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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, October 9, 2017 at 7:32:02 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 (9 articles)
GHANA CHEMICAL EXPLOSION SENT GIANT FIREBALL INTO THE SKY, KILLED 7, INJURED DOZENS
Tags: Ghana, industrial, explosion, death, petroleum
DEFENCE ADMITS THREE-YEAR DELAY IN WARNING PEOPLE ABOUT TOXIC FOAM DANGER
Tags: Australia, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
REGULATORS SEEK BAYER PAYMENT REDUCTION IN WEST VIRGINIA
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, death
FIRE BREAKS OUT INSIDE BUILDING, SENDS 26-YEAR-OLD MAN TO THE HO
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, fire, injury, petroleum, propane
EPA SEEKS TO SHAVE BAYER PAYMENT FOR FATAL 2008 EXPLOSION IN INSTITUTE
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, death
TWO CREMATORY EMPLOYEES INJURED AFTER A CHEMICAL SPILL AT THE FACILITY
Tags: us_VA, industrial, release, injury, corrosives
CHEMICAL SPILL AT NORTH YORK PLANT SENDS AT LEAST TWO TO HOSPITAL
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical
EASTMAN: CHEMICALS RELEASED DURING EXPLOSIONS ‰??WAS SMALL AMOUNT, NEVER LEFT PLANT‰??
Tags: us_TN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, carbon_monoxide, hydrogen_sulfide
4 IN HOSPITAL AFTER CHEMICAL RELEASED AT RECYCLE PLANT
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, injury, dust, waste
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GHANA CHEMICAL EXPLOSION SENT GIANT FIREBALL INTO THE SKY, KILLED 7, INJURED DOZENS
Tags: Ghana, industrial, explosion, death, petroleum
At least seven people were killed and dozens injured, mostly suffering burns, after a huge explosion at a fuel distribution site in Ghana‰??s capital, local authorities said on Sunday.
The blast on Saturday evening was heard across much of the city, sending a giant fireball into the sky above the eastern part of Accra and causing frightened residents to flee their homes in large numbers. Others were forcibly evacuated.
At least seven people died and 132 were injured, a statement from the Ministry of Information read out on local radio said on Sunday. About half of them had already been treated and discharged, it said
The site includes a liquefied petroleum gas storage depot and two service stations run by state-owned GOIL and oil major Total. It was not immediately clear where or how the explosion began.
Witnesses said people had already began fleeing the area ahead of the blast because of the pungent odour of gas ‰?? a factor that likely reduced casualties.
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DEFENCE ADMITS THREE-YEAR DELAY IN WARNING PEOPLE ABOUT TOXIC FOAM DANGER
Tags: Australia, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical
The Department of Defence has admitted it should have warned the public about a chemical contamination scandal three years earlier than it did ‰?? and says the cost to taxpayers to clean up the problem nationwide will mount into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
At some, local drinking water has been contaminated.
Since at least 2000, scientific research has linked these chemicals to a range of human diseases, though the Federal Government's formal health advice says there is "no consistent evidence" they cause specific illnesses.
Now, a Four Corners investigation has confirmed Defence misused the toxic firefighting foam for decades.
Despite explicit warnings dating back to 1987 that the product must not enter the environment, many thousands of litres of the foam were expelled onto bare earth or washed into stormwater systems.
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REGULATORS SEEK BAYER PAYMENT REDUCTION IN WEST VIRGINIA
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, death
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) ‰?? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to allow Bayer CropScience to spend a reduced amount to resolve safety violations cited in a 2008 explosion that killed two workers at a West Virginia chemical plant.
The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports the EPA is seeking to let the company reduce the amount it spends on supplemental environmental projects by nearly $1.4 million. EPA filings in federal court in Charleston show the amount spent would now be about $3 million.
Under the proposal, instead of completing a wastewater treatment improvement project at its Institute plant, Bayer would purchase equipment for volunteer fire departments in Institute and nearby Jefferson.
According to court filings, the EPA and Bayer say the new proposal would "better advance the objectives of chemical accident prevention laws."
The Institute plant is now controlled by Dow Chemical.
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FIRE BREAKS OUT INSIDE BUILDING, SENDS 26-YEAR-OLD MAN TO THE HO
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, fire, injury, petroleum, propane
A man was sent to the hospital after a fire broke out at a business earlier this afternoon.
The fire started shortly after 1:10 p.m. at Intertek Laboratory, a petroleum fuel, and chemical lab.
Firefighters were called out to the building in the 4700 Block of Westway Drive near Navigation Boulevard and Leopard Street.
The Corpus Christi Fire Department says that fire started when propane was being used inside a lab and then a line became disconnected.
There were two workers inside at the time.
Captain James Brown, with the Corpus Christi Fire Department, said the injuries appear to be non-life threatening.
A 26-year-old man was injured and transported to the hospital.
The fire was quickly extinguished.
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EPA SEEKS TO SHAVE BAYER PAYMENT FOR FATAL 2008 EXPLOSION IN INSTITUTE
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, death
Trump administration environmental regulators are seeking to reduce by nearly $1.4 million the amount Bayer CropScience will pay to resolve serious safety violations cited in the 2008 explosion that killed two workers at the Institute chemical plant, records show.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed to allow Bayer to cut the amount it spends on supplemental environmental projects under a legal settlement from $4.42 million to $3.05 million, according to EPA filings in federal court in Charleston.
Under the proposal, Bayer would not complete a more expensive wastewater treatment improvement project but would buy equipment for two local volunteer fire departments in Jefferson and Institute.
The Institute Volunteer Fire Department would get two new pumper trucks, thermal imaging cameras, breathing equipment, radios and hoses. The department in Jefferson, located across the Kanawha River from the plant, would get one new pumper truck, thermal imaging cameras and radios.
The EPA and Bayer said in court filings that the new proposal would ‰??better advance the objectives of chemical accident prevention laws that form the underlying basis of the enforcement action‰?? that led to the settlement.
The EPA and Bayer have been quietly working on the proposal since at least March. A notice about the proposal was published in the Federal Register last month, with a public comment period that runs through Thursday.
The matter is pending before U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr., who approved the original consent decree between the EPA and Bayer a little more than a year ago, in August 2016.
The EPA-Bayer deal concerns the Aug. 28, 2008, explosion and fire at the Institute plant, then owned by Bayer and now controlled by Dow, which recently merged with DuPont.
Plant workers Bill Oxley and Barry Withrow were killed, and the fatal explosion and fire brought renewed scrutiny, and eventually elimination, of the plant‰??s huge on-site stockpile of methyl isocyante, the chemical that killed thousands of people in a 1984 leak at a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India.
---------------------------------------------
TWO CREMATORY EMPLOYEES INJURED AFTER A CHEMICAL SPILL AT THE FACILITY
Tags: us_VA, industrial, release, injury, corrosives
Two employees of a crematory in Kempsville suffered minor injuries Saturday when a chemical used in the cremation process spilled inside the facility, according to a fire department spokesman.
The department was contacted shortly before 2 p.m. about a chemical spill of a mixture containing potassium hydroxide, said Capt. Christopher Arney.
The call came from the 4700 block of Baxter Road, where a pet hospice is located. Arney said the employees were injured when their skin came into contact with the corrosive chemical. Both were taken to the hospital for treatment. A hazardous materials response team cleaned up the spill.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL SPILL AT NORTH YORK PLANT SENDS AT LEAST TWO TO HOSPITAL
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical
Toronto Fire Services are still working to determine the source of a chemical spill at a North York recycling plant that sent at least two people to hospital.
District Chief Stephan Powell said workers were separating blue box materials at Canada Fibers Ltd. at 123 Arrow Rd., near Hwy. 400 and Sheppard Avenue, when they came in contact with an unknown substance just before midnight Thursday, Oct. 5.
Close to 60 people, including firefighters, showered off in the plant‰??s parking lot to decontaminate, Powell said.
At least two people were taken to hospital with breathing problems, he said, adding tests are being done to identify the substance.
Firefighters were still on scene as of 1:45 p.m. Friday, Powell said, noting he couldn‰??t say when the investigation would wrap up.
---------------------------------------------
EASTMAN: CHEMICALS RELEASED DURING EXPLOSIONS ‰??WAS SMALL AMOUNT, NEVER LEFT PLANT‰??
Tags: us_TN, industrial, follow-up, environmental, carbon_monoxide, hydrogen_sulfide
KINGSPORT, TN (WJHL) ‰?? An Eastman Chemical company spokesperson told News Channel 11 that a potentially harmful chemical released during a fire and explosions this week was a small amount and never left the plant site.
News Channel 11 also obtained an incident report from the National Response Center provided to us by TDEC or the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The document lists what caused the explosions an equipment failure.
Eastman said the incident happened during what it called an ‰??equipment swap‰?? in the coal gas area.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said for the first time that, ‰??Emissions resulting from the explosion at Eastman on Oct. 4 were in excess of the limits set by TDEC and that such excess emissions were atypical from a normally operating process at Eastman.‰??
The NRC incident report lists an equipment malfunction as the reason that ‰??Hydrogen Sulfide‰?? was released into the air.
During a press conference earlier this week Eastman officials told said ‰??Hydrogen‰?? and ‰??Carbon Monoxide‰?? were two agents emitted when the explosions happened.
In an emailed statement an Eastman spokesperson said the amount of Hydrogen Sulfide released was ‰??significantly less‰?? than is required to be reported to the government and that the company believes, ‰??The small amount of Hydrogen Sulfide was consumed at the time of the explosions and therefore did not leave the plant site.‰??
---------------------------------------------
4 IN HOSPITAL AFTER CHEMICAL RELEASED AT RECYCLE PLANT
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, injury, dust, waste
Four people are in hospital after a hazmat issue at a fibre recycling plant.
Emergency crews were called to Arrow Road, in the Sheppard Avenue West and Highway 400 area, just after midnight Firiday, for reports that some sort of chemical powder was released inside the building.
‰??We immediately isolated the situation [and] we had decontamination crews on site,‰?? Platoon Chief Doug Harper with Toronto Fire Services explained.
‰??Crews went inside and they investigated to try and determine what the actual source of this irritant was. Unfortunately it was inconclusive.‰??
Harper said that despite the substance being a minor irritant, for precautionary purposes all workers inside the plant were decontaminated and then turned over to paramedics to be evaluated.
Paramedics said the four people in hospital have respiratory issues but are expected to be okay.
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