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From: CHAS imap account <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (13 articles)
Date: Wed, 3 Feb 2021 06:24:55 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: 16F0E36D-152C-44C1-9951-4BD349C9B60C**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, February 3, 2021 at 6:24:19 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 (13 articles)
HAZMAT CREWS SWARM HOLLYWOOD PARK POLICE AFTER MYSTERIOUS SUBSTANCE ERUPTS DURING TESTING
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical, propanol
HAZMAT TEAM CALLED TO FIRE ON MURRAY STREET IN ROCHESTER
Tags: us_NY, industrial, fire, response, metals
CALGARY FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONDS TO HAZARDOUS MATERIALS INCIDENT IN CITY'S SOUTHEAST
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, injury, carbon_monoxide, sulfur_dioxide
TEXAS LAWMAKERS LOOK TO TIGHTEN RULES FOR STORAGE TANKS IN FLOOD-PRONE AREAS TO PREVENT CHEMICAL SPILLS, FIRES ‰?? HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, environmental
EXPLOSION ON MOVIE SET CRITICALLY INJURES 3 PEOPLE IN CALIF.
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
HOUSTON COUNTY EMA PREPARED FOR HAZMAT SITUATIONS
Tags: us_GA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, liquid_nitrogen
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY DISCOVERY COULD HELP INDIAN CITIES CLEAR AWAY THE HAZE
Tags: India, laboratory, discovery, environmental, waste
FEDERAL JUDGE SCRAPS US EPA‰??S SCIENCE RULE
Tags: public, follow-up, environmental
PROTECTING WORKERS: GUIDANCE ON MITIGATING AND PREVENTING THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 IN THE WORKPLACE
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
SCIENTISTS HAVE TAUGHT SPINACH TO SEND EMAILS AND IT COULD WARN US ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental, explosives, nanotech
ADVOCATES: WORKERS HERE ILLEGALLY MAY SHY FROM INVESTIGATORS
Tags: us_GA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, nitrogen
COUNTY COMMISSION WANTS LOS ALAMOS LAB TO CONDUCT STUDY
Tags: us_NM, industrial, follow-up, environmental
TWO MEN KILLED IN CHEMICAL TANK EXPLOSION AT PAPER MILL IN US NAGAR
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical
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HAZMAT CREWS SWARM HOLLYWOOD PARK POLICE AFTER MYSTERIOUS SUBSTANCE ERUPTS DURING TESTING
https://www.kens5.com/article/news/hazmat-crews-swarm-hollywood-park-police-after-mysterious-substance-erupts-during-testing/273-37c50c08-fca9-4e31-b92c-e0862e00fc06
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical, propanol
HOLLYWOOD PARK, Texas ‰?? One Hollywood Park police officer went through quite the eruptive experience over the weekend following a traffic stop and discovery of a strange, pink substance.
It began as a routine traffic stop for a speeding violation around 7 p.m. Saturday.
Hollywood Park Police Chief Shad Prichard said the driver, who was a courier for a pharmacy, had multiple arrest warrants. Once officer Denyse Munoz took the man into custody, she checked the car and came across what appeared to be a Tylenol bottle.
‰??When the officer opened it up, it had a pink liquid in it, which obviously isn‰??t a tablet of Tylenol and when she asked the driver what it was, he said he wasn‰??t sure,‰?? Prichard said.
Munoz kicked off a series of tests on the substance back at the police station.
‰??When you have a substance where you don‰??t know what it is, you have to start with test A and work your way down the list until you come up with the right test,‰?? Prichard said.
Munoz worked way to the heroin test, which is when Prichard said it got messy.
‰??When she puts the substance and closes up the flap of the test and sets it down, it didn‰??t take long for that thing to buildup pressure and it sounds about like a large firecracker,‰?? Prichard said.
The substance splattered everywhere, including on Officer Munoz. Bexar County Hazmat and an ATF bomb squad agent quickly arrived with a relieving resolution to the startling event.
‰??Once the hazmat team came and tested the substance to let us know, it‰??s basically alcohol and peroxide, we all felt much better about it and she‰??s doing just fine,‰?? Prichard said.
Hollywood police say rubbing alcohol has a violent reaction when it‰??s mixed with a certain chemical in their heroin field test kit.
Prichard noted from now, if they come across an unknown substance, they‰??ll send off to a DPS crime lab first for the safety of officers.
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HAZMAT TEAM CALLED TO FIRE ON MURRAY STREET IN ROCHESTER
https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/local-news/hazmat-team-called-to-fire-on-murray-street-in-rochester/
Tags: us_NY, industrial, fire, response, metals
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) ‰?? Around 50 firefighters and a Hazmat team were called to a fire at an industrial building Tuesday in Rochester.
According to the Rochester Fire Department, the automatic fire alarm went off in the building at the corner of Murray Street and Texas Street at 6:09 Tuesday evening. Firefighters were on scene within 4 minutes.
Crews found heavy smoke inside the building. They followed it to discover the fire in a machine shop in the back of the structure.
Firefighters say when they sprayed the fire with water, there was an explosive reaction. A Hazmat team was called in with special equipment to put the fire out and ‰??extinguish the metal shavings that were burning.‰??
The fire was put out without injuries to any firefighters or civilians. Damage was limited to one section of the building.
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CALGARY FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONDS TO HAZARDOUS MATERIALS INCIDENT IN CITY'S SOUTHEAST
https://www.660citynews.com/2021/02/02/calgary-fire-department-responds-to-hazardous-materials-incident-in-citys-southeast/
Tags: Canada, industrial, release, injury, carbon_monoxide, sulfur_dioxide
CALGARY (660 NEWS) ‰?? A gas leak in the city‰??s southeast has sent three people to hospital.
Calgary fire crews received a call just before 6 p.m. Tuesday in the 900 block of 48th Avenue where they were met by a worker saying his co-workers were losing consciousness.
Two other workers were found inside the commercial building exhibiting low levels of consciousness and feeling ill.
Once the injured were removed the hazardous materials response team was called in to investigate.
It was determined that a heater burning a recycled alternate fuel had malfunctioned leading to the release of high levels of carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and other gases.
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TEXAS LAWMAKERS LOOK TO TIGHTEN RULES FOR STORAGE TANKS IN FLOOD-PRONE AREAS TO PREVENT CHEMICAL SPILLS, FIRES ‰?? HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/energy-environment/2021/02/02/390415/texas-lawmakers-look-to-tighten-rules-for-storage-tanks-in-flood-prone-areas-to-prevent-chemical-spills-fires/
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, environmental
A bill sponsored by Democratic state Sen. Nathan Johnson from the Dallas area would require the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to come up with tougher rules for both new and existing storage tanks in areas prone to flooding, storm surge and hurricanes. In the past five years, Houston has had six major flooding disasters.
"We are seeing an increase in catastrophic, major weather events that would threaten these types of structures," Johnson said. "They contain chemicals, substances that are extremely harmful to human health. They‰??re not cleaned up quickly."
Though the TCEQ currently has a list of requirements for below-ground storage tanks, above-ground storage tanks are exempt. Johnson's bill would change that.
Johnson filed a similar bill during the last state legislative session in 2019, which got a hearing, but never made it out of committee for a vote. This time, Johnson said he's simplified the bill by leaving it up to the TCEQ to work with stakeholders to craft appropriate requirements. He hopes this will make it easier for more lawmakers to get on board.
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EXPLOSION ON MOVIE SET CRITICALLY INJURES 3 PEOPLE IN CALIF.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-movie-set-explosion-people-injured-20210203-zpmdofmcc5ewnc6lh6hu5uk5q4-story.html
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
Three people were critically injured Tuesday afternoon in an explosion on a movie set in Los Angeles County.
The explosion sparked a brush fire in the far north suburb of Santa Clarita, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Authorities responded to a fire in Los Angeles County on Tuesday afternoon.
The county fire department contained the blaze after it torched about one acre.
A preliminary investigation showed some sort of chemical mishap caused the explosion, officials told the Times. They did not reveal which movie was being filmed.
People have been advised to avoid the area, and the incident is under further investigation.
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HOUSTON COUNTY EMA PREPARED FOR HAZMAT SITUATIONS
https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/its-always-a-potential-risk-houston-county-says-theyre-prepared-for-hazmat-situations/93-943c5a66-279f-4f7a-b3e1-e074b064b089
Tags: us_GA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, liquid_nitrogen
HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. ‰?? The investigation continues into the cause of a liquid nitrogen leak at a Gainesville chicken plant that killed six people.
It's a pretty common chemical found in food processing plants and, while not poisonous to humans, it can kill you.
When it expands from a liquid into a gaseous state, it can displace the oxygen in your lungs and suffocate you.
RELATED: Here's what we know about the Gainesville liquid nitrogen leak
Taking a look around Central Georgia, we have manufacturing plants in our own back yards that use similar and fairly common chemicals.
Perdue Farms, Frito-Lay and a lively train route means chemicals are on the move and being used in Houston County.
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ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY DISCOVERY COULD HELP INDIAN CITIES CLEAR AWAY THE HAZE
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/atmospheric-chemistry-discovery-could-help-indian-cities-clear-away-the-haze/4013149.article
Tags: India, laboratory, discovery, environmental, waste
A new study suggests that high levels of chloride from industry and burning plastic waste could be responsible for enhanced haze and fog formation in Delhi and Chennai,1 leading to around half the reduced visibility in India‰??s capital city and having serious implications for health and the economy. The results could help researchers understand why some polluted regions are more prone to smog and cloud than others.
Many cities in India are affected by pollution, with air quality being particularly bad in winter. Particulate matter ‰?? a mixture of suspended solid and liquid particles ‰?? is a key atmospheric contaminant that affects millions of people across the country. ‰??The low visibility associated with haze and fog can cause air traffic delays and increase motor vehicle accidents,‰?? notes Pengfei Liu, an atmospheric chemist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US, who led the study together with Sachin Gunthe of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. ‰??The severe air pollution also causes increases in cardiovascular, respiratory and neurological diseases,‰?? he adds. ‰??We can‰??t tackle this air pollution problem unless we understand the chemical mechanism behind it.‰??
It is unclear why Delhi is more affected by haze and fog than other polluted Asian cities, although a large fraction of its particulate matter is primary organic matter. Now, the international team may have found the answer. ‰??We determined the chemical composition of atmospheric fine particles in Indian cities and observed unexpectedly high concentrations of chloride,‰?? Liu says.
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FEDERAL JUDGE SCRAPS US EPA‰??S SCIENCE RULE
https://cen.acs.org/environment/Federal-judge-scraps-US-EPAs/99/web/2021/02
Tags: public, follow-up, environmental
federal court Feb. 1 struck down a controversial Trump administration rule on the Environmental Protection Agency‰??s use of science.
The rule changed how the EPA weighs scientific information that underpins its regulations on pollution control and restriction of commercial chemicals. Under the rule, the EPA had to give greater weight to studies based on data that are available for public review. That presented a problem for epidemiological studies based on confidential health records.
Critics say the rule undermined the agency‰??s ability to protect public health and the environment. But supporters, including the US chemical industry‰??s largest lobbying group, the American Chemistry Council, say the rule strengthened the agency‰??s scientific basis for regulations.
The EPA issued the rule Jan. 6, making it effective immediately and thus binding on the Biden-Harris administration.
But a federal trial court in Montana found Jan. 27 that the rule didn‰??t qualify to take effect immediately. Under federal law, only procedural rules qualify to take effect at once, the US District Court for the District of Montana says in an order. The rule on EPA science ‰??determines outcomes rather than process‰?? and thus cannot be legally classified as a procedural rule, Chief District Judge Brian Morris wrote.
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PROTECTING WORKERS: GUIDANCE ON MITIGATING AND PREVENTING THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 IN THE WORKPLACE
https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/safework#role-employers-workers
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
This guidance is intended to inform employers and workers in most workplace settings outside of healthcare to help them identify risks of being exposed to and/or contracting COVID-19 at work and to help them determine appropriate control measures to implement. Separate guidance is applicable to healthcare (CDC guidance) and emergency response (CDC guidance) settings. OSHA has additional industry-specific guidance. This guidance contains recommendations as well as descriptions of mandatory safety and health standards. The recommendations are advisory in nature, informational in content, and are intended to assist employers in providing a safe and healthful workplace.
COVID-19 is a highly infectious disease that is spread most commonly through respiratory droplets and particles produced when an infected person exhales, talks, vocalizes, sneezes, or coughs. COVID-19 is highly transmissible and can be spread by people who have no symptoms. Particles containing the virus can travel more than 6 feet, especially indoors, and can be spread by individuals who do not know they are infected.
Face Coverings, either cloth face coverings or surgical masks, are simple barriers that help prevent respiratory droplets from your nose and mouth from reaching others. Face coverings protect those around you, in case you are infected but do not know it, and can also reduce your own exposure to infection in certain circumstances. Wearing a face covering is complementary to and not a replacement for physical distancing.
Employers should implement COVID-19 Prevention Programs in the workplace. The most effective programs engage workers and their union or other representatives in the program's development, and include the following key elements: conducting a hazard assessment; identifying a combination of measures that limit the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace; adopting measures to ensure that workers who are infected or potentially infected are separated and sent home from the workplace; and implementing protections from retaliation for workers who raise COVID-19 related concerns.
The guidance below provides additional detail on key measures for limiting the spread of COVID-19, starting with separating and sending home infected or potentially infected people from the workplace, implementing physical distancing, installing barriers where physical distancing cannot be maintained, and suppressing the spread by using face coverings. It also provides guidance on use of personal protective equipment (PPE), when necessary, improving ventilation, providing supplies for good hygiene, and routine cleaning and disinfection.
OSHA will continue to update this guidance over time to reflect developments in science, best practices, and standards, and will keep track of changes for the sake of transparency. In addition, OSHA expects to continue to update guidance relevant to particular industries or workplace situations over time.
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SCIENTISTS HAVE TAUGHT SPINACH TO SEND EMAILS AND IT COULD WARN US ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE
https://www.euronews.com/living/2021/02/01/scientists-have-taught-spinach-to-send-emails-and-it-could-warn-us-about-climate-change
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental, explosives, nanotech
It may sound like something out of a futuristic science fiction film, but scientists have managed to engineer spinach plants which are capable of sending emails.
Through nanotechnology, engineers at MIT in the US have transformed spinach into sensors capable of detecting explosive materials. These plants are then able to wirelessly relay this information back to the scientists.
When the spinach roots detect the presence of nitroaromatics in groundwater, a compound often found in explosives like landmines, the carbon nanotubes within the plant leaves emit a signal. This signal is then read by an infrared camera, sending an email alert to the scientists.
This experiment is part of a wider field of research which involves engineering electronic components and systems into plants. The technology is known as ‰??plant nanobionics‰??, and is effectively the process of giving plants new abilities.
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ADVOCATES: WORKERS HERE ILLEGALLY MAY SHY FROM INVESTIGATORS
https://www.startribune.com/advocates-workers-here-illegally-may-shy-from-investigators/600017770/
Tags: us_GA, industrial, follow-up, environmental, nitrogen
ATLANTA ‰?? Immigrant advocates say they fear workers at a Georgia poultry plant where a liquid nitrogen leak killed six people may not come forward to federal investigators for fear of arrest and deportation.
Speaking at a news conference, lawyer Shelly Anand called Monday on the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Homeland Security to work together to guarantee any of the workers in the country illegally be shielded from deportation.
Anand, executive director of the Atlanta-based immigrant rights nonprofit Sur Legal Collaborative, called on both federal departments "to find a way to protect these workers by granting them deferred action or continued presence."
It's not clear if any such protection will be forthcoming, though. The Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Labor did not immediately answer questions Monday about whether workers who are talking to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, part of the Department of Labor, would be safe from deportation.
Of the six workers who died Thursday after the nitrogen leak at the Foundation Food Group plant northeast of Atlanta, five were Mexican citizens. It's unclear if any of them were in the country illegally. But that and other plants in Gainesville, the hub of Georgia's mammoth poultry industry, rely on a heavily Latino workforce ‰?? often a mix of people with and without legal status.
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COUNTY COMMISSION WANTS LOS ALAMOS LAB TO CONDUCT STUDY
https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/county-commission-wants-los-alamos-lab-to-conduct-study/5996822/
Tags: us_NM, industrial, follow-up, environmental
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) ‰?? The Santa Fe County Commission wants Los Alamos National Laboratory to conduct a site-wide environmental review of the potential effects of ramping up production of the plutonium cores used in the nation‰??s nuclear arsenal.
The commission on Tuesday approved a resolution outlining its wishes. It comes as the lab plans to increase production to 30 cores per year by 2026.
The last site-wide review at the northern New Mexico lab was done 13 years ago, the Albuquerque Journal reported.
Officials with the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nuclear stockpile, determined last year that an updated review wasn‰??t need because there was already sufficient information.
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TWO MEN KILLED IN CHEMICAL TANK EXPLOSION AT PAPER MILL IN US NAGAR
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/two-men-killed-in-chemical-tank-explosion-at-paper-mill-in-us-nagar/articleshow/80617214.cms
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical
Rudrapur: Two men died in a chemical tank explosion at a paper mill in the Kashipur town of Udham Singh Nagar district around 3.30 am on Sunday. The paper mill is located at the Moradabad Road and the workers were carrying out maintenance activities when the accident took place, the police said.
They were taken to a private hospital immediately after the blast but were pronounced dead by the doctors. Subsequently, the bodies were sent for autopsy. The deceased were identified as Rahul Kumar (30), a resident of Dilari village in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh, and Pratap Singh (27), resident of Hastinapur, Meerut.
Meanwhile, Vinay Mittal, in-charge of the Surya police outpost, said that the bodies have been handed over to the kin after the postmortem examination. ‰??A probe has been ordered into the accident to check if the factory management compromised with the security arrangements at the mill. We will register a case against the mill owners and the management if the kin of the victims file a complaint,‰?? he added.
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