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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, July 13, 2015 at 6:14:57 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 (17 articles)
CHEMICAL-FREE SWIMMING POOL TO OPEN IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS
Tags: us_MN, public, discovery, environmental, pool_chemicals
THREE SENT TO HOSPITAL AFTER POOL CHEMICAL MISHAP
Tags: us_PA, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals
HOLLEY HOPES HOUSES LEFT VACANT AFTER DIAZ CHEMICAL ACCIDENT WILL GO UP FOR SALE SOON
Tags: us_NY, public, follow-up, environmental, unknown_chemical
MAN OVERCOME BY FUMES IN HAMPSHIRE HOLIDAY RESORT (FROM DAILY ECHO)
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, chlorine
FRESNO FAMILY EXPOSED TO MERCURY AFTER OPENING STORAGE CONTAINER
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, mercury
COSTCO EVACUATED FOR HAZMAT LEAK
Tags: us_WA, public, release, response, other_chemical
POSSIBLE CHEMICAL LEAK 'ALL CLEAR' IN PALM CITY
Tags: us_FL, industrial, release, response, nitric_acid
BLAST AT MSU CAUSED BY CHEMICAL REACTION, POLICE SAY
Tags: us_MI, laboratory, explosion, response, flammables
EASTMAN: ‰??MINOR FIRE‰?? IN COAL GAS OPERATIONS; NO INJURIES REPORTED
Tags: us_TN, industrial, explosion, environmental, carbon_monoxide, hydrogen_sulfide
INSECT LAB, RESEARCH TOOLS GUTTED IN RMRC MISHAP
Tags: laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical
MAN IN HOSPITAL AFTER DOWNTOWN CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: Canada, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical
SMALL AMOUNT OF CHEMICAL LEAKS AT PLANT IN INSTITUTE
Tags: us_WV, industrial, release, response, ethylene_oxide
FEDS FINE CHEMICAL COMPANY FOR LEAK THAT KILLED 4
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, death, thiols
WORKER HOSPITALIZED, RESIDENTS MOVED AFTER CHEMICAL REACTION AT HARTFORD SENIOR FACILITY
Tags: us_CT, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals
COURT ADJOURNS HEARING IN LABORATORY BLAST DEATH CASE
Tags: Qatar, laboratory, follow-up, death, petroleum
THREE HURT AFTER CHEMICAL REACTION RELEASES TOXIC FUMES IN LABORATORY (FROM OXFORD MAIL)
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical
CHEMICAL LEVELS IN AFFECTED WELL GROWING, BUT NO NEW WELLS DETECTED
Tags: us_TN, transportation, follow-up, environmental, acrylonitrile
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL-FREE SWIMMING POOL TO OPEN IN NORTH MINNEAPOLIS
Tags: us_MN, public, discovery, environmental, pool_chemicals
Building the first public natural swimming pool in North America proved challenging for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, but advocates say it will be worth the wait.
After two years of construction, the Park Board said Friday that the $6 million pool at Webber Park in North Minneapolis is set to open July 24 pending a final water quality inspection. Natural swimming pools aren‰??t treated with traditional pool chemicals and rely on a living ecosystem to treat the water.
On top of the usual construction headaches since breaking ground in 2013 ‰?? 7 feet of frost, a rainy summer season and cost increases ‰?? project staff couldn‰??t turn to their peers for advice.
While common in Europe, natural swimming pools in North America are usually set up for private, residential use and on a much smaller scale.
---------------------------------------------
THREE SENT TO HOSPITAL AFTER POOL CHEMICAL MISHAP
Tags: us_PA, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals
Middletown, P.a. ‰?? (WHTM)
Three people were sent to the hospital after authorities said they inhaled pool chemicals in Dauphin County.
Crews shut down E. Water St. in Middletown Saturday afternoon for a chemical incident at a home. Authorities said someone was mixing pool chemicals in the house when a bad reaction occurred causing three people to inhale the toxins. Officials said the people were sent to Penn State Hershey Medical Center for evaluation and treatment. Authorities believed the people were not badly harmed.
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HOLLEY HOPES HOUSES LEFT VACANT AFTER DIAZ CHEMICAL ACCIDENT WILL GO UP FOR SALE SOON
Tags: us_NY, public, follow-up, environmental, unknown_chemical
HOLLEY, N.Y. -- Thirteen years have passed since 75 gallons of chemicals filled the air of Holley, but the overgrown weeds now covering the former Diaz Chemical Corporation site don't overshadow memories of the accident.
‰??It was scary,‰?? said current Local Development Corporation President Daniel Schiavone. ‰??It was scary for a lot of people because this unknown chemical suddenly burst through a ruptured disc and sprayed all over the village.
"This aerosol settled out on people‰??s homes and people‰??s cars. I had to have my car repainted because it was so detrimental; brown little droplets over everything.‰??
For eight families living near the site, the fear of long-term health effects drove them out of their homes. The EPA took them over in 2005.
Schiavone said now the LDC, the village, and the EPA are coming close to agreement which would give them back to the LDC to sell. The proceeds would be split between the LDC and the EPA.
---------------------------------------------
MAN OVERCOME BY FUMES IN HAMPSHIRE HOLIDAY RESORT (FROM DAILY ECHO)
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, chlorine
TWENTY Five firefighters were called to a chemical leak at a Hampshire holiday resort.
Crews from four stations were called to the Sandy Balls resort in the New Forest at about 1.30pm after chlorine leaked from a pump linked to the swimming pool at the site.
One man was overcome by fumes as 50 litres of the chemical leaked out inside the pump room, but he was treated at the scene by paramedics and did not need to go to hospital.
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A 200-metre cordon was set up around the site as fire crews from Fordingbridge, Ringwood, Winchester and Redbridge used granules to absorb the chlorine.
---------------------------------------------
FRESNO FAMILY EXPOSED TO MERCURY AFTER OPENING STORAGE CONTAINER
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, mercury
RESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Authorities were dealing with a hazmat situation involving mercury exposure in Central Fresno on Saturday. Firefighters were called to an apartment complex on Brooks near McKinley avenues just before 3 p.m.
Crews say a family of four children and two adults opened up a storage container Friday night, which they bought several months ago. It included a clear container with silver liquid inside. The children started playing with that liquid, which turned out to be mercury.
"They opened it up, and as young kids do they started playing with this mercury that balled up and rolled around, and they didn't think much of it. I think someone told them they probably better not play with that anymore and call someone, so they did," said Battalion Chief Ron Stogdell with the Fresno Fire Department.
Mercury can be poisonous if the liquid is ingested, or if it heats up enough to release vapors that are inhaled.
Firefighters decontaminated the six family members at the scene. They were not showing any symptoms but were taken to the hospital as a precaution.
---------------------------------------------
COSTCO EVACUATED FOR HAZMAT LEAK
Tags: us_WA, public, release, response, other_chemical
RICHLAND, Wash. --Dozens of shoppers were forced to put down their groceries and leave Costco this afternoon. Firefighters say a hazardous material was leaking into the air.
A leak in the refrigerating system made the air in the store foggy.
Firefighters worked to fix the leak and make sure the air was safe to breathe.
Hundreds waited outside the store while firefighters worked with employees to secure the area.
"We've been working to isolate and protect the area and we've made contact with some refrigeration companies to help control the leak," said Captain Troy Stratford.
---------------------------------------------
POSSIBLE CHEMICAL LEAK 'ALL CLEAR' IN PALM CITY
Tags: us_FL, industrial, release, response, nitric_acid
UPDATE: Officials say the investigation revealed that nitric acid fumes were the cause. They came from storage tanks filled yesterday.
An employee saw yellow smoke from it the fumes this afternoon and pulled the alarm. Surrounding businesses were told to evacuate but they're now back open.
---------------------------------------------
BLAST AT MSU CAUSED BY CHEMICAL REACTION, POLICE SAY
Tags: us_MI, laboratory, explosion, response, flammables
Police say a chemical reaction caused a small explosion Friday at Michigan State University that forced the evacuation Friday of rooms surrounding a laboratory in Giltner Hall.
An unsealed container of isopentane in a refrigerator caused the chemical reaction. The chemical is used in laboratories with liquid nitrogen to flash freeze biological samples. It is often used in cosmetics, including shaving gel, some toothpastes and body wash.
‰??A spark caused an explosion of the flammable vapor,‰?? police wrote in a statement Friday. ‰??The force was large enough to blow off the door to the refrigerator and break the windows more than 20 feet away.‰??
No one was in the room when the blast occurred around 10:45 a.m., Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said. No injuries have been reported.
‰??It was a small explosion that was isolated to one room,‰?? McGlothian-Taylor said. ‰??Only the surrounding rooms were evacuated.‰??
Damage to the room includes two broken windows, she said.
---------------------------------------------
EASTMAN: ‰??MINOR FIRE‰?? IN COAL GAS OPERATIONS; NO INJURIES REPORTED
Tags: us_TN, industrial, explosion, environmental, carbon_monoxide, hydrogen_sulfide
KINGSPORT, TN (WJHL) ‰?? An Eastman Chemical Company spokesperson confirmed there was an equipment failure in the coal gas operations Thursday around 11 a.m.
Eastman‰??s Corporate of Communications Director Betty Payne said the equipment failure led to a quick depressurization of a gasifier and a minor fire occurred in the immediate area.
According to a National Response Center report, hydrogen sulfide ‰?? a flammable gas that is listed as extremely hazardous ‰?? and carbon monoxide were released in the incident.
The response center reportedly received a call around 12:15 p.m. from Eastman saying that a line ruptured on a processing unit and released a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide into the air. Eastman told News Channel 11 that no injuries were reported and there is no threat to human health or the environment.
News Channel 11 spoke with a man who says he saw the entire incident. Lee Cowan says he was fishing today when he heard steam blowing off. He told us that he worked at Eastman for 32 years and knew something bad was going to happen. He says he heard an explosion and looked up and saw black smoke and fire.
---------------------------------------------
INSECT LAB, RESEARCH TOOLS GUTTED IN RMRC MISHAP
Tags: laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical
BHUBANESWAR: Laboratory equipment worth about `one crore were gutted and a critical insectarium was damaged after fire broke out at the Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC) here on Friday afternoon.
The fire, which is believed to have started from an air-conditioner, was noticed late by the RMRC staff. A researcher spotted the fumes and alerted the management but, by then, the fire had engulfed two rooms on the first floor of the research centre.
Sources in the Fire Services Wing said, the fire started at the Entomology Lab where expensive research equipment were stationed. Soon after, the smoke entered the insectarium located right in front of the lab.
The insectarium housed various species of mosquitoes and other vectors which are used for research. The toxic smoke is believed to have snuffed out the lives of the insects and likely to hit the research work seriously.
The fire was reported at about 2.20 pm when most of the staff were away for lunch. After the researcher raised an alert, the panic-struck staff dialled 100 - the emergency number for police control room - instead of calling the fire services. A PCR van reached the premises and advised them to inform the fire-fighters. By the time, the fire services wing was intimated, it was late.
---------------------------------------------
MAN IN HOSPITAL AFTER DOWNTOWN CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: Canada, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical
A lab technician is in serious but stable condition in hospital after exposure to an unknown chemical at a downtown Toronto lab late Thursday night.
Police say that the 55-year-old man was working alone in a lab at 700 Bay St., in the Bay St. and Gerard St. W. area, when he was exposed to some sort of chemical.
Emergency crews were called to the lab just before 10:30 p.m. The road outside was closed for several hours, reopening early Friday morning.
Police say that the hazard has been contained, but the building is still shut down as the source of the chemical hazard ‰?? likely some sort of gas ‰?? is determined.
No one else was exposed to the substance.
---------------------------------------------
SMALL AMOUNT OF CHEMICAL LEAKS AT PLANT IN INSTITUTE
Tags: us_WV, industrial, release, response, ethylene_oxide
INSTITUTE, W.Va. (AP) ‰?? A Kanawha County emergency official says a small amount of ethylene oxide leaked at Bayer CropScience's plant in Institute.
C.W. Sigman with Kanawha County Emergency Management tells media outlets that the leak was reported around 8 a.m. Thursday.
Sigman says the leak was contained to the plant and doesn't affect the public.
He says Bayer CropScience crews responded to the leak.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration says ethylene oxide is primarily used in the production of ethylene glycol and other industrial chemicals. The chemical is flammable. Exposure could result in respiratory irritation and lung injury, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, shortness of breath, and cyanosis.
---------------------------------------------
FEDS FINE CHEMICAL COMPANY FOR LEAK THAT KILLED 4
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, death, thiols
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) slapped DuPont Co. Thursday with a second fine for a November 2014 chemical leak that killed four workers.
OSHA has proposed a $273,000 fine for the leak of 20,000 lbs. of methyl mercaptan at a chemical manufacturing plant in Texas, accusing the company of various willful, serious and repeat violations of worker protection laws.
The Thursday announcement came just over a month after OSHA hit DuPont with a $99,000 fine over the same incident at the La Porte plant, citing different violations.
‰??DuPont promotes itself as having a ‰??world-class safety‰?? culture and even markets its safety expertise to other employers, but these four preventable workplace deaths and the very serious hazards we uncovered at this facility are evidence of a failed safety program,‰?? David Michaels, assistant secretary for occupational safety and health at the Labor Department, said in a statement.
‰??I hope that our continued scrutiny into this facility and into working conditions at other DuPont plants will mean no family ever suffers this loss again,‰?? he said.
In the November 2014 incident, a worker was overcome by the methyl mercaptan, leading three other workers to come to his rescue. All four died of asphyxiation from inhaling the gas.
OSHA has also placed DuPont in its ‰??Severe Violator Enforcement Program,‰?? which will subject it to more rigorous inspections of worker safety details.
---------------------------------------------
WORKER HOSPITALIZED, RESIDENTS MOVED AFTER CHEMICAL REACTION AT HARTFORD SENIOR FACILITY
Tags: us_CT, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals
A maintenance worker was taken to the hospital and authorities evacuated two dozen residents of a Hartford senior living community after a mix of pool chemicals caused a reaction Thursday morning.
The chief executive officer of the Avery Heights senior living center at 705 New Britain Avenue said the company recently changed pool chemical vendors, which caused some confusion.
A maintenance worker mixed the wrong combination of substances as a result, which caused a reaction. Hartford firefighters said he inhaled the chemicals and was taken to Hartford Hospital for a medical evaluation. The worker showed symptoms but was alert when he got into the ambulance.
Meanwhile, 25 Avery Heights residents were moved to another part of the building.
---------------------------------------------
COURT ADJOURNS HEARING IN LABORATORY BLAST DEATH CASE
Tags: Qatar, laboratory, follow-up, death, petroleum
A Doha Criminal Court has adjourned to Oct 25, the hearing of the case about an explosion in the laboratory of the branch campus of a foreign university killing one person, local Arabic daily Arrayah reported yesterday.
The explosion of an apparatus, which simulate the work of machines that separate gas from petroleum through air and water, resulted in the death of an Egyptian expatriate lab co-ordinator at Texas A&M University at Qatar.
The court heard the testimony of a number of witnesses.
One witness, who works at the university said that when the explosion took place, the lab in-charge came and calmed the other staff at the scene. Thereafter, he called the police. The witness confirmed that the apparatus was locally-manufactured in the Industrial Area and was subject to very high pressure. The other witness, an expert in the forensic lab, said the apparatus was subject to cold mechanical explosion.
He added that when he reviewed the emails of the victim with the manufacturer of the apparatus, he came across exchanges about cracks that needed repair.
The machine was however tested by the manufacturing company and installed in the lab.
Another email showed that the company tested the apparatus a day before the incident for potential leaks and a non-standard material was applied on it, to stop leaks between its joints. Yet, the machine was exposed to high pressure that led to its explosion, the daily added.
---------------------------------------------
THREE HURT AFTER CHEMICAL REACTION RELEASES TOXIC FUMES IN LABORATORY (FROM OXFORD MAIL)
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical
THREE people were injured when a chemical reaction released toxic fumes into a laboratory.
The alarm was raised at 2.30pm on Tuesday and emergency services rushed to Oxford Science Park to find a chemical reaction had released dangerous fumes into Oxford Nanopore Technology‰??s offices.
Fire crews from Oxford, Kidlington and Abingdon made the area safe and began an emergency clean up operation while police cordoned off the offices at Edmund Cartwright House in Robert Robinson Avenue.
A total of 35 firefighters wearing gas-tight protective suits and using specialist hazardous materials equipment spent nearly nine hours dealing with the incident.
The toxic fumes were believed to have been released after an accident involving an acid and alcohol.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL LEVELS IN AFFECTED WELL GROWING, BUT NO NEW WELLS DETECTED
Tags: us_TN, transportation, follow-up, environmental, acrylonitrile
(WBIR-Maryville) Officials continue to test wells in the area of a CSX train derailment and chemical fire a week ago in Blount County.
So far, there have been 103 requests to test and monitor wells in the area of concern. Results for 81 of those have been returned, with no further detections of the chemical acrylonitrile.
However, the levels of acrylonitrile in a well closest to the derailment site continue to grow.
"CSX and TDEC continue to aggressively sample and monitor the area. Samples are being tested as quickly as possible and results will be shared as they are confirmed," according to a joint press release from officials in Blount County, Alcoa, and Maryville.
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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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