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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 (9 articles)
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2015 07:39:02 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 6A4C0E1B-242E-4F61-B7EF-E02B7C3DD745**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, November 16, 2015 at 7:38:46 AM
A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__pinboard.in_u-3Adchas&d=BQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=JmDROz2gcwtDniJoZTChT3Vpfoh_ltTmwybIUKNHJgk&s=TvI2jKu93lJp-uFkl4fb93tz7Eg__7QBGwHqmLqEtzs&e=
Table of Contents (9 articles)
CO2 LEVELS APPROACHING 400 PPM, GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC GROUP REPORTS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, carbon_dioxide, methane
ROCK COUNTY RAILS FREE OF CRUDE OIL, BUT NOT OTHER HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Tags: us_WI, transportation, discovery, environmental, toxics
CREWS WORKING TO CONTAIN LARGE FUEL SPILL IN BIRMINGHAM
Tags: us_AL, transportation, release, response, petroleum
SOME 3-D-PRINTED PARTS MAY LEACH TOXIC CHEMICALS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, unknown_chemical
FAIRFAX COUNTY SCHOOLS CHANGE OPEN FLAME POLICY AFTER FIRE
Tags: us_VA, laboratory, follow-up, injury, flammables, methanol
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY BUILDING EVACUATED DUE TO CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_OH, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
IIT STUDENT INJURED AS BEAKER WITH NITRIC ACID EXPLODES IN LABORATORY
Tags: India, laboratory, explosion, injury, nitric_acid
CARSON CITY CHEMICAL FIRE FORCES PRECAUTIONARY EVACUATIONS
Tags: us_NV, industrial, fire, response, acids, metals
HAZMAT TEAMS INVESTIGATE MANCHESTER PROPANE LEAK
Tags: us_VT, transportation, release, injury, propane
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CO2 LEVELS APPROACHING 400 PPM, GLOBAL SCIENTIFIC GROUP REPORTS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, carbon_dioxide, methane
Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to break records, with global average carbon dioxide concentrations reaching 397.7 parts per million in 2014, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says.
The annual average carbon dioxide concentration worldwide is approaching 400 parts per million.
‰??We will soon be living with globally averaged CO2 levels above 400 ppm as a permanent reality,‰?? says WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.
Two other key greenhouse gases also set records in 2014. Methane levels were 1,833 parts per billion and concentrations of nitrous oxide reached 327 ppb, says WMO, the United Nations agency considered the world‰??s scientific authority on Earth‰??s atmosphere.
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ROCK COUNTY RAILS FREE OF CRUDE OIL, BUT NOT OTHER HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Tags: us_WI, transportation, discovery, environmental, toxics
JANESVILLE‰??In the Janesville area, public safety officials estimate hundreds of businesses and farms store enough volatile or toxic chemicals to require them to register under state and local hazardous materials response plans.
At some point, nearly all of those chemicals arrive in one of two ways: along highways in semitrailer tank trucks or via railroad freight shipment in pill-shaped tank cars.
Railroad companies say that nationwide more than 99 percent of hazardous shipments make their destination without incident, which they say makes the industry the safest way to transport dangerous freight.
Still, about 1 percent of hazardous shipments don't arrive without a problem.
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CREWS WORKING TO CONTAIN LARGE FUEL SPILL IN BIRMINGHAM
Tags: us_AL, transportation, release, response, petroleum
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) ‰?? Hazmat personnel are working to contain a large fuel spill Saturday evening in southwest Birmingham.
The accident happened near the 2300 block of Nabors Road. The fuel truck was carrying a full load, about 8000 gallons according to fire officials, when it overturned. There are 5 compartments in the tank, and fuel is leaking from the largest of the 5 compartments, which contains about 2500 gallons. About 1000 gallons have already spilled, and crews have been able to keep the fuel from spilling into a nearby creek.
The driver of the truck was not seriously injured. Fire officials say they will be on the scene throughout the evening cleaning up the spill.
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SOME 3-D-PRINTED PARTS MAY LEACH TOXIC CHEMICALS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, unknown_chemical
The three-dimensional printing craze has attracted hobbyists and researchers alike, making it easy to fabricate stuff from footwear to molecular models. As the technology becomes cheaper and more popular, however, researchers are investigating potential hazards of these products to people and the environment. A new study shows that parts made by a common 3-D printing method are toxic to zebrafish, a model organism often used to predict toxicological effects on humans (Environ. Sci. Tech. Lett. 2015, DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.5b00249).
Last year, Shirin Mesbah Oskui, a graduate student at the University of California, Riverside, 3-D printed a small part for a research project involving zebrafish. When she exposed zebrafish to the part, the fish didn‰??t develop normal coloring, and within a week, most of them died.
To investigate, she and colleagues, including her research adviser, William H. Grover, designed experiments to expose zebrafish embryos to half-dollar-sized disks 3-D printed with two common methods: stereolithography and fused deposition modeling.
Zebrafish exposed to disks printed with stereolithography lacked normal coloring, showed abnormal swelling, and died within a week, similarly to Oskui‰??s initial observations. In contrast, fish exposed to disks printed with fused deposition modeling mostly developed and survived similarly to controls
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FAIRFAX COUNTY SCHOOLS CHANGE OPEN FLAME POLICY AFTER FIRE
Tags: us_VA, laboratory, follow-up, injury, flammables, methanol
Fairfax County public schools suspended the use of open flames in science classrooms following a fire at Woodson High School that started with a chemistry demonstration and resulted in injuries to six people.
‰??The safety of our students and staff is always a top priority in all of our schools,‰?? FCPS Superintendent Karen Garza said in a Nov. 2 email to parents of all students.
Garza directed that schools conduct a thorough review of science curriculum and of the guidance currently being given to science teachers to ‰??ensure all concepts are taught in the safest possible manner and setting‰??. In addition, she required that all high school science teachers undergo science safety updates that they must complete by the end of the semester.
In the email, Garza also said that families of all the students injured in the Woodson fire reported that their children are in ‰??good spirits.‰??
These announcements come after a fire that ignited around 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 30 at Woodson in Fairfax, Va., and injured five students and one teacher.
Two of the students had serious injuries and were immediately transported to the MedStar Washington Hospital burn center in Washington, D.C. Their injuries were not life-threatening, according to Fire Chief Richard Bowers, who responded to the emergency with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department. One of the students has since been released from the hospital.
The other three students were taken to a hospital near Woodson after suffering burns from exposure to fire products. They all returned to school when it resumed Nov. 4.
The injured teacher was treated on-site at the time of the incident.
Woodson principal Scott Poole and FCPS communication and community relations public information officer John Torre declined to comment on the specific nature of the incident, because the Fire and Rescue Department‰??s investigation is ongoing with no concrete timeline yet set for completion.
However, according to a report by NBC4, the fire could have been started by a demonstration called ‰??the rainbow experiment‰??, which illustrates how different mineral salts produce flames of different colors when mixed with methanol, a highly flammable chemical.
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CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY BUILDING EVACUATED DUE TO CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_OH, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical
CLEVELAND - Case Western Reserve University evacuated the Kent Hale Smith building on Friday due to a chemical spill.
The building on Adelbert Road was evacuated around 4:19 p.m.
HAZMAT has been called to the scene. Cleveland Fire and Cleveland police are already at the scene.
Case Western said one chemistry lab is not accessible.
No injuries have been reported. Students have been allowed back into the building.
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IIT STUDENT INJURED AS BEAKER WITH NITRIC ACID EXPLODES IN LABORATORY
Tags: India, laboratory, explosion, injury, nitric_acid
CHENNAI:A student of the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras was severely injured as a beaker containing Nitric Acid exploded in the micro electronics lab on Thursday afternoon.
Though the student was wearing safety apparel, the intensity of the explosion was so heavy that the broken glass pieces penetrated the apron requiring her to be operated immediately.
Shelly Agarwal, a post graduate Electrical Engineering student from Odisha was cleaning silicon wafers using concentrated Nitric Acid at the Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) lab as a part of her micro pumps fabrication project.
During this cleaning procedure, she met with the accident and lab assistants, other students working in neighbouring rooms in the same lab rushed to her rescue within seconds. ‰??We entered the room hearing a loud noise and realised that it was an explosion. But, we were surprised that she was standing without shouting, calling out for help,‰?? Noyal, another student, who first rushed to the accident spot, told Express. The assistants and students cleared the place with 50 to 60 litres of water and rushed Shelly to the Institute hospital where first aid was given without any delay, he added. From there, she was taken to a leading private hospital and operated upon to remove the broken glass pieces which had pierced into her body at multiple spots between neck and hip besides causing cuts in the abdomen. According to Shelly‰??s friends, the shutter of the fume pot used to store the chemicals was half closed, resulting in the damage to her. Her parents were informed about the !
accident by the IIT management and they reached Chennai on Friday. Her friends who were with the parents at the hospital last night said doctors informed that Shelly was stable and recovering now.
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CARSON CITY CHEMICAL FIRE FORCES PRECAUTIONARY EVACUATIONS
Tags: us_NV, industrial, fire, response, acids, metals
A chemical fire Friday in north Carson City forced emergency personnel to evacuate residential areas within a 1.5 mile radius
Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said the blaze began around 9:30 a.m. at PSS Structurals on Lockheed Way.
"That fire was deemed to be a chemical fire due to acids inside that were burning,‰?? he said. ‰??The fire department did order evacuations to the area and cautionary messages went out on our alert system to the surrounding area of up to 1.5 miles.‰??
Furlong said the residential evacuations around the zone were precautionary to ensure residents did not inhale any of the chemicals used for refining metal parts. The zone was lifted around 1:45 p.m. and residents were permitted to return.
No injuries were reported and firefighters from Tahoe-Douglas, Douglas-Carson, Reno, Story and Lyon departments all pitched in, Furlong said.
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HAZMAT TEAMS INVESTIGATE MANCHESTER PROPANE LEAK
Tags: us_VT, transportation, release, injury, propane
MANCHESTER, Vt. -
Vermont hazmat teams are taking a closer look at that big propane leak in Manchester.
A cloud of propane wafted up from the intersection of Depot Street and Taconic Business Park Road Thursday.
Manchester's fire chief says the leak was caused by human error. A driver of a Suburban propane truck may have left the valve open, so when a second truck driver came to fill up, he noticed a leak. The second driver shut the valve off, but suffered bad burns on his arms and legs. Authorities say he was transported to Burlington's burn unit.
"I hope the guy is going to be OK from the injuries that he sustained from trying to shut the valve off," said Chris Towslee of the Manchester fire department.
Manchester fire officials say as bad as the situation was, they were lucky because if the weather had been warmer or less windy, they may have had to evacuate the town. They also say they are lucky there was no fire nearby to ignite the fuels.
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