monday (March 23) to the fire on an elevated stretch of U.S. 90, where the Morgan City Fire Department and a hazmat team helped extinguish the flames.
Evidence allegedly showed sisters Jewel Ross and Pearl Ross, both 31 and from Amelia, had been operating "a functioning clandestine laboratory used in production of methamphetamine."
Pearl Ross suffered severe burns and was airlifted to a hospital in Morgan City before she was transferred to a burn unit in Baton Rouge.
Jewel Ross refused medical treatment for minor burns. She was then booked into the MCPD jail on a charge of creating/operating a clandestine laboratory and given a bond of $100,000.
---------------------------------------------
BURNING PALLETS MAKE PEOPLE SICK IN WARREN COUNTY
Tags: us_PA, public, fire, response, unknown_chemical
About 15 people were being checked for respiratory problems after pallets burned at a business in Warren County Monday morning.
The pallets that caught fire quickly were extinguished, according to staff in the Warren County communications center.
But people complaining of respiratory issues are being checked. They apparently were exposed to smoke or fumes from that fire.
The pallets may have been impregnated with some unidentified chemical that caused the irritation.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL DRUM DISCOVERED IN NEW HOME
Tags: us_WI, public, discovery, response, sodium_cyanide
RACINE ‰?? Just three days after a resident moved into a new house, people working there found what appeared to be a toxic surprise they weren‰??t expecting.
They found what appeared to be a 30-gallon drum labeled sodium cyanide that was two-thirds full, said Racine Fire Battalion Chief Paul Madden.
As of Monday afternoon, Madden said they had not confirmed what was in the drum, but he did not believe it was sodium cyanide, which can be deadly when combined with water.
The Racine Fire Department‰??s hazmat team responded shortly after 11:15 a.m. Monday to the home in the 1300 block of Summit Avenue and police shut down the block where the chemical was found.
Madden said Monday afternoon the Fire Department had called in a cleanup crew to assist in the removal.
---------------------------------------------
FATHER, SON INJURED IN ALLEGED DRUG LAB EXPLOSION
Tags: us_CA, public, explosion, injury, butane, illegal, meth_lab
CITY OF SHASTA LAKE, Calif. -
An explosion rattles a City of Shasta Lake apartment complex. Sheriff‰??s deputies are tying it to illegal drug activity in one apartment.
Explosion sets fire to apartment complex
Shasta County Sheriff‰??s Deputies said loud blasts were heard around 4:45 Monday evening, coming from the apartment of Michael Miller, 39, and his 15-year-old son. Both men were injured when an alleged butane honey oil lab exploded inside a bedroom in their apartment.
According to Shasta Lake Fire Protection District officials, the father-son duo suffered moderate but non-life threatening injuries in the blast. Fire and drug investigators determined the cause of the fire was related to drug activity. Narcotics task force agents said the two were, ‰??possibly involved in the illegal conversion or extraction of concentrated cannabis using butane.‰??
---------------------------------------------
GREEN CHEMISTRY: THE NEXUS BLOG: DR. FRANCES AR...
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, discovery, response, biodiesel, drugs, metals
Catalysis, the process of reducing a reaction‰??s energy requirement through use of a catalyzing agent, is a standard design principle of green chemistry. Yet many of the catalysts that chemists use are made out of rare metals like platinum. Figuring out how to do catalysis without using unsustainable catalysts is a priority to green chemists and companies seeking to find better, more efficient, cheaper, and ecological pathways to produce their products. One inspiration for solving such a problem has been nature.
Enzymes, a type of protein, are nature‰??s catalysts, working within cells to speed up reactions of all kinds. For example, enzymes in our digestive tract help break down food so that we can more rapidly benefit from it. But how can enzymes help chemists? Well, what if enzymes could be manipulated to catalyze the industrial reactions industry performs, such as creating a drug molecule or biofuel?
Enter Dr. Frances Arnold, professor of chemical engineering, bioengineering and biochemistry at Caltech and director of the Donna and Benjamin M. Rosen Bioengineering Center. Arnold has developed a method of protein engineering called directed evolution. The basic process involves encouraging random mutations in the gene sequence for a protein of interest, such as an enzyme catalyst. The genes are introduced in bacteria or yeast, which produce the mutant enzymes. As the bacteria express the mutated genes, the resulting proteins are screened for favorable behaviors. Genes responsible for favorable traits are then extracted and reinserted into the next evolutionary round.
---------------------------------------------
RAILROAD REOPENS, CHEMICAL SPILL CONTAINED AFTER DERAILMENT
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, flammables
The section of track damaged by a 13-car derailment near Valley Mills on Saturday was scheduled to be reopened Sunday morning, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway spokesman Joe Faust said.
He said a flammable chemical spill from one of the cars had been contained, although crews were still working on the cleanup. The four families evacuated from their homes in a 1,000-foot radius of the accident were allowed to return to their homes Saturday. Early reports had said 10 families had been evacuated.
The 40-car train had been headed from Houston to Illinois when 13 cars left the track and overturned late Saturday afternoon. The cause of the derailment has not been reported.
---------------------------------------------
10 YEARS LATER, TEXAS CITY EXPLOSION SERVES AS BENCHMARK
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, death, petroleum
Ten years ago Monday, a hydrocarbon vapor cloud explosion tore through the Texas City oil refinery, killing 15 workers and injuring more than 100 others. Today, those affected have played a role in changing the way safety is viewed in the petroleum industry, an industry brimming with Aggies.
Texas A&M Regent Anthony Buzbee represented 165 clients who were injured in the explosion in cases against British Petroleum, the company that owned the refinery at the time.
‰??I think the industry learned a lot from the explosion,‰?? Buzbee said. ‰??I know from my involvement in other refinery accidents that the BP 2005 explosion has been studied by its competitors and those in the industry in an effort to learn from the disaster.‰??
Buzbee said he has seen change in the industry over the last decade, but said he still has doubts as to whether BP itself learned a lesson. He said BP admitted fault right away, but continued to challenge the severity of the workers‰?? injuries.
He said the explosion can be used as a lesson for all.
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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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