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From: DCHAS Membership Chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (4 articles)
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2020 07:31:27 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: B2172918-8DE1-4A44-A42E-5D372E593D28**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, February 17, 2020 at 7:31:14 AM
A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (4 articles)
ARKEMA AND ITS EXECUTIVES TO GO ON TRIAL FOR RELEASING POLLUTANTS, INJURING DEPUTY SHERIFFS DURING HARVEY
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, illegal, peroxide
HOUSTON BLAST PROMPTS SAFETY DEBATE IN CITY WITH NO ZONING
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, petroleum
NEWBURYPORT CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING FACILITY WITH HISTORY OF PAST SAFETY VIOLATIONS REOPENS AFTER 6 EXPLOSIONS
Tags: us_MA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, pharmaceutical
CELL PHONE BATTERY EXPLOSION INJURES SEVERAL AT HOUSTON SCHOOL
Tags: us_TX, education, explosion, injury, batteries
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ARKEMA AND ITS EXECUTIVES TO GO ON TRIAL FOR RELEASING POLLUTANTS, INJURING DEPUTY SHERIFFS DURING HARVEY
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Arkema-and-its-executives-to-go-on-trial-for-15060936.php
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, illegal, peroxide
The criminal trial of the French chemical company Arkema and several of its top employees accused of releasing pollutants and assaulting two deputy sheriffs during Hurricane Harvey is set to start this week in Harris County.
The Harris County District Attorney‰??s Office charged the company and its then-vice president for logistics Michael Keough last April, for allegedly telling county emergency officials that Arkema had real-time monitoring data of all of the trailers holding hazardous organic peroxides at its Crosby plant when that wasn‰??t the case. About nine months earlier, the state had brought another felony reckless charge against the company, its CEO Richard Rowe and its plant manager Leslie Comardelle for releasing toxic chemicals.
At the center of the state‰??s case is why Arkema didn‰??t move its organic peroxides, which are used to make plastics and must often be kept at temperatures at or near freezing to prevent the chemicals from self-combusting, as it prepared for the landfall of Hurricane Harvey. Also, the DA‰??s office says that the company misrepresented how closely it could monitor the temperature all of the hazardous material remotely to be able to warn emergency responders to safely evacuate.
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HOUSTON BLAST PROMPTS SAFETY DEBATE IN CITY WITH NO ZONING
https://www.wfmj.com/story/41706819/houston-blast-prompts-safety-debate-in-city-with-no-zoning
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, environmental, petroleum
HOUSTON (AP) - Houston‰??s lack of zoning restrictions has left many residents with neighbors they don't want: petrochemical facilities and businesses that handle hazardous materials.
That unease was laid bare again last month when a massive explosion leveled a metal fabricating and manufacturing business in the northwest of the city, killing two workers, damaging hundreds of nearby buildings and homes, and terrifying their occupants.
Quan Nguyen, a 49-year-old plumbing, heating and air conditioning technician whose house is a few hundred yards (meters) from Watson Grinding and Manufacturing, said the Jan. 24 blast knocked him out of bed and caused his wife to fall and hit her head while she was getting a drink of water. Some of their ceilings collapsed and the explosion shattered the windows in their sleeping son's bedroom, but thankfully none of them were seriously injured.
‰??I feel like it needs to be separated, businesses from residential areas. If they (have) businesses around here with chemicals, probably they have to be maintained more often, more inspections for them,‰?? said Nguyen, voicing a growing sentiment in a city and region that has endured six major industrial accidents in the past year that have killed three people, injured dozens of others, and forced temporary evacuations and school closures.
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NEWBURYPORT CHEMICAL MANUFACTURING FACILITY WITH HISTORY OF PAST SAFETY VIOLATIONS REOPENS AFTER 6 EXPLOSIONS
https://www.masslive.com/police-fire/2020/02/newburyport-chemical-manufacturing-facility-with-history-of-past-safety-violations-reopens-after-6-explosions.html
Tags: us_MA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, pharmaceutical
A chemical manufacturing facility in Newburyport with a history of past environmental and safety violations reopened Friday after a series of explosions blew a hole through the roof of the building, officials said.
Authorities responded early Thursday morning to a fire alarm at 9 Opportunity Way, an industrial park where PCI Synthesis, a pharmaceutical development and manufacturing company, is located, fire officials said.
Smoke was found inside the facility, and three explosions were immediately reported, Stephen Bradbury, Newburyport deputy fire chief, said Thursday. Three more explosions occurred shortly after, and a Level 2 hazmat response was issued. Nobody was injured.
‰??Most of the facility was untouched and is completely operational,‰?? PCI Synthesis said in a statement. ‰??We want to thank the authorities for their quick work in ensuring the facility is safe and ready to re-open so that we can get back to work.‰??
Less than 10 employees at the facility, which operates 24 hours a day, were working at the time of the initial explosions, and multiple firefighters were in the general building. Everyone inside the building was evacuated after the first series of explosions, Newburyport Fire Chief Christopher LeClaire and City Marshal Mark Murray said in a joint statement.
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CELL PHONE BATTERY EXPLOSION INJURES SEVERAL AT HOUSTON SCHOOL
https://www.ajc.com/news/exploding-cell-phone-battery-injures-several-texas-junior-high-students/mbhufrFFSjJEaYcUQtDXbL/
Tags: us_TX, education, explosion, injury, batteries
A cellphone caught on fire early Friday afternoon at a Texas junior high school, causing at least one student to suffer thermal burns and sending 10 other people to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
The explosion happened at Mayde Creek Junior High School in Houston, according to the Harris County Fire Marshal‰??s Office, which is investigating the incident.Between 25 and 40 students were reportedly being evaluated for injuries after the explosion.
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