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From: DCHAS Secretary <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (15 articles)
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2017 07:26:10 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: F2DBF75D-5106-4E1B-8B1D-0C89FB79CD6F**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, January 6, 2017 at 7:25:58 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)
SMALL FIRE CAUSES MINOR DAMAGE IN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE BUILDING
Tags: us_IL, laboratory, fire, response, other_chemical
STUBBORN CHEMICAL FIRE AT BUSINESS IN BIDDEFORD INJURES ONE WORKER
Tags: us_ME, industrial, fire, response, lithium
JURY ORDERS DUPONT TO PAY $10.5 MILLION OVER LEAKED CHEMICAL
Tags: us_OH, public, follow-up, injury, toxics
TEXAS PESTICIDE DEATHS: CHEMICAL MAY HAVE SICKENED, BUT CLEANUP WAS FATAL
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, death, ag_chems, pesticides, phosphine
KOLKATA FACTORY FIRE: 3 FIREMEN INJURED WHILE DOUSING FLAMES AT MADHYAMGRAM CHEMICAL FACTORY
Tags: India, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
CHEMICAL SAFETY FRONT AND CENTER FOR OHIO VALLEY HOUSING,'FIRE DEPARTMENTS
Tags: us_WV, public, discovery, environmental
FERTILIZER PLANT IN BUCKEYE CLEARED OF REPORTED AMMONIA LEAK
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, follow-up, response, ammonium_hydroxide
TORRANCE FIRE OFFICIALS SAY 'ROTTEN EGG' SMELL NEAR REFINERY WASN'T DANGEROUS
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, response, petroleum, sulphur
SEARCH FOR SOURCE OF PESTICIDE HEATS UP IN POISONING DEATH INVESTIGATION
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, death, ag_chems, illegal, pesticides, phosphine
AN INDIAN CHEMICAL PLANT HAS FIGURED OUT HOW TO TURN ITS CARBON EMISSIONS INTO BAKING SODA
Tags: India, industrial, discovery, response, carbon_dioxide, sodium_bicarbonate
SPILLS UP AT WATERFORD'S MOMENTIVE CHEMICAL PLANT AS CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS RESUME
Tags: us_NY, industrial, follow-up, environmental, adhesives
CATAS RECOVERING AFTER FURNITURE LAB FIRE
Tags: Italy, laboratory, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical
EARLY MORNING FIRE AT ELEMENTIS CHROMIUM
Tags: us_NC, industrial, fire, response, fire_extinguisher
A VISUAL UPDATE FROM RUWEL
Tags: China, industrial, fire, environmental, unknown_chemical
UPDATED: HAZMAT TURNS OUT TO BE MEDICAL EMERGENCY AND SPILLED DETERGENT
Tags: us_VA, public, discovery, response, dust
---------------------------------------------
SMALL FIRE CAUSES MINOR DAMAGE IN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE BUILDING
Tags: us_IL, laboratory, fire, response, other_chemical
A small fire closed the fifth floor of the College of Medicine West building, 1819 W. Polk St., Thursday afternoon.
The fire took place in a laboratory used mostly for storage after a fluorescent light ballast malfunctioned, said Michael Landek, executive associate vice chancellor for administrative services.
The fire was quickly extinguished but caused some minor damage to the laboratory and adjoining labs. No one was injured.
The fifth floor is expected to reopen Friday. All other floors of the building remain open.
Building service workers have already removed water from the space and a fire restoration company is cleaning the area.
'The fire will have no impact on any operations in the College of Medicine,' Landek said. 'Everyone pitched in and did a great job.'
---------------------------------------------
STUBBORN CHEMICAL FIRE AT BUSINESS IN BIDDEFORD INJURES ONE WORKER
Tags: us_ME, industrial, fire, response, lithium
One employee was injured in a stubborn chemical fire that broke out Thursday morning in a building used to store lithium at Soleras Advanced Coatings in Biddeford.
The fire started in a container holding 60 pounds of lithium in the center of the building on Landry Street, said Biddeford Fire Chief Scott Gagne. The cause has not been determined.
The injured employee had been transporting the chemical and was taken to Southern Maine Health Care, Gagne said. The employee's condition and identity were not available Thursday evening.
The fire, which was reported at 11:25 a.m., burned for several hours and was finally extinguished around 4 p.m., said Lt. Justin Cooper, who helped fight the fire.
Eight firefighters who entered the building were taken to Southern Maine Health Care to have their gear and equipment decontaminated because of exposure to chemicals. They were not injured.
---------------------------------------------
JURY ORDERS DUPONT TO PAY $10.5 MILLION OVER LEAKED CHEMICAL
Tags: us_OH, public, follow-up, injury, toxics
A U.S. jury in Ohio ordered DuPont on Thursday to pay $10.5 million in punitive damages to a man who said he developed testicular cancer from exposure to a toxic chemical leaked from a Dupont plant, the plaintiff's lawyer Robert Bilott said.
The federal jury had awarded Kenneth Vigneron $2 million in compensatory damages in December. Bilott said the jury also awarded attorneys' fees, to be determined at a later date.
This is the third and largest verdict that jurors in the Columbus, Ohio, federal court have issued against DuPont for injuries linked to perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOA or C-8, which is used to make Teflon. The $12.5 million in damages is more than double the amount awarded in a case decided in July.
"The jury has sent a strong message that we hope DuPont will listen to," Bilott said in an email to Reuters.
DuPont faces more than 3,400 lawsuits over the leak of the chemical from its Parkersburg, West Virginia, plant.
The leak allegedly contaminated local water supplies and has been linked to six diseases, including testicular and kidney cancer. Vigneron claimed he developed testicular cancer from the chemical exposure.
---------------------------------------------
TEXAS PESTICIDE DEATHS: CHEMICAL MAY HAVE SICKENED, BUT CLEANUP WAS FATAL
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, death, ag_chems, pesticides, phosphine
AMARILLO, Texas (CNN) ' The act of watering the ground after applying pesticide may seem innocuous, but it was enough to kill four children in Texas.
One was a high school senior on the brink of graduation. The other three were her little brothers. The youngest was 7 years old.
On Tuesday, Amarillo police explained what went wrong: Some of the family members started feeling sick Monday after the pesticide was applied under their mobile home. So one of the residents tried to dilute it with water.
It was fatal mistake.
How exactly did the children die?
Someone applied a pesticide ' aluminum phosphide ' under the mobile home. Later, a family member used water in an attempt to wash away the pesticide, said Capt. Larry Davis of the Amarillo Fire Department. It was not immediately clear why.
But aluminum phosphide mixed with water creates toxic phosphine gas, which can cause excess fluid in the lungs and respiratory failure.
---------------------------------------------
KOLKATA FACTORY FIRE: 3 FIREMEN INJURED WHILE DOUSING FLAMES AT MADHYAMGRAM CHEMICAL FACTORY
Tags: India, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
Three firemen have reportedly been injured while dousing a massive fire at a chemical factory in Madhyamgram, Kolkata.
The fire, which broke around midnight, is still out of control even as 38 fire engines are present on the spot to douse it.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL SAFETY FRONT AND CENTER FOR OHIO VALLEY HOUSING,'FIRE DEPARTMENTS
Tags: us_WV, public, discovery, environmental
Pesticides and other chemicals are commonly used in American households, yards and gardens, but improper use can have deadly consequences for untrained users. Earlier this week, four Amarillo, Texas children lost their lives after a pesticide, aluminum phosphide, was applied to the home and diluted with water, inspiring a national discussion concerning chemical safety.
In the Upper Ohio Valley, numerous public officials are working to keep residents informed and safe.
Karen Cox, agriculture and natural resources agent for the West Virginia University Extension Ohio County office, said reading labels and following directions with diligence is key for chemical safety.
'If you're not following directions on the label, you're actually breaking the law. They should be read in their entirety before use,' Cox said. 'A lot of people believe something they have around the house all the time is safe. Two examples would be bleach and ammonia that a lot of people use for cleaning. They can both be very toxic if combined.'
Cox added families with children should take extra care with chemicals, while emphasizing the importance of keeping substances in their original containers.
'Anytime you involve children, it's going to be more dangerous. Children are naturally curious and they don't necessarily know how to read. A lot of our chemical bottles come with colors and labeling that attract them,' she said. 'I do a presentation for kids with a bottle of antifreeze and a bottle of Powerade. You pour them out and you'd never know which one is which. They both smell sweet and they both look tasty, but one is deadly and one isn't.'
---------------------------------------------
FERTILIZER PLANT IN BUCKEYE CLEARED OF REPORTED AMMONIA LEAK
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, follow-up, response, ammonium_hydroxide
A reported ammonia leak near a Buckeye fertilizer company that caused evacuations and road closures Wednesday was determined to be the result of an off-site spill of water containing ammonium hydroxide, officials said Wednesday evening.
Authorities said the smell of ammonia was reported at 5:52 a.m. near Fertizona, which is located near Baseline Road and State Route 85 near Buckeye.
The Buckeye Valley Fire District and several other agencies determined that the source of the smell was likely a small, off-site spill of water containing ammonium hydroxide, according to a Wednesday evening statement from Fertizona.
---------------------------------------------
TORRANCE FIRE OFFICIALS SAY 'ROTTEN EGG' SMELL NEAR REFINERY WASN'T DANGEROUS
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, response, petroleum, sulphur
A sulfur-like odor Wednesday morning near Torrance's troubled oil refinery prompted concern among residents still shaky from a fire at the complex two months ago, but officials said the emissions were not harmful.
The smell, most pungent on the south side of the Torrance Refining Co. complex along Del Amo Boulevard and Prairie Avenue, was reported on the city and Fire Department's Facebook pages at about 9:30 a.m.
Jennifer Chiang of Torrance said she noticed the smell just before 9 a.m. as she was returning home from dropping her two children off at Victory Elementary School.
The odor, she said, was 'like rotten eggs, like sulfur.'
When she arrived at her condominium near Anza Avenue and Spencer Street, the smell was especially strong in her garage.
'I called Torrance refinery at around 9 and they said there was no unusual activity going on,' she said. 'But then someone called me back to say they were looking into it.'
Refinery officials later pinned the odor on 'tank operations' but did not elaborate other than to say 'personnel took immediate actions to mitigate the odor.'
---------------------------------------------
SEARCH FOR SOURCE OF PESTICIDE HEATS UP IN POISONING DEATH INVESTIGATION
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, death, ag_chems, illegal, pesticides, phosphine
The investigation into the poisoning of a family of 10 by lethal phosphine gas shifted almost completely Wednesday to figuring out the details of how a heavily regulated pesticide was obtained by the family's father.
Four of Peter Balderas' children appear to have died from exposure to gas produced by a chemical reaction after he sprayed a rodenticide known as Weevil-Cide with water.
With the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's assessment into contamination at the home ongoing, Amarillo police said they haven't been able to investigate the scene and are providing support to the Texas Department of Agriculture, which is heading the investigation into Balderas' illegal possession and use of the chemical.
'We're just trying to follow leads on where it came from and how someone in the general public got it,' said Perry Cervantes, coordinator for pesticide certification for compliance for the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Cervantes said the pesticide is heavily regulated at every level, from licensing to the product dealers to the people who will use it.
---------------------------------------------
AN INDIAN CHEMICAL PLANT HAS FIGURED OUT HOW TO TURN ITS CARBON EMISSIONS INTO BAKING SODA
Tags: India, industrial, discovery, response, carbon_dioxide, sodium_bicarbonate
A chemical plant in India is the first in the world to run a new system for capturing carbon emissions and converting them into baking soda.
The Tuticorin Alkali Chemicals plant, in the industrial port city of Tuticorin, is expecting to convert some 60,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually into baking soda and other chemicals ' and the scientists behind the process say the technique could be used to ultimately capture and transform up to 10 percent of global emissions from coal.
While carbon capture technology is not a new thing, what's remarkable about the Tuticorin installation is that it's running without subsidies from the government ' suggesting the researchers have developed a profitable, practical system that could have the commercial potential to expand to other plants and industries.
"I am a businessman. I never thought about saving the planet," the managing director of the plant, Ramachadran Gopalan, told the BBC.
"I needed a reliable stream of CO2, and this was the best way of getting it."
---------------------------------------------
SPILLS UP AT WATERFORD'S MOMENTIVE CHEMICAL PLANT AS CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS RESUME
Tags: us_NY, industrial, follow-up, environmental, adhesives
As a strike at a Waterford chemical plant drags into its third month, fuel or chemical spills by new workers there have become more common, according to records from the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Since the strike began Nov. 2 at Momentive Performance Materials, on routes 4 and 32, there has been a spill reported every 2.6 days on average, a Times Union analysis of DEC records shows. That is more than double the average spill rate between 2011 through October 2016.
Meanwhile, union and company officials are returning to the bargaining table for the first time since the strike started, said Dominick Patrignani, president of IUE/CWA Local 81359, on Tuesday. Meetings are tentatively scheduled for Jan. 11-13, he said.
Momentive spokeswoman Tina Reiber said the meetings were requested last month by the union. "They asked us to return to the table the second week of January and we have agreed to do so," she said.
Unionized workers have been picketing outside the plant after rejecting a contract offer that would cut workers' vacation time, reduce 401(k) benefits, raise health insurance costs and decrease retiree health insurance and other benefits.
Union workers have repeatedly claimed that replacement workers, hired to work with non-union supervisors during the strike, are not adequately trained, and prone to mishandling fuel and other materials at the sprawling, 700-acre plant, where industrial sealants and adhesives are made.
"Our guys outside on the line have seen amazing things going on, things that would get them fired," said Patrignani.
---------------------------------------------
CATAS RECOVERING AFTER FURNITURE LAB FIRE
Tags: Italy, laboratory, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical
SAN GIOVANNI AL NATISONE, Italy -- In late December, one of the labs of Catas, the Italian research and testing laboratory for the wood and furniture industry in San Giovanni al Natisone, was destroyed in a fire. The structure, proof machinery and all the building contents were completely destroyed, with a loss of more than a million dollars.
Firefighters from Udine and Gorizia were able to control the fire and to restrict it to the building where it broke out. Catas activity is going on in the other labs in Friuli and in the Lissone branch.
'We're from Friuli and we learned to never stop when we are in front of a catastrophe,' commented Andrea Giavon, managing director of the research center. 'We're choosing a warehouse to rent as soon as possible and ordered some of the machines we need urgently, because we want to open again very soon and continue to give our clients the services everyone expects from us.'
This is one of the six laboratories of Catas and only in this department the activity has been partially interrupted. The other departments: chemistry, surfaces, fire, mechanical and furniture-Brianza, are still active and are regularly working.
To ensure an immediate continuity of testing service on furniture, Catas will use more of the potential of its twin laboratory located in Lissone (Milan). Some technicians from the headquarters of San Giovanni al Natisone will also help the colleagues in the Lissone branch. The headquarters of San Giovanni al Natisone, however, continues to operate with some equipment that were saved by the fire and which have already been immediately enhanced with other simple instrumentation.
---------------------------------------------
EARLY MORNING FIRE AT ELEMENTIS CHROMIUM
Tags: us_NC, industrial, fire, response, fire_extinguisher
NEW HANOVER COUNTY -- A small fire inside a kiln was extinguished Tuesday morning at Elementis Chromium.
New Hanover County Fire and Rescue crews responded to the report of a fire around 4:18 a.m. at the chemical company on Holly Shelter Road, said Deputy Fire Chief Frank Meyer. Upon arrival, crews spent 5-10 minutes putting out a fire involving a gear-drive system on a kiln. A pre-installed extinguishing system had experienced difficulty putting out the fire itself, Meyer said.
He added the fire was limited to a lubricant container and no injuries were reported.
---------------------------------------------
A VISUAL UPDATE FROM RUWEL
Tags: China, industrial, fire, environmental, unknown_chemical
The fire that raged PCB manufacturer Ruwel on December 27 completely ruined the company's plant where it produce the innerlayer for masslam boards. And looking at the pictures that the company has provided ' it's clear; there is nothing left.
When you see the pictures it really looks terrible, there is nothing left, but when you look at it closer, the conclusion must be, that the company had some luck in this tragedy ' none of the staff was injured.
Ruwel has provided an update from the site ' that is now in rubbles ' stating that; the firewall between the main building and the chemical storage did its job. It kept the fire away from the chemical storage for more than 12 hours, so there hasn't been any major environmental damage.
As of right now the order of business is as previously announced: to keep supplying our customers with the help of Unimicron in Kunshan. And to build a new plant as soon as possible on the piece of land just behind the burned down plant two (the plot is owned by Ruwel and the company already have a building permit).
---------------------------------------------
UPDATED: HAZMAT TURNS OUT TO BE MEDICAL EMERGENCY AND SPILLED DETERGENT
Tags: us_VA, public, discovery, response, dust
A man who suffered a diabetic emergency prompted a shutdown of U.S. in Dumfries when responding rescue workers discovered a white powder in his home.
U.S. 1 was shut down after fire and rescue was called to a house on Main Street Tuesday morning to check on the welfare of a person who didn't show up at work. They arrived to find the resident unconscious and an unknown white powder in the house, said Prince William County police spokesman Nathan Probus.
The powder turned out to be laundry detergent and the man had suffered a diabetic emergency, said county police Sgt. Jonathan Perok.
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