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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 (10 articles)
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2015 07:00:08 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: B3326EB6-F805-42FB-B345-F461B6CE559E**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, April 24, 2015 at 6:59:55 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 (10 articles)
FORMER UC DAVIS CHEMIST ORDERED TO PAY RESTITUTION FOR 2013 APARTMENT EXPLOSION
Tags: us_CA, public, follow-up, injury, explosives, illegal, waste
LAREDO FIRE DEPARTMENT ON THE SCENE OF POTENTIAL HAZMAT SPILL
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, pesticides
DE-ICER CAUSED THIS CAR TO EXPLODE AND BURN A WOMAN INSIDE
Tags: us_WA, public, fire, injury, other_chemical
MOSAIC WORKER BURNED AFTER FALLING INTO 170-DEGREE ACID
Tags: us_FL, industrial, release, injury, phosphoric_acid
CHINESE OFFICIALS BLAME CHEMICAL PLANT BOSSES FOR EXPLOSION
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, injury, xylene
LANES NOW CLEAR AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL IN BELLAIRE
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, flammables
CHEMICAL MISHAP KILLED HUNDREDS OF FISH AS TEXAS STATE AQUARIUM
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, environmental, other_chemical, drugs
FIRE, HAZMAT CREWS KEEP LARGE GASOLINE SPILL OUT OF LAKE ARLINGTON
Tags: us_IL, public, release, environmental, gasoline
GEORGIA TECH LAB EXPLOSION
Tags: us_GA, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
BLOWN HEATER CAUSES EXPLOSION AT BAYTOWN PLANT
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, injury, ethylene_glycol
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FORMER UC DAVIS CHEMIST ORDERED TO PAY RESTITUTION FOR 2013 APARTMENT EXPLOSION
Tags: us_CA, public, follow-up, injury, explosives, illegal, waste
Former University of California, Davis, chemist David S. Snyder must pay nearly $100,000 in restitution to the university and a property management company as a result of a 2013 incident in his campus apartment.
The restitution deal concludes legal proceedings against Snyder that involved 17 felony charges, including possession of explosives and firearms and reckless disposal of hazardous waste. He pleaded no contest to the charges last year and was sentenced to two years and two months in county jail plus two years and two months out of jail under supervision by the county probation department.
Snyder received both of his chemistry degrees, a bachelor‰??s in 2004 and a Ph.D. in 2011, from UC Davis. He was working on a temporary research appointment at the time of the incident, UC Davis said in a 2013 press release. Snyder worked for UC Davis chemistry professor Mark J. Kurth on medicinal chemistry research.
Snyder injured his left hand in the Jan. 17, 2013, incident. Details of his injury were not revealed during court proceedings.
The chemist was doing a small-scale experiment in his apartment to work out a more efficient way to remove nitrate from water, says his attorney, Linda Parisi.
---------------------------------------------
LAREDO FIRE DEPARTMENT ON THE SCENE OF POTENTIAL HAZMAT SPILL
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, pesticides
LAREDO, TEXAS (KGNS) - The Laredo Fire Department has identified the industrial chemical that spilled, causing several traffic delays in North Laredo.
The department says a truck that was carrying gallons of Cyclohexylamine fell off the truck in the 8400 block of Killam Industrial Blvd off Mines Road.
It's used in insecticides, dry cleaning soaps and rubber chemicals among other things.
The chemical is moderately toxic and can cause skin irritation, but the department says no one came in direct contact with it.
The Laredo Police Department was out on the scene directing traffic.
There were no reports of injuries and there's no word how the gallons fell off the truck.
---------------------------------------------
DE-ICER CAUSED THIS CAR TO EXPLODE AND BURN A WOMAN INSIDE
Tags: us_WA, public, fire, injury, other_chemical
On April 11, Matison Long, of Olympia, WA, went out to her car with a friend to enjoy her lunch. To give herself more leg room, she pushed the driver's seat all the way back. She never expected that moving the chair would cause her car to burst into flames.
As Long got comfortable, she unknowingly pressed the seat into a bottle of de-icer she had forgotten was in her car. Long said, "It was literally like a pop, like a helium balloon popping, and then it was silence. There was nothing for maybe 30 seconds." Reportedly, the electrical wiring of the power chair, combined with the liquid from the punctured chemical bottle, caused a fire to break out.
The 21-year-old quickly noticed that her own arms were ablaze, and she jumped out of the vehicle to quash the flames. "I did stop, drop and roll for maybe 30 seconds and then I got up," she said. Long looked down at her arms and body and could tell that she was severely burned, so she called 911. Shortly after, she was flown to Harborview Medical Center at the University of Washington in Seattle to be treated.
---------------------------------------------
MOSAIC WORKER BURNED AFTER FALLING INTO 170-DEGREE ACID
Tags: us_FL, industrial, release, injury, phosphoric_acid
A worker fell into a tank of 170-degree phosphoric acid and sustained thermal burns over much of his body at the Mosaic fertilizer plant in Riverview early Wednesday, officials said.
The worker, who has not been identified by authorities, was transported to Tampa General Hospital for treatment. ‰??His family has expressed to us that he is doing fine,‰?? Mosaic spokesman Richard Ghent said.
The man accidently fell into a 12-by-12-foot seal tank being prepared for cleaning about 3:30 a.m., Ghent said. The job involved walking along the edge of the tank, Ghent said.
Other employees saw the man fall and activated the facility‰??s ‰??emergency response system,‰?? said Robert Fredere, general manager of the plant. The man was immediately extracted from the tank, the acid was washed off and 911 was called, Fredere said.
Fredere told reporters that the incident was under investigation and that safety meetings were slated for employees to review procedures.
‰??This is not a normal business event for Mosaic,‰?? Ghent said.
Phosphoric acid, a preparation of sulfuric acid and phosphate rock, is used in the production of fertilizer, Ghent said.
---------------------------------------------
CHINESE OFFICIALS BLAME CHEMICAL PLANT BOSSES FOR EXPLOSION
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, injury, xylene
China's work safety watchdog on Wednesday blamed an explosion at a chemical plant in southeast China this month on the factory's management and failings in local government supervision.
The April 6 blast and ensuing hydrocarbon fire at the paraxylene plant in Fujian province left six people hospitalized and renewed discussion on China's social media about the potential dangers of factories that produce the toxic chemical.
Huang Yi, spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety, told reporters Wednesday that the bosses of the Goure PX Plant chose the cheapest bidder to build the facility at the expense of safety. He said a furnace was too close to storage tanks, so when unspecified materials leaked into the furnace because of a broken tube, the blast tore into a tank and caused the fire.
Huang also said that the company and local government had failed to adequately carry out safety management and supervision, and that those responsible would be dealt with according to law.
---------------------------------------------
LANES NOW CLEAR AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL IN BELLAIRE
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, flammables
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- All main lanes on the Southwest Freeway are now open after a flammable chemical spill last night, but drivers heading inbound on the Southwest Freeway dealt with a major traffic problem Tuesday night.
Around 5pm, drivers honked to alert the driver of an 18-wheeler traveling northbound on 59 that his load was leaking.
The truck stopped near Bellaire and eventually all lanes of the Southwest Freeway northbound were shut down. A Houston Fire Department HazMat team responded.
Crews say they were dealing with three 55-gallon drums of Trimethylbenzene, a highly flammable substance that could be explosive and requires an evacuation of about 1,000 meters.
No one was hurt, though traffic inched through on one lane of the feeder road.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL MISHAP KILLED HUNDREDS OF FISH AS TEXAS STATE AQUARIUM
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, environmental, other_chemical, drugs
(Reuters) - Hundreds of fish were killed at the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi after an industrial chemical was mistakenly introduced to a huge tank instead of a drug commonly used to kill worms and lice in fish, the aquarium said on Tuesday.
Some rare species were among 389 fish killed on April 14, said officials at the tourist attraction and conservator of sea life from the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. Only two fish survived.
About 13 percent of its entire collection was killed, including a sand tiger shark and hundreds of fish in its 125,000-gallon (473,000-liter) Islands of Steel and 40,000-gallon (151,000-liter) Flower Gardens exhibits, the aquarium said.
Aquarium President Tom Schmid said fish began dying after employees introduced what they thought was a low dose of a drug used to kill parasites in fish.
Tests showed that a mislabeled container held an industrial chemical commonly used in film processing and in paint and fuel that is a poison and carcinogen, Schmid said.
---------------------------------------------
FIRE, HAZMAT CREWS KEEP LARGE GASOLINE SPILL OUT OF LAKE ARLINGTON
Tags: us_IL, public, release, environmental, gasoline
Gasoline from a large spill at an Arlington Heights gas station early this morning leaked into nearby McDonald Creek, but firefighters and hazardous materials crews managed to prevent it from spreading downstream to Lake Arlington, an official said.
Authorities blamed the spill on a pump left running overnight at the Citgo gas station at Palatine Road and Windsor Drive, on the village's northeast side.
A passer-by spotted the leak shortly before 5:45 a.m., Arlington Heights Deputy Fire Chief Pete Ahlman said.
"He hit the emergency shut off to stop the leak, which was very helpful," Ahlman said.
It was not known how long the pump had been running, but preliminary estimates indicate as much as 80 gallons of gasoline poured out of the pump before it was turned off, Ahlman said. The cause of the spill remains undetermined, and Arlington Heights police had not been called to investigate whether something criminal occurred.
---------------------------------------------
GEORGIA TECH LAB EXPLOSION
Tags: us_GA, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
ATLANTA (AP) ‰?? A laboratory explosion at Georgia Tech caused authorities to evacuate a building at the Atlanta campus.
WSB-TV reports a small explosion occurred one of the labs in the building Tuesday afternoon. Georgia Tech officials say no one was injured.
Atlanta firefighters emptied the lab building for a short time but it soon reopened as the fire department continued to assess the blast. It was not immediately known what caused the explosion.
---------------------------------------------
BLOWN HEATER CAUSES EXPLOSION AT BAYTOWN PLANT
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, injury, ethylene_glycol
BAYTOWN, Texas - Firefighters say a blown heater caused a chemical fire at the Southern Metal Processing plant Monday night.
According to the Baytown Fire Department, crews have been out at the scene all night spraying down the flames with water and a special dry suppressant. However, the chemical that spilled, diethylene glycol, self-ignites like trick birthday candles.
Diethylene glycol is a cleaning agent used on filters in the chemical industry.
Investigators said two workers were inside the plant when the fire started but are OK. No other injuries or evacuations were reported.
Most of the damage seemed to be limited to a section of pipes at that plant.
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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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