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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, May 6, 2016 at 7:19:20 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=DQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=iB9gCU4Es2UYZgA7eNuO4NQQ8JJapsDONUlltbR_dUU&s=LxJCh16_FXbWmuhEzgHbVV6nigvQIpJr4RiqkKWEc1c&e=
Table of Contents (16 articles)
THINKING AHEAD IN GRADUATE SCHOOL
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
FIRM APOLOGIZES FOR POISONING HUNDREDS
Tags: Republic_of_Korea, public, discovery, environmental, cleaners
FIRE BREAKS OUT AT NATIONAL CHEMICAL LABORATORY IN PUNE
Tags: India, laboratory, fire, response, various_chemicals
FIRE BREAKS OUT AT MORATUWA UNIVERSITY LABORATORY
Tags: Sri_Lanka, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical
STUDENT BECOMES UNWELL AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL IN GLASGOW UNIVERSITY LABORATORY (FROM EVENING TIMES)
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical
RESIDENTS IN BUCKS COUNTY TOLD TO SHELTER IN PLACE AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_PA, public, release, response, ferric_chloride, water_treatment
BROOKLYN MANUFACTURER FACES $105K IN FINES AFTER OSHA FINDS DANGEROUS LEAD, NOISE AND CHEMICAL HAZARDS
Tags: us_NY, industrial, discovery, response, other_chemical
STUDENT ARRESTED AFTER EXPLOSION AT SAN PASQUAL ACADEMY
Tags: us_CA, education, explosion, response, bomb, cleaners
TORRANCE REFINERY EXPLOSION COST CALIFORNIA DRIVERS $2.4 BILLION IN HIGH PUMP PRICES, STUDY SAYS
Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, gasoline
CAR EXPLODES WHILE BEING CRUSHED AT ROCKAWAY RECYCLING CENTER
Tags: us_NJ, industrial, explosion, response, gasoline, waste
URGING UNIVERSITIES TO ACT ON SAFETY
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
TOTAL OF 42 HANFORD WORKERS EVALUATED FOR CHEMICAL EXPOSURE
Tags: us_WA, industrial, follow-up, injury, radiation, waste
SEVEN HOSPITALIZED AFTER CHEMICAL EXPOSURE AT SAN JOSE HEALTH CENTER
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, irritant
COMPUTER GLEANS CHEMICAL INSIGHT FROM LAB NOTEBOOK FAILURES
Tags: us_PA, laboratory, discovery, environmental
5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE PEPCON DISASTER, 28 YEARS LATER
Tags: us_NV, industrial, follow-up, response, ammonium_perchlorate, radiation
CASE STUDY ON RISK EVALUATION OF PRINTED ELECTRONICS USING NANOSILVER INK
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental, nanotech
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THINKING AHEAD IN GRADUATE SCHOOL
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
When pondering whether to pursue postdoctoral training, chemistry graduate students understand what their chances are of getting a faculty job, a new survey shows.
A survey published last week in Science asked graduate students to pick the career path they find most attractive. The authors then compared those who say they plan to get postdoctoral training with those who do not. Here are the responses for chemistry graduate students.
But the results confirm educators" fears that students don"t feel well-informed about what training they need to work in industry R&D, start-ups, or government (Science 2016, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf2061).
The survey results are "intriguing," says Michael Doyle, a professor at the University of Texas, San Antonio, who was on an American Chemical Society panel that recommended changes to graduate education. "It"s really going to cause a stir."
Educators have long worried that students do not get enough training or mentoring to make informed career choices, Doyle explains. That could lead them to waste years in a low-paying postdoc position that won"t help advance their career.
Until this study, knowledge about what graduate students understand about the labor market was mostly anecdotal. That"s why authors Henry Sauermann of Georgia Tech and Michael Roach of Cornell University surveyed almost 6,000 graduate students at 39 research universities"including around 670 chemistry students. They followed up with those who did a postdoc.
"We wanted to get into people"s brains" to find out what they knew about the job market and how they thought about their career options, Sauermann explains.
The researchers found that graduate students across scientific fields had a good understanding of the academic job market. Those who choose to do a postdoc were more likely to pursue careers in academia, which requires additional training. Chemists had a more realistic view of their own chances of getting a tenure-track job than life scientists, who tended to overestimate their odds of getting a position.
However, a large percentage of those getting a postdoc were most attracted to careers outside of academia, the study found. It"s not clear whether they need postdoctoral training for those jobs.
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FIRM APOLOGIZES FOR POISONING HUNDREDS
Tags: Republic_of_Korea, public, discovery, environmental, cleaners
The head of the South Korean unit of the British firm Reckitt Benckiser, a supplier of home sanitation and personal care products, was physically assaulted while apologizing for his company"s line of home humidifier disinfectants that caused the death or serious lung injuries of hundreds of victims in the country.
Reckitt Benckiser is known in the U.S. for its Lysol air freshener, Durex condoms, and Easy-Off oven cleaner, among other products.
In 1996, its South Korean subsidiary Oxy RB launched a line of humidifier disinfectants that contained a guanidine derivative. The South Korean government ordered the products off the market in 2011 after they were linked to an epidemic of serious lung injuries throughout the country. By the end of 2015, at least 95 people had died from exposure to the disinfectants, according to a survey by the South Korean Ministry of Environment. Many victims were children or pregnant women.
At a press conference in Seoul on May 2, Ata Safdar, Reckitt Benckiser"s head of operations for Korea and Japan, offered the company"s "sincere apologies." Safdar also expressed his company"s regrets for not taking full responsibility earlier.
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FIRE BREAKS OUT AT NATIONAL CHEMICAL LABORATORY IN PUNE
Tags: India, laboratory, fire, response, various_chemicals
A fire broke out at the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL) in Pune on Tuesday midnight owing to a short circuit, but luckily a major accident was averted.
NCL is a government laboratory based in Pashan. On Tuesday, the Pune Fire Brigade team had received a call about the fire breaking out at laboratory.
According to a fire brigade jawan, Shatrugan Waje said, "The fire broke at the chemical laboratory in NCL on late Tuesday night, around 12.30 am. We rushed to the spot and forcefully broke the glass windows of the laboratory. While some of our jawans put off the fire, others were shifting various chemicals like sodium, potassium and hydrogen. There were many sodium plates, which could have easily caught fire. Within 15 minutes, the operation was carried out successfully."
Another fire brigade jawan Madhukar Mate added, "It seems the fire broke out as there are various chemical kept for experiment, and such chemicals need cool temperature."
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FIRE BREAKS OUT AT MORATUWA UNIVERSITY LABORATORY
Tags: Sri_Lanka, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical
A fire broke out at a laboratory located in the University of Moratuwa.The Fire Brigade said that several fire trucks were dispatched to the location and that the flames have currently being extinguished
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STUDENT BECOMES UNWELL AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL IN GLASGOW UNIVERSITY LABORATORY (FROM EVENING TIMES)
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical
A GLASGOW University student became unwell after a routine experiment caused a chemical spill within a laboratory.
The male student was treated at the scene as a precaution when the incident happened within the Joseph Black Building on Wednesday afternoon.
The laboratory was sealed off as precaution and students were evacuated from the area.
It is understood the incident was minor and there was no other injuries.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said they arrived at the scene after 3pm. They checked the surrounding area of the laboratory to make sure it was clear of contaminants and crews left after 4.45pm.
A spokesman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service added there was no risk to the public following the incident.
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RESIDENTS IN BUCKS COUNTY TOLD TO SHELTER IN PLACE AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_PA, public, release, response, ferric_chloride, water_treatment
Authorities in a Bucks County township told residents to temporarily shelter in place after a chemical spill at a municipal site.
Crews rushed to the Lower Bucks County Joint Municipal Authority water treatment plant along Main Street in Tulleytown, Pennsylvania around 8:30 a.m. to address a chemical spill, said Tulleytown Borough Police Department Chief Daniel Doyle.
Crews arrived to find a tank of ferric chloride leaking, said police.
"As a PRECAUTIONARY action only we are asking residents & businesses in the area of Main Street to keep windows and doors closed," the borough police posted to Facebook.
Around 11 a.m., police posted to Facebook that the situation was contained and air quality tests determined the air to be safe. The spill also had no adverse effect on the water supply, said police.
---------------------------------------------
BROOKLYN MANUFACTURER FACES $105K IN FINES AFTER OSHA FINDS DANGEROUS LEAD, NOISE AND CHEMICAL HAZARDS
Tags: us_NY, industrial, discovery, response, other_chemical
MEW YORK - Responding to a report of an elevated blood lead level in a machinist at a Brooklyn brass plumbing fittings manufacturer, the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that employees at Acme Parts Inc., lacked adequate protections against lead exposure, hearing loss and hazardous chemicals.
"An elevated level of lead in a worker's bloodstream is a serious health matter, and a sign that employees are not being adequately protected against exposure to this hazardous substance. Lead can damage the nervous system, kidneys, blood forming organs, and reproductive system if inhaled or ingested in dangerous quantities," said Kay Gee, OSHA's area director for Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens.
Specifically, OSHA found that the company failed to:
Train employees about lead hazards and provide them proper protective clothing.
Prevent lead from accumulating on surfaces in the plant.
Prohibit employees from consuming food and drink in lead contaminated areas.
Conduct initial monitoring to determine employees' lead exposure levels.
---------------------------------------------
STUDENT ARRESTED AFTER EXPLOSION AT SAN PASQUAL ACADEMY
Tags: us_CA, education, explosion, response, bomb, cleaners
ESCONDIDO (CNS) - A San Pasqual Academy student was arrested Thursday morning after he allegedly created a crude chemical bomb that caused a non-injury blast at the North County campus for foster youth, authorities reported.
The 15-year old boy, whose name was withheld because he is a minor, constructed the device out of a plastic soda bottle, cleaning solution and aluminum foil and put it in a toilet at the high school in unincorporated Escondido about 9 a.m., according to sheriff's officials.
Before the container blew up, a teacher discovered and retrieved it, according to Sgt. Tom Vrable.
"The (boy) warned the staff member to get rid of it, as it would explode,'' the sergeant said. "The bottle was tossed into nearby bushes, and a few minutes later (it) exploded.''
---------------------------------------------
TORRANCE REFINERY EXPLOSION COST CALIFORNIA DRIVERS $2.4 BILLION IN HIGH PUMP PRICES, STUDY SAYS
Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, gasoline
The February 2015 explosion that shuttered the ExxonMobil plant in Torrance was the costliest disruption at a California refinery in the past 16 years, with motorists paying at least $2.4 billion in higher pump prices in the following six months, according to a recent RAND study.
Soaring prices stemming from the lost gasoline supply sucked a staggering $6.9 billion from the California economy in the first six months after the explosion alone.
But the total economic loss is likely more than double that figure, RAND researchers noted.
Fifteen months after the blast in a pollution-control device, ExxonMobil this weekend is scheduled to begin restarting the refinery, which normally produces 155,000 barrels of gasoline a day, or about 10 percent of the total refined product in California.
The economic losses tied to the Torrance blast were part of a larger RAND cost-benefit analysis of proposed California oil and gas refinery safety regulations.
Those recommendations were made by a state task force in the wake of the 2012 fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond that forced 15,000 people to seek medical treatment. The RAND study was sponsored by the state as part of a mandatory regulatory assessment conducted when proposed regulations have an economic impact exceeding $50 million.
---------------------------------------------
CAR EXPLODES WHILE BEING CRUSHED AT ROCKAWAY RECYCLING CENTER
Tags: us_NJ, industrial, explosion, response, gasoline, waste
ROCKAWAY " An explosion at Rockaway Recycling Center Tuesday was caused by a small amount of gasoline left in the tank of a car that was being crushed, authorities said.
Rockaway Borough police Chief Douglas Scheer said the explosion was heard clearly from the police department but no one was injured and the blaze was contained to a dumpster.
Dust particles from a famous comet will be visible in the pre-dawn hours, if Mother Nature cooperates.
Workers at the facility were able to extinguish most of the flames with garden hoses prior to firefighters arriving on the scene, Scheer said.
The Rockaway Borough Fire Department quelled the remainder of the blaze and the leak was contained by the Picatinny Arsenal Fire Department's Hazmat team and the Morris County Hazmat team with no environmental impact, Morris County Office of Emergency Management director Jeff Paul said.
---------------------------------------------
URGING UNIVERSITIES TO ACT ON SAFETY
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
Recent weeks have brought good news and bad news concerning lab safety. The bad news, of course, is the 16 March explosion at the University of Hawaii (UH), Manoa, that severely injured a postdoc. The good news is an extremely useful new report titled A Guide to Implementing a Safety Culture in Our Universities. Both the report and a companion website were issued 11 April by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), whose members include 25 university systems and 207 universities in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
As suits its topic, the guide begins on a note of urgency. "[E]ach of us has experienced tragedy at our present or former institutions involving accidents in university laboratory or field facilities," write the leaders of the task force that produced the report: Gene Block, chancellor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); Taylor Eighmy, vice chancellor for research and engagement at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville; and Mark McLellan, vice president for research and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Utah State University in Logan. Block headed UCLA when lab assistant Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji died from burns suffered in a lab fire. Eighmy was vice president for research at Texas Tech University when a lab explosion maimed graduate student Preston Brown. McLellan was the University of Florida"s dean of research when undergraduate Courtney Mason lost a hand while handling a horse at the university"s Equine Research Center.
The document goes on to outline the attitudes, procedures, and administrative structures likely to reduce calamities in research labs as well as in "teaching laboratories; in shops, studios, and stages; in teaching classrooms; and in the field." Emphasizing the widely accepted principle that any effective safety regime requires strong, consistent, and credible commitment from the organization"s top leadership, "[t]he guide is intended for university presidents and chancellors who have made a renewed commitment to improve their institutional culture of safety, [plus] the campus leadership team that the president appoints to helm this effort." Widespread adoption of the guide"s recommendations would go "a long way to catalyzing the ‰?| changes" needed to make campuses safer, writes safety expert Neal Langerman in an email to Science Careers.
---------------------------------------------
TOTAL OF 42 HANFORD WORKERS EVALUATED FOR CHEMICAL EXPOSURE
Tags: us_WA, industrial, follow-up, injury, radiation, waste
Officials say the number of workers at Hanford Nuclear Reservation evaluated for chemical vapor exposure has climbed to 42, following reports last month that a tank had leaked several thousand gallons of radioactive waste.
The odors are suspected to have come from the transfer of that waste.
The Tri-City Herald reports ( https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__goo.gl_6nNlDK&d=DQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=iB9gCU4Es2UYZgA7eNuO4NQQ8JJapsDONUlltbR_dUU&s=zyYBtVgCcYcZ-aWRltOkaYWttZppdgBSyYubZwZ-IAE&e= ">https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__goo.gl_6nNlDK&d=DQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=iB9gCU4Es2UYZgA7eNuO4NQQ8JJapsDONUlltbR_dUU&s=zyYBtVgCcYcZ-aWRltOkaYWttZppdgBSyYubZwZ-IAE&e= ) five workers were evaluated by medical professionals Wednesday as a precautionary measure due to reported odors or symptoms such as headaches.
Medical clinic officials evaluated four others on Tuesday.
In all, 31 people have reported symptoms while 11 requested evaluations as a precaution. All have been cleared to return to work.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson says he's exploring further legal options to keep workers safe and plans to meet with Hanford workers later this week.
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SEVEN HOSPITALIZED AFTER CHEMICAL EXPOSURE AT SAN JOSE HEALTH CENTER
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, irritant
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) " Five adults and two children were sent to a hospital after they made contact with a chemical that spilled at a health center in San Jose"s Willow Glen neighborhood Wednesday morning, a fire department spokesman said.
Crews responded to a report of an irritant at the Indian Health Center of Santa Clara Valley at 1333 Meridian Ave. around 9:45 a.m., Fire Capt. Christopher Salcido said.
Firefighters arrived to the center, where 17 people were exposed to 1 ounce of cresol, a chemical used as a sealant for children"s dental fillings that spilled in a treatment room, Salcido said.
"We have our chemicals in a locked container in the dental laboratory," said Indian Health Center CEO Sonya Tetnowski. "And they reached up to grab something and they knocked it over and it splashed on the ground."
It can be dangerous if it comes in contact with your skin or if you breath in the fumes. Inhalation can cause nausea, vomiting, headaches and troubled breathing.
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COMPUTER GLEANS CHEMICAL INSIGHT FROM LAB NOTEBOOK FAILURES
Tags: us_PA, laboratory, discovery, environmental
Did your experiment fail? Don"t bin the data just yet " they could be useful. Chemists in the United States say that they have created a machine-learning algorithm that beats humans at predicting ways to make crystals, by training it on data both from successful experiments and from trials that didn"t work. The team terms these failures "dark reactions", because they are either never written down or are recorded only privately in laboratory notebooks.
"Failed reactions contain a vast amount of unreported and unextracted information," says Alex Norquist, a materials-synthesis researcher at Haverford College in Pennsylvania, who is part of the team that has reported the work in Nature1. "There are far more failures than successes, but only the successes generally get published."
The work "shows a great example of what can be done by mining scientific experience " to start unravelling the "dark magic" of synthesis", says Kristin Persson, a materials chemist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. She leads an initiative called the Materials Project that gathers information on known materials to aid the design and synthesis of new ones.
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5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE PEPCON DISASTER, 28 YEARS LATER
Tags: us_NV, industrial, follow-up, response, ammonium_perchlorate, radiation
wenty-eight years ago, the Las Vegas Valley experienced one of the largest explosions in history " PEPCON.
A fire started inside a building at Pacific Engineering and Production Corporation of Nevada"s (PEPCON) plant on May 4, 1988. In four minutes, the fire rapidly spread and ignited three massive explosions.
Here are five things you may not know about the explosion that rocked the southern end of the Valley:
The explosion made history
According to a NASA case study on the disaster, the PEPCON explosion, which was the result of sparks from a welding torch setting ablaze a fiberglass infrastructure, created the largest domestic, non-nuclear explosion in recorded history.
The plant had a large stockpile of product due to the Challenger explosion
PEPCON was one of two American producers of ammonium perchlorate, a chemical found in solid fuel rocket boosters that is used for NASA Space Shuttles and military-grade weapons, according to the City of Henderson Historical Society.
"Although classified as less hazardous than mixed fuel," according to NASA, "ammonium perchlorate greatly accelerates the explosive properties of combustible material."
Two years before the explosion, the Challenger space shuttle had exploded mid-flight, prompting NASA to halt its exploration program. Although PEPCON continued to produce ammonium perchlorate, there was no demand for the chemical and supply continued to build up at the company"s factory.
At the time of the explosion, NASA believed the plant had a stockpile of more than 4,000 tons of chemical on hand, which allowed the initial fire to spread at such a rapid pace.
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CASE STUDY ON RISK EVALUATION OF PRINTED ELECTRONICS USING NANOSILVER INK
Tags: industrial, discovery, environmental, nanotech
With the ever-increasing development of nanotechnology, our society is being surrounded by possible risks related to exposure to manufactured nanomaterials. The consumer market already includes many products that contain silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), including various household products, such as yoga mats, cutting boards, running shirts, and socks. There is a growing concern over the release of AgNPs in workplaces related to the manufacture and application of nanomaterials.
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