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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: Mon, 8 Jun 2015 07:33:56 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 52A41617-2F58-40EF-AF1E-4A9C739B5F4A**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, June 8, 2015 at 7:33:44 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)
HAZMAT INCIDENT SHUTS DOWN ELGIN FIRE STATION NO. 1
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, injury, other_chemical, fire_extinguisher, carbon_tetrachloride
BLAST AT GODREJ CHEMICAL PLANT IN GUJARAT; 1 KILLED, 4 INJURED
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical
CHEMICAL POISONING KILLS FOUR SAUDI CHILDREN IN IRAN HOTEL
Tags: Iran, public, release, death, unknown_chemical
HAZMAT CREW CALLED TO AMMONIA SPILL IN XENIA
Tags: us_OH, transportation, release, injury, ammonia
CHEMICAL PLANT EXPLOSION IN LOUISIANA, EBOLA IN ATLANTA=FAKE STORIES SPREAD BY RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA
Tags: Russia, public, discovery, environmental
EXPLOSION CAUSES FIRE AT CHEMICAL PLANT IN PENNSYLVANIA
Tags: us_PA, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
CHEMICALS LAW REFORM BILL MOVES TOWARD FULL VOTE IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental
MERCURY SPILL ON GRAND FORKS SIDEWALK
Tags: us_ND, public, release, response, mercury
POISONOUS GAS CAUSES HOUSE EVACUATION
Tags: us_CT, public, release, response, chlorine, hydrochloric_acid
BIOSAFETY ON THE RISE
Tags: us_AZ, laboratory, follow-up, response
HAZMAT TEAM REMOVES UNKNOWN CHEMICALS FROM GORHAM STREET HOME
Tags: us_WI, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical, illegal
CHEMICAL SMELL THROUGHOUT ANNE ARUNDEL ATTRIBUTED TO TEMPERATURE INVERSION
Tags: us_MD, public, release, response, unknown_chemical
SMALL EXPLOSION LEADS TO CENTER GROVE POOL EVACUATION
Tags: us_IN, public, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
10 SENT TO HOSPITAL FROM CHEMICAL SPILL AT MRI FACILITY
Tags: us_NJ, public, release, injury, other_chemical
BIOLOGICAL LABS OPERATE SAFELY: OPPOSING VIEW
Tags: laboratory, follow-up, environmental
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HAZMAT INCIDENT SHUTS DOWN ELGIN FIRE STATION NO. 1
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, injury, other_chemical, fire_extinguisher, carbon_tetrachloride
The accidental discharge on Friday of an old and outdated fire extinguisher at Elgin Fire Station 1, 550 Summit St., left the station unusable over the weekend as hazardous materials crews cleaned the station, officials said.
Smoking materials cause of fire at St. Charles complex, officials say
The extinguisher, believed to be from the 1950s, was dropped off at the station at an unknown date and time and then was placed in the garbage, according to Battalion Chief Bryan McMahan. A firefighter decided to release pressure from the canister and did so in the station. The extinguisher, however, held carbon tetrachloride ‰?? a known carcinogen, McMahan said.
Exposure to the material poses health risks to humans. According to the Environmental Protection Agency website, the human symptoms of "acute (short-term) inhalation and oral exposures to carbon tetrachloride include headache, weakness, lethargy, nausea and vomiting. Acute exposures to higher levels and chronic (long-term) inhalation or oral exposure to carbon tetrachloride produces liver and kidney damage in humans.
"Studies in animals have shown that ingestion of carbon tetrachloride increases the risk of liver cancer," the EPA website states.
"The station was evacuated, and a hazardous materials crew has been in there for the last couple of days. We are hoping to get back in there tomorrow," McMahan said Sunday.
The firefighter who released the chemical and two other individuals were taken to Advocate Sherman Hospital for treatment, he said. All were released and returned to full duty, he said.
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BLAST AT GODREJ CHEMICAL PLANT IN GUJARAT; 1 KILLED, 4 INJURED
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical
One person was reportedly killed and four others injured in an explosion at a chemical factory in Gujarat's Bharuch district on Monday.
According to reports, the incident took place at a Godrej Industries plant in Valia.
Godrej India told Bloomberg TV India that the cause of explosion, which led to a fire, was being ascertained. The fire was controlled soon.
The injured were rushed to the nearest hospital. More details were awaited.
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CHEMICAL POISONING KILLS FOUR SAUDI CHILDREN IN IRAN HOTEL
Tags: Iran, public, release, death, unknown_chemical
Four Saudi children from Al-Qatif governorate died due to chemical poisoning in one of the hotels of the Iranian city of Mash‰??had while 18 others have been reported to be in a critical condition.
A source close to the family said the death cases were due to the leakage of a chemical substance into the room where the four children were staying. The chemical substance came through the central air-conditioning ducts.
The source said the family travelled to Mash‰??had last Friday to spend vacation. The poisoning occurred 48 hours after their arrival in Mash‰??had. The children who died are Haidar Ali Qassim, infant Hussein Ali Al-Awwami, Hassan Abulghani Al-Fakhr and a girl Deemah Abdulghani Al-Fakhr. The source confirmed that the father of two of the dead children Abdulghani Al-Fakhr, his wife and son Muhammad are in the Intensive Care Unit.
Meanwhile, Abdullah Al-Hamrani, acting Saudi consul general in Iran, said the consulate is in contact with the Iranian authorities to get the details of the incident. He said the consulate has opened a hot line with the hospital so as to communicate with the relatives of the patients to check on their health.
---------------------------------------------
HAZMAT CREW CALLED TO AMMONIA SPILL IN XENIA
Tags: us_OH, transportation, release, injury, ammonia
An ammonia tank being towed by a pickup truck overturned.
The tank may have leaked a small amount of liquid, but no one was reported hurt.
The tank was uprighted shortly after 7 p..m. and was to be loaded onto a truck. The area was expected to be reopened to traffic soon after that.
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CHEMICAL PLANT EXPLOSION IN LOUISIANA, EBOLA IN ATLANTA=FAKE STORIES SPREAD BY RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA
Tags: Russia, public, discovery, environmental
On the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Russia, is a propaganda machine that loves to make trouble for Americans and others.
About 400 people working for the Russian government generate phony news stories‰??some quite convincing‰??using social media sites. From inside a large warehouse, these writers and graphics specialists put together elaborate hoaxes to stir worry and perhaps even panic among Westerners.
Last year, residents of St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, started receiving text messages that a nearby chemical plant had released toxic fumes. Tweets describing an explosion also began to show up in Twitter feeds. The messages seemed authentic, using a company name similar to that of an actual facility. The text message cited Columbia Chemical, while Columbian Chemicals operates in the area.
The Louisiana chemical hoax ‰??was just one in a wave of similar attacks during the second half of last year,‰?? according to The New York Times Magazine.
---------------------------------------------
EXPLOSION CAUSES FIRE AT CHEMICAL PLANT IN PENNSYLVANIA
Tags: us_PA, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
JEFFERSON HILLS, Pa. (AP) ‰?? Firefighters have extinguished a fire at a chemical plant near Pittsburgh.
A spokesman for Allegheny County emergency dispatch says an explosion and fire were reported shortly before 11:30 p.m. Saturday at Eastman Chemical Resins in Jefferson Hills. He says a shelter-in-place order was issued for neighboring Elizabeth Borough, but it was lifted after officials decided air quality was acceptable and there was no danger to residents.
The fire was extinguished about two hours after it began. There were no injuries.
According to its website, Eastman Chemical Resins produces chemicals and resins for industrial use.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICALS LAW REFORM BILL MOVES TOWARD FULL VOTE IN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental
Lawmakers are one step closer to passing legislation this year that would modernize how commercial chemicals are managed in the U.S. Bipartisan legislation to overhaul the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act sailed through a key House of Representatives committee on June 3.
The bill‰??the TSCA Modernization Act of 2015 (H.R. 2576)‰??won near unanimous approval in the Energy & Commerce Committee. But several Democrats urged committee leaders to clear up ambiguities regarding how states may enforce their own chemical control laws before the bill is considered by the full House.
Democrats also raised concerns about a provision that would require the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate any chemical requested by a manufacturer. Such requests, they said, could tie up EPA‰??s resources, preventing the agency from reviewing the riskiest chemicals.
Both the chemical industry and most public health groups agree the bill would be a huge improvement over current law.
More than 150 trade groups, including the American Chemistry Council and other organizations representing chemical manufacturers, are urging the House to quickly pass the bill. ‰??H.R. 2576 represents another significant milestone in the growing momentum in the House and the Senate to enact meaningful TSCA reform legislation this year,‰?? says ACC CEO Calvin M. Dooley.
Some activist groups, however, claim that the bill falls short of what‰??s needed to ensure that everyday chemicals are safe. In a letter to committee leaders, a coalition of such groups warns that ‰??industry-initiated reviews will overwhelm‰?? EPA‰??s review program.
---------------------------------------------
MERCURY SPILL ON GRAND FORKS SIDEWALK
Tags: us_ND, public, release, response, mercury
The Grand Forks Fire Department Hazardous Materials (HazMat) team reported to a chemical spill on a sidewalk around 3:00pm on Thursday.
The reported spill happened at 926 N. 4th St.
The chemical was determined to be Mercury. The spill has been mitigated and there is no risk to the general public. However, after an investigation the Mercury may have been on the sidewalk since Tuesday.
The Grand Forks Public Health Department would like anyone who may have been in contact with the Mercury to call: 787-8100.
---------------------------------------------
POISONOUS GAS CAUSES HOUSE EVACUATION
Tags: us_CT, public, release, response, chlorine, hydrochloric_acid
A toxic gas released by combining the wrong household chemicals caused a house on Lewis Drive to be evacuated and a hazmat team to be called in Friday.
The fire department responded to 42 Lewis Drive after a report around 4:30 p.m. of a strong odor of chlorine.
‰??Evidently as part of the homeowner‰??s water treatment system there‰??s a tank that uses liquid chlorine,‰?? Fire Chief Kevin Tappe, who was the incident commander, said. ‰?? ‰?| Similar to like you‰??d use in a pool.‰??
There were three jugs that a worker at the house thought were all filled with the chlorine, but one was filled with muriatic acid. He poured the contents of the jugs into the system, located in the basement.
When the two chemicals combine, ‰??it gives off chlorine gas,‰?? Tappe said. ‰??‰?| It was dangerous in the beginning.‰??
The gas hit the handyman right away and it started to cause a burning sensation in his lungs, but Tappe said the man was fine. The homeowner opened doors and windows and called the department.
‰??We evacuated the area,‰?? Tappe said. Firefighters talked to the state DEEP and Chem Trec, a hotline for chemical emergencies, and determined a hazardous material team needed to be called in.
By the time the hazmat team arrived from Danbury, at around 8 p.m., the reaction had ceased. They tested with Ph paper. ‰??You probably know it as litmus paper,‰?? Tappe said.
---------------------------------------------
BIOSAFETY ON THE RISE
Tags: us_AZ, laboratory, follow-up, response
How to organize 10,000 tubes of anthrax, label them, track them and keep them safe.
It was a task that tripped up the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics at Northern Arizona University for almost a decade before federal regulators shut down the lab for three months and issued a $165,000 fine.
Since that 2010 shutdown, the university has passed all of its inspections. Now, with five clean years under its belt, lab director Paul Keim is ready to share what went wrong and how the university got itself back into compliance.
It‰??s a task that took months and more than $3 million, Keim said.
And although the lab‰??s top personnel kept quiet about the closure and the fine immediately after the incidents happened, Keim stressed his lab‰??s focus on transparency. It has been the only one, for example, to identify itself as being fined for violations of federal select agent and toxin regulations, he said.
The federal government doesn‰??t publicly name institutions it fines, and there have been many.
Keim would also like to put the university's violations in perspective.
‰??There were no biosafety concerns with our violations, no release, no one ever at risk of getting infected,‰?? Keim said. ‰??We just couldn't keep up with the paperwork compliance end of it.‰??
---------------------------------------------
HAZMAT TEAM REMOVES UNKNOWN CHEMICALS FROM GORHAM STREET HOME
Tags: us_WI, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical, illegal
MADISON, Wis. -
A number of chemicals were removed from a home on East Gorham Street and have been taken to a lab for testing, Madison police said.
Police received a complaint about a chemical odor coming from a residence in the 1000 block of East Gorham Street around 11:40 a.m., according to a news alert.
Madison Fire Department‰??s Hazardous Materials Incident Team, Dane County Narcotics Task Force and Wisconsin‰??s Division of Criminal Investigation searched the home and found a number of chemicals, officials said.
The chemicals have been taken to a lab for testing, but police said there was no imminent danger to residents in the area
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL SMELL THROUGHOUT ANNE ARUNDEL ATTRIBUTED TO TEMPERATURE INVERSION
Tags: us_MD, public, release, response, unknown_chemical
Anne Arundel firefighters are attributing a chemical smell reported throughout the county Friday to a scientific phenomenon known as "temperature inversion."
Around 2 p.m. Friday, firefighters responded to the 700 block of 202 Street in Pasadena for a reported fog with a chemical smell. While firefighters were on the scene investigating, the department received other reports as far south as Crownsville and as far north as Glen Burnie, fire department spokesman Lt. Eric Hammack said.
Firefighters determined the smell to be nonhazardous as the result of the meterological event.
---------------------------------------------
SMALL EXPLOSION LEADS TO CENTER GROVE POOL EVACUATION
Tags: us_IN, public, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) ‰?? Some residents were evacuated from a Center Grove area apartment complex Friday afternoon when a tank exploded at the apartment‰??s pool, White River Township Fire Department officials said.
No serious injuries were reported in conjunction with the small explosion at Devonshire Apartments.
As of just before 2 p.m., fire officials said a hazardous materials team was cleaning up the chemical and would have another hour or so of work to complete. The situation at that point was considered under control.
It wasn‰??t clear why the tank exploded, but there was no fire that accompanied it. Before fire crews arrived, someone put water on the chemical, which complicated the cleanup for the fire department.
---------------------------------------------
10 SENT TO HOSPITAL FROM CHEMICAL SPILL AT MRI FACILITY
Tags: us_NJ, public, release, injury, other_chemical
MANCHESTER ‰?? A chemical spill at a Manchester imaging facility sent 10 people, including two pregnant women, to the hospital Friday morning, authorities said.
The hazmat incident occurred at 9:40 a.m. at Shore Imaging on Route 70 after a glass container of nickel chloride hexahydrate was inappropriately placed in a freezer, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office. He said investigators learned the chemical, a gallon of liquid that must be kept at room temperature, released noxious fumes when it came in contact with air after the glass container cracked.
Eight adults and two children were taken to Community Medical Center in Toms River for evaluation for chemical exposure. Della Fave did not immediately know how many of those adults were employees of the facility.
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BIOLOGICAL LABS OPERATE SAFELY: OPPOSING VIEW
Tags: laboratory, follow-up, environmental
The American Biological Safety Association, a professional association dedicated to promoting and expanding biological safety expertise, would like to respond to several points in USA TODAY's biolab articles:
ANOTHER VIEW: Not all biolabs are the same
OUR VIEW: Separate biolab safety from security
‰?¢Many of the labs that the articles say work with "bioterror pathogens" are part of state public health laboratories that are essential for detecting public health threats such as tuberculosis and West Nile virus.
‰?¢Using terms such as "bioterror pathogen" only heightens the sensationalist tone of these articles. As we saw from last year's Ebola outbreak, the research being conducted at these laboratories is important in developing treatments and cures for diseases that can have global consequences.
The agents these labs research can often be found in nature (e.g., anthrax). According to regulations, the proper terminology for these organisms is "select agents and toxins." Most institutions have demonstrated a commitment to safety by hiring biosafety professionals to develop procedures to minimize or eliminate the risks of working with select agents.
‰?¢The articles cited "a discussion on the listserv of the American Biological Safety Association" as evidence that labs resist disclosing information. The ABSA listserv is available to anyone and does not represent ABSA's members or ABSA's official position. The listserv is simply a forum for professionals to ask questions and share information.
‰?¢As USA TODAY stated, there are "historically low numbers of serious infections among lab workers generally (and) infections spreading into communities surrounding labs have been rarer still." This is a testament to the efforts of hundreds of safety-conscious employees and to the safety protocols that are in place.
U.S. regulators and organizations such as ABSA are working to help make biological laboratories safer.
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