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From: DCHAS Secretary <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (15 articles)
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2016 06:53:04 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: FE380951-2C94-453C-B9E5-E3AC2FB7B2C3**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 6:52:51 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)
THE DEADLY EXPLOSION BEHIND AMERICA'S WHIPPED-CREAM SHORTAGE
Tags: us_FL, transportation, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
AT LEAST 29 DEAD, 70 HURT IN MEXICO FIREWORKS MARKET BLAST ‰?? VIETNAM BREAKING NEWS
Tags: Mexico, industrial, explosion, death, fireworks
CHEMICAL SPILL AT PLANT IN KEOKUK
Tags: us_IA, industrial, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid
FIRE LEAVES CHEMICAL TANKER ADRIFT
Tags: United_Kingdom, transportation, fire, response, flammables
MPLS. RECYCLING PLANT CATCHES FIRE AMID KEROSENE; ROADS BRIEFLY CLOSED
Tags: us_MN, industrial, fire, response, kerosene, metals, waste
CHEMICAL FIRE GUTS SURFBOARD GLASSING FACTORY
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, injury, acetone, flammables, resin
TONAWANDA BUSINESS ACCUSED OF STASHING HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS
Tags: us_NY, industrial, discovery, response, other_chemical
TARGET TAKES AIM AT 'UNWANTED CHEMICALS'
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, toxics
STENCH REPORTS SPIKE IN HUNTINGTON BEACH AND SEAL BEACH
Tags: us_CA, public, release, environmental, petroleum
2 FIREFIGHTERS INJURED BATTLING SOMERSET COUNTY BLAZE
Tags: us_PA, public, fire, injury, hydrochloric_acid
9,600 EMERGENCY RESPONDERS MAY HAVE MISTAKENLY BEEN EXPOSED TO DEADLY RICIN
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, toxics
- QUALIFIED CHEMIST USED ILLEGAL CHEMICAL TO MAKE PINK FIREWORK AT HOME NEAR MOLD
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical, illegal
TEXAS CITY LIFTS TAP WATER BAN AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL FEAR
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, response, asphalt
2 DEAD AS CHEMICAL TANKER EXPLOSION TRIGGERS PILE-UP ON MUMBAI-AHMEDABAD HIGHWAY
Tags: India, transportation, explosion, death, flammables, gasoline
FIRE REPORTED IN LHS LAB
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical
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THE DEADLY EXPLOSION BEHIND AMERICA'S WHIPPED-CREAM SHORTAGE
Tags: us_FL, transportation, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
In August, a gas tanker exploded not far from a nylon factory in Cantonment, Florida. And this winter, just time in for the holiday season, the whole country is facing a sudden shortage of Reddi-wip. These two events are directly related, and their connection reveals the complicated mechanics of bringing sweet whipped dairy topping to your holiday pie.
Reddi-wip‰??s key ingredient is neither sweet nor dairy but a gas: nitrous oxide, better known as laughing gas. Dentists use it to knock out their patients. Teenagers use it for whippets. And race-car engines use it for an extra boost, when nitrous oxide explosively decomposes into nitrogen and oxygen.
But most of the time, nitrous oxide is not exploding. It‰??s sitting inertly in refrigerators and trucks and tanks. ‰??Most people consider nitrous oxide to be very safe,‰?? says Dan Tillema, an investigator with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board. Tillema is investigating why that nitrous-oxide tanker exploded in Cantonment, Florida, one afternoon in August. The accident killed a plant operator, Jesse Graham Folmar, 32, who was filling the tanker at the time.
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AT LEAST 29 DEAD, 70 HURT IN MEXICO FIREWORKS MARKET BLAST ‰?? VIETNAM BREAKING NEWS
Tags: Mexico, industrial, explosion, death, fireworks
TULTEPEC, Mexico ‰?? A massive explosion gutted Mexico‰??s biggest fireworks market on Tuesday, killing at least 29 people and injuring 70, authorities said.
The conflagration, in the Mexico City suburb of Tultepec, set off a quick-fire series of multicolored blasts and a sent a vast cloud of smoke billowing over the capital city.
The market had been packed with customers buying pyrotechnics for traditional end-of-year festivities. Christmas and New Year‰??s parties in many Latin American countries often wrap up with clattering firework blasts.
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CHEMICAL SPILL AT PLANT IN KEOKUK
Tags: us_IA, industrial, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid
Roquette has communicated that today, at approximately 2:45PM CST, an acid line at its plant facility in Keokuk, IA leaked and spilled 35% HCL acid to the ground. Both the internal Hazmat team and Lee County Hazmat teams responded to the event immediately. The Keokuk Fire Department and local emergency personnel were also dispatched to the plant in response to the incident as part of Roquette‰??s standard procedure. The release was contained by approximately 3:00PM, drains to the river were secured to mitigate the release of HCL, and clean-up activities are currently under way. Employees working in close proximity to the release were immediately evacuated and the area was secured to prevent unauthorized entry. Five individuals directly impacted by the release were evaluated by medical personnel onsite and were later transported to the local hospital for further evaluation. Those individuals transported to the local hospital are either being monitored or have been released. R!
oquette has immediately initiated an investigation to determine the root causes of this incident and to identify corrective measures to put in place in order to avoid the occurrence of similar incidents in the future. Roquette will provide further updates and timely information to employees and the local community as they become available.
---------------------------------------------
FIRE LEAVES CHEMICAL TANKER ADRIFT
Tags: United_Kingdom, transportation, fire, response, flammables
On Monday afternoon, the chemical tanker Cape Bon suffered a fire in an electrical pane as she was transiting the English Channel. The loss of the panel knocked out her ship‰??s service power and left her unable to maneuver.
The French authorities were notified, and they dispatched the intervention tug Abeille Languedoc, which departed Boulogne-sur-Mer and arrived on scene at 1750 hours. In addition, a French Navy helicopter carried an evaluation and intervention team out to the Bon, and after an inspection, they determined that she should be towed to an anchorage.
French maritime authorities asked the Bon‰??s owner to make commercial arrangements for a tug. She was adrift in a shipping lane and carrying a cargo of 30,000 tons of flammable liquid, a potentially dangerous situation, and officials wanted a swift resolution.
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MPLS. RECYCLING PLANT CATCHES FIRE AMID KEROSENE; ROADS BRIEFLY CLOSED
Tags: us_MN, industrial, fire, response, kerosene, metals, waste
A recycling plant in north Minneapolis caught fire Tuesday morning, sending up huge clouds of smoke and disrupting traffic, authorities said.
The blaze broke out about 10:10 a.m. at Northern Metal Recycling in the 1800 block of 2nd Street N., a site bordered by Interstate 94 to the west and the Mississippi River to the east. The fire was declared under control shortly before 1 p.m.
Assistant Fire Chief Bryan Tyner said there were drums of kerosene inside used for metal stripping.
There were no reports of anyone harmed from the fire, which released continuous clouds of smoke that could be seen for miles against the blue sky. Government health officials have checked air quality in the immediate area and registered no adverse readings, a fire official said.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL FIRE GUTS SURFBOARD GLASSING FACTORY
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, injury, acetone, flammables, resin
Glassers are the surf industry‰??s version of Clark Kent. While shapers receive praise and name recognition for designing top-selling surfboards, glassers go unnoticed and underappreciated, as they humbly labor away with carcinogenic materials. On Friday, a bastion of those unsung heroes ‰?? Global Glassing in Oceanside, CA ‰?? was set ablaze from a chemical fire. Reports say the fire caused half-a-million dollars in damage. One employee was in the building at the time, attempting to extinguish the flames, and suffering burns to his face, but opting to drive himself to the hospital.
‰??Fire crews determined that there was no way to fight the increasing volume of fire inside the involved unit and pulled all personnel outside to begin defensive operations designed to limit the spread to the other businesses in the L-shaped building,‰?? Battalion Chief Pete Lawrence told Fox 5 San Diego.
Surfboard glassing involves using many hazardous and flammable materials, including resin and acetone ‰?? which is reported to be the culprit of Friday‰??s fire. And Global Glassing was a major player in the Southern California surfboard industry, being the last stop for many local shapers and big brands before hitting the store racks. From Channel Islands to Firewire to Slater Designs, the Oceanside glass house had a wide array of popular industry clients.
‰??I watched from across the street as my place of occupation burned to the ground in what seemed to be an instant,‰?? Global Glassing‰??s Arin McKinney wrote via Instagram. ‰??It's a horrifying feeling to watch a fire of that magnitude burn beyond our control. Relieved to say that everybody made it out mostly unscathed from what I understand and fortunately I was not directly in harms [sic] way on this go around.‰??
---------------------------------------------
TONAWANDA BUSINESS ACCUSED OF STASHING HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS
Tags: us_NY, industrial, discovery, response, other_chemical
Federal authorities are guarding around-the-clock a chemical cache they allege a Town of Tonawanda business haphazardly stockpiled.
The state Office of the Attorney General is also looking into whether charges are warranted against Morgan Materials at 380 Vulcan St. and its owner, Donald Sadkin.
For the second time in less than two decades, Sadkin‰??s Morgan Materials was taken over by state and federal environmental authorities for emergency cleanup for the same reason ‰?? haphazardly stockpiling thousands of drums of hazardous chemicals.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began its occupation of Morgan‰??s nearly seven-acre warehouse complex on Vulcan Street in late November at the request of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
---------------------------------------------
TARGET TAKES AIM AT 'UNWANTED CHEMICALS'
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, toxics
US retailer Target has named the removal of ‰??all unwanted chemicals‰?? from its own-brand products among its 2020 goals.
Its responsible sourcing aspirations for the next decade aim to identify and remove these from the products and manufacturing, ‰??and encourage all supporting industries to incorporate green chemistry principles‰??.
‰??More than ever, our guests want to know where their products come from; to be sure those products are made ethically and responsibly,‰?? explained Kelly Caruso, president of Target Sourcing Services. ‰??We recognise that reassuring guests isn‰??t enough ‰?? so we‰??re committing to using more sustainable resources.‰??
The company, which is the second largest discount retailer in the US after Walmart, has not yet disclosed further details of the goal. But Mike Schade, Mind the Store campaign director at NGO Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families, told Chemical Watch that the commitment ‰??suggests that Target is going to go deeper and wider in addressing toxic chemicals in their supply chain‰??.
---------------------------------------------
STENCH REPORTS SPIKE IN HUNTINGTON BEACH AND SEAL BEACH
Tags: us_CA, public, release, environmental, petroleum
Periodically and unpredictably, mysterious chemical-like fumes drift into Rhonda Wainwright‰??s home not far from Huntington Beach Central Park.
The noxious odors have induced headaches, burning of the eyes and throat, nosebleeds and vomiting, she says. Even her dog and two cats have retched during the malodorous episodes that ‰??about knocks you on your knees,‰?? Wainwright said.
Roughly 10 miles away in coastal Seal Beach, resident Susan Perrell reports suffering similar foul odors. Perrell, an environmental adviser to an oil and gas company, also describes a petroleum-like stench that can be intense enough to ‰??knock you over.‰??
Their experiences are far from isolated.
Last month, air-quality regulators saw a spike in such complaints in the Huntington Beach and Seal Beach area. Over several consecutive days, the South Coast Air Quality Management District fielded dozens of calls involving ‰??a nasty egg odor (or a) petroleum odor,‰?? said agency spokesman Sam Atwood.
Residents also have lodged complaints with fire officials, the gas company and others, seeking help in pinpointing the source of the smells, which many say have increased in frequency and intensity over the past two years.
---------------------------------------------
2 FIREFIGHTERS INJURED BATTLING SOMERSET COUNTY BLAZE
Tags: us_PA, public, fire, injury, hydrochloric_acid
Two firefighters were injured Sunday night battling a commercial building fire in Salisbury Borough.
One Salisbury firefighter cut his hand, and possibly ligaments, trying to rip into steel-sided walls to fight the blaze, while another had to be treated after he inhaled an unhealthy amount of fumes from a chemical that was being stored in the building‰??s rear garage, Salisbury fire Chief Dave Short said.
‰??There was at least 30 gallons of hydrochloric acid inside a storage room, and when the fire was (dispatched) no one told us it was in there,‰?? Short said, noting firefighters didn‰??t take precautions for it.
Short said hazmat teams were called once the issue was discovered.
The fire was knocked down in 10 minutes, despite causing heavy damage toward the rear of the building. But the fire, with its toxic gas, might have damaged some of their firefighting gear, he said.
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9,600 EMERGENCY RESPONDERS MAY HAVE MISTAKENLY BEEN EXPOSED TO DEADLY RICIN
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, toxics
About 9,600 first responders including paramedics, firefighters, and other students in Federal Emergency Management Agency have been mistakenly exposed to deadly ricin for the last five years.
FEMA, which has been exposing the emergency responders to a deadly toxin since 2011, blames one of its suppliers for the blunder. The ricin powder made of castor beans, which was used in FEMA training classes, is lethal even in small doses.
FEMA Believed It Procures Less Toxic Ricin
FEMA claims that the ricin powder the agency has been ordering is a less toxic one, but Toxin Technology, which supplies the said product, as reported by USA Today, has been wrongly shipping the more toxic ricin for years. However, the toxin suppliers noted that the nine shipments made since 2011 were the more toxic version, and they were clearly labeled with the scientific name "RCA60," indicating they are lethal.
Meanwhile, FEMA administrator W. Craig Fugate has called the Department of Homeland Security Office to investigate on the issue. The agency has also stopped providing training classes using the biological agents, including a less potent strain of anthrax.
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- QUALIFIED CHEMIST USED ILLEGAL CHEMICAL TO MAKE PINK FIREWORK AT HOME NEAR MOLD
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical, illegal
AN attempt by a businessman, who is also a qualified chemist, to make a pink firework backfired and landed him in court
Sebastien Jean Claude Dubois, 31, was unimpressed by commercial firework displays and knew that he could do better.
He staged displays at his country home near Mold and bought a particular chemical intending to make a bright pink coloured one for his display on New Year‰??s Eve.
But Mold Crown Court heard how the regulations changed and it become illegal to possess potassium perchlorate without a licence.
Dubois, of Lake Offa, New Brighton ‰?? who owns a number of companies and who is in the process of launching a further business in the United States ‰?? pleaded guilty to possessing the prohibited substance and was given an absolute discharge after a judge described it as an exceptional case.
Judge Rhys Rowlands, who ordered him to pay å£535 costs, said no danger was posed to himself or others in the vicinity and there was no danger of the chemical falling into the wrong hands.
---------------------------------------------
TEXAS CITY LIFTS TAP WATER BAN AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL FEAR
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, response, asphalt
Tap water in Corpus Christi is safe to drink, the mayor of the Texas city said on Sunday, lifting a four-day ban after a chemical spill that forced most of the Texas city's residents to rely on bottled water while tests were underway.
Residents of the Gulf of Mexico city were told on Wednesday to stop using tap water for drinking, food preparation and bathing. About 85 percent of Corpus Christi, with a population of about 320,000, was under the restrictions.
An investigation of the leak of up to 24 gallons (91 liters) of an asphalt emulsifier determined the water was safe to use again, Mayor Dan McQueen said at a news conference.
It was not clear if the water supply was ever contaminated by the spill.
---------------------------------------------
2 DEAD AS CHEMICAL TANKER EXPLOSION TRIGGERS PILE-UP ON MUMBAI-AHMEDABAD HIGHWAY
Tags: India, transportation, explosion, death, flammables, gasoline
Two persons were killed and three others injured in a freak accident that involved an explosion in a moving chemical tanker and subsequent pile-up of three vehicles on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway today, causing massive disruption of traffic for hours.
"The incident occurred near a petrol pump at Wadoli village in Palghar district adjoining Mumbai in afternoon when the tanker carrying some inflammable chemical caught fire while moving while a truck rammed into it from behind, causing an explosion," Talasari tehsildar (revenue official) Vishal Doundkar told PTI.
Due to the impact, the affected tanker hit another truck ahead of it while a car collided with the tanker from behind.
The deceased have been identified as Ramesh Khot and Razzak Bapu Gavad who were travelling in the truck that hit the tanker from behind.
The injured persons have been identified as Ajinkya Patil (29), Prachi Patil (50) and Rasika Patil (50), who were travelling in the car.
---------------------------------------------
FIRE REPORTED IN LHS LAB
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical
LIVINGSTON -- A small fire at Livingston High School Thursday afternoon caused minor damage. The Livingston Volunteer Fire Department was called out around 6:30 p.m. The fire began in a science laboratory after "material from a lab (lesson) was improperly stored after the lab," according to Livingston ISD Superintendent Dr. Brent Hawkins Operations employees discovered the small fire, helping limit damage to a trash can that will need replacing. The fire was immediately put out and Hawkins said the lab could have been used Friday, if not for the completion of an investigation. Contracted assistance was brought in for cleanup and Hawkins said there will be additional safety training for staff members who are involved with working in the lab area.
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