| About This Archive | | DCHAS-L 2021 Index | | DCHAS-L Yearly Index | |
Check out Safety Emporium for your N95, N99, and face shield needs.
|
Previous by Date: Subject: [DCHAS-L] [CHMINF-L] NIH Virtual Workshop on InChI, March 22-24,2021 Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2021 06:26:49 -0500 Author: CHAS imap account |
Next by Date: Subject: [DCHAS-L] Lab Ventilation Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2021 14:30:10 +0000 Author: Stephen Beaton |
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, February 22, 2021 at 6:47:30 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)
UNION PACIFIC TRAIN CARRYING FLAMABLE LIQUID DERAILS IN MILLARD COUNTY
Tags: us_UT, transportation, release, response, flammables
HOLMEN FD RESPONDS TO HAZARDOUS MATERIALS CALL
Tags: us_WI, public, discovery, response, mercury
LEBANON'S INVESTIGATION INTO BEIRUT PORT EXPLOSION STRUGGLES
Tags: Lebanon, public, follow-up, environmental, ammonium_nitrate
ONE SERIOUSLY HURT IN TRAILER FIRE; CREWS RESPOND TO HAZARDOUS GAS LEAK
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, response, ammonia
PROCESS SAFETY ACROSS THE CHEMICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM
Tags: us_MI, education, discovery, environmental
OIL SPILL FROM PASSING SHIP BLACKENS ISRAEL'S MEDITERRANEAN SHORELINE
Tags: Israel, transportation, release, response, oils
TEXAS FREEZE LED TO RELEASE OF TONS OF AIR POLLUTANTS AS REFINERIES SHUT
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, environmental, petroleum
8 PEOPLE HOSPITALIZED FOR CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING DUE TO MALFUNCTIONING FURNACE INSIDE BROOKLYN ROWHOME, OFFICIALS SAY ‰?? CBS BALTIMORE
Tags: us_MD, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide
STORED SANITISER CAUSES MAJOR DISASTER IN LITTLE FALLS
Tags: South_Africa, public, explosion, response, other_chemical
FOR OIL INDUSTRY, ST. JOSEPH IS PASS-THROUGH COUNTRY
Tags: us_MO, transportation, discovery, environmental, acids, petroleum
INSIDE A POWER-PLANT BLAZE: EVERYBODY HAD TRAINED FOR IT, NOBODY GOT HURT, STILL INTENSE AND SCARY
Tags: us_FL, industrial, fire, response, metals
STILL HIGHLY FLAMMABLE
Tags: Bangladesh, industrial, follow-up, environmental, flammables
ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS LINKED TO SEVERAL CANCERS: EXPERT
Tags: India, public, discovery, environmental, ag_chems
---------------------------------------------
UNION PACIFIC TRAIN CARRYING FLAMABLE LIQUID DERAILS IN MILLARD COUNTY
https://www.abc4.com/news/local-news/union-pacific-train-carrying-flamable-liquid-derails-in-millard-county/
Tags: us_UT, transportation, release, response, flammables
MILLARD COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) ‰?? A Union Pacific train with 28 cars and some carrying flamable liquid derailed in Millard County Saturday afternoon.
According to a representative from Union Pacific, the incident happened around 4:30 p.m. at a part along state Route 257 near milepost 25.
Hazmat was called to the scene as several of the cars were carrying a flamable liquid but authorities those liquids were been safely removed.
---------------------------------------------
HOLMEN FD RESPONDS TO HAZARDOUS MATERIALS CALL
https://wxow.com/2021/02/21/holmen-fd-responds-to-hazardous-materials-call/
Tags: us_WI, public, discovery, response, mercury
HOLMEN, Wis. (WXOW) - Mercury found in a cabinet bought at a garage sale leads the Holmen Fire Department and the La Crosse Fire Department's Hazardous Materials Team to a residence Saturday afternoon.
Holmen Area Fire Chief Buck Manley said they were called to the home around 3:15 p.m. after the person found the mercury.
Holmen then called the La Crosse Fire Department who sent their team to the site to help secure the hazardous material. They were on the scene for approximately 90 minutes.
Chief Manley said the La Crosse County Emergency Management Department and Wisconsin DNR were also contacted about the incident.
---------------------------------------------
LEBANON'S INVESTIGATION INTO BEIRUT PORT EXPLOSION STRUGGLES
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/beirut-explosion-blast-investigation/2021/02/20/632f75a6-72ba-11eb-8651-6d3091eac63f_story.html
Tags: Lebanon, public, follow-up, environmental, ammonium_nitrate
BEIRUT ‰?? The Lebanese judge leading the investigation into the August explosion that tore through Beirut had set his sights on the caretaker prime minister and three former ministers, charging them with negligence for ignoring the highly combustible material stored for six years on the waterfront.
But when two of the former ministers filed a complaint, alleging Judge Fadi Sawan had demonstrated a lack of neutrality by charging prominent figures to appease the public, he was dropped last week from the case. The Lebanese court that dismissed Sawan further questioned whether he could be impartial because his own home ‰?? like those of hundreds of thousands of other Beirutis ‰?? had been damaged in the blast.
More than six months after the explosion, which killed more than 200 people, injured more than 7,500 others and devastated large portions of the capital, the official investigation is struggling to break through Lebanon‰??s culture of corruption and political influence to hold anyone of consequence accountable.
Sawan had already brought charges against 33 people, placing 25 of them in detention, but most were low-level customs, port and security officials.
---------------------------------------------
ONE SERIOUSLY HURT IN TRAILER FIRE; CREWS RESPOND TO HAZARDOUS GAS LEAK
https://www.wcia.com/news/local-news/one-seriously-hurt-in-trailer-fire-crews-respond-to-hazardous-gas-leak/
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, response, ammonia
Crews were then called out around 2 p.m. to a reported anhydrous ammonia leak at the ADM plant, Watson says.
At the scene, Decatur Fire mobilized their HAZMAT response teams and began coordinating with plant security, he says.
ADM had three response teams, Watson says, that went in and turned off the control valves in the plant. DFD crews remained on standby as decontamination and emergency medical teams.
The fire chief says no one was hurt by the gas leak. He adds ADM teams kept it under control to where it was just a ‰??small‰?? leak.
Watson adds responding to chemical leaks requires a lot of manpower from fire departments.
---------------------------------------------
PROCESS SAFETY ACROSS THE CHEMICAL ENGINEERING CURRICULUM
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chas.0c00116
Tags: us_MI, education, discovery, environmental
Chemical process safety must be an integral part of a chemical engineer‰??s training. This training could be achieved through a course on chemical process safety, but the undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum is often fully packed, with virtually no credit hours available for incorporating additional courses. Consequently, a very small percentage of graduating seniors may receive adequate training in process safety. In this paper, we describe the University of Michigan‰??s Safety Modules on the Process Safety Across the Chemical Engineering Curriculum website (http://umich.edu/~safeche/index.html">http://umich.edu/~safeche/index.html) which offer a unique and efficient way to impart a chemical process safety mindset into our students in every core course in the chemical engineering curriculum, thus graduating more prepared engineers who are equipped to prevent major industrial accidents.
---------------------------------------------
OIL SPILL FROM PASSING SHIP BLACKENS ISRAEL'S MEDITERRANEAN SHORELINE
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/21/oil-spill-from-passing-ship-blackens-israel-mediterranean-shoreline?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Tags: Israel, transportation, release, response, oils
Israeli authorities are trying to find the ship responsible for an oil spill that drenched much of its Mediterranean shoreline with tar, an environmental blow that will take months or years to clean up, officials said.
Thousands of volunteers gathered on Sunday to remove clumps of sticky black refuse from the pale beaches. Israel‰??s military said it was deploying thousands of soldiers to help with the effort. Authorities warned members of the public to keep their distance until further notice.
Environmental groups called it a disaster. Attesting to the cost to wildlife, they posted pictures of tar-covered turtles.
The event began last week during a winter storm, which made it harder to see the tar approaching and deal with it at sea, Israeli officials said.
---------------------------------------------
TEXAS FREEZE LED TO RELEASE OF TONS OF AIR POLLUTANTS AS REFINERIES SHUT
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/21/texas-freeze-oil-refineries-shut-release-air-pollutants?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, environmental, petroleum
The largest oil refineries released tons of air pollutants into the skies over Texas this week, according to figures provided to the state, as one environmental crisis triggered another.
Refiners and petrochemical plants along the US Gulf coast scrambled to shut production as an arctic air mass spread into a region unused to frigid temperatures.
The extreme cold, which killed at least two dozen people in Texas and knocked out power to more than 4m at its peak, also hit natural gas and electric generation, cutting supplies needed to run the plants.
Shutdowns led to the refineries flaring, or burning and releasing gases, to prevent damage to processing units. That flaring darkened the skies in eastern Texas, with smoke visible for miles.
‰??These emissions can dwarf the usual emissions of the refineries by orders of magnitude,‰?? said Jane Williams, chair of the Sierra Club‰??s national clean air team, adding that US regulators must change policies that allow ‰??these massive emissions to occur with impunity‰??.
The five largest refiners emitted nearly 337,000lb of pollutants, including benzene, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide, according to preliminary data supplied to the Texas Commission on Environment Quality (TCEQ).
---------------------------------------------
8 PEOPLE HOSPITALIZED FOR CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING DUE TO MALFUNCTIONING FURNACE INSIDE BROOKLYN ROWHOME, OFFICIALS SAY ‰?? CBS BALTIMORE
https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2021/02/20/8-people-hospitalized-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-brooklyn-rowhome-baltimore/
Tags: us_MD, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ‰?? Eight people were taken to the hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning due to a malfunctioning furnace inside of a Brooklyn rowhome Saturday night, according to Baltimore City Firefighter Union IAFF Local 734.
Baltimore City Firefighter Union IAFF Local 734 said crews found multiple sick patients inside of a rowhome in Brooklyn.
---------------------------------------------
STORED SANITISER CAUSES MAJOR DISASTER IN LITTLE FALLS
https://roodepoortrecord.co.za/2021/02/20/stored-sanitiser-causes-major-disaster-in-little-falls/
Tags: South_Africa, public, explosion, response, other_chemical
A chemical explosion in Little Falls left residents gasping for air before midnight yesterday, 19 February.
Just after 11pm, the BCI control room received a call of an explosion on the community WhatsApp group, reporting what sounded like a huge explosion which turned into a toxic and repulsive smell rocking the neighborhood.
While multiple security companies searched the area for the source, BCI Security‰??s Quinton Young said a resident approached one of their managers from Cascades Road and explained that the explosion came from behind them in Hoogeland, Little Falls.
‰??Their windows were blown out and a strong smell was in the house forcing them to stay outside,‰?? Young reported.
‰??On further investigation, the house was discovered and residents were found sitting outside, in shock,‰?? he added.
It was initially speculated that the residents were producing sanitiser in a steel drum and forgot to decant. However, Young clarified after meeting with the property owner that he stored the drum to transport it to Limpopo, but his mistake was to leave it in the sun for the whole day.
‰??The resident directly behind has structural damage to the property and most of their windows blown out,‰?? Young provided the report.
---------------------------------------------
FOR OIL INDUSTRY, ST. JOSEPH IS PASS-THROUGH COUNTRY
https://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/for-oil-industry-st-joseph-is-pass-through-country/article_eef8daa6-720a-11eb-b70e-17258246cb5b.html
Tags: us_MO, transportation, discovery, environmental, acids, petroleum
The trains roll past the Region H Hazmat Building on such a regular basis, it would be easy not to notice.
Bill Brinton, Buchanan County‰??s emergency management coordinator, takes more than a passing interest. It‰??s his job to think about what could be on those trains.
‰??There are probably 50, 60 trains that go by this building every day,‰?? Brinton said. ‰??A lot of times, I‰??ll sit out there and watch them go by.‰??
He takes special interest in the tanker cars that carry various types of liquids: acids, farm chemicals, petroleum and crude oil. No one is quite sure how much comes through, although it is possible to glean information from the placards on the trains. The Association of American Railroads will provide a written list of the top 25 hazmat commodities transported through a community.
‰??There‰??s lots of petroleum that goes by,‰?? Brinton said. ‰??They go through populated areas. Right through Downtown St. Joe. I do worry about the potential. It‰??s very, very minute, but I worry about the potential for and accident.‰??
---------------------------------------------
INSIDE A POWER-PLANT BLAZE: EVERYBODY HAD TRAINED FOR IT, NOBODY GOT HURT, STILL INTENSE AND SCARY
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/environment/os-ne-ouc-power-plant-fire-20210219-qc3n7wtqwvabhpj4nsb4lr6w4y-story.html
Tags: us_FL, industrial, fire, response, metals
An Orlando power plant erupted with its most dangerous fire ever a week ago.
Plant operators and firefighters had long trained together for such an incident. It was extinguished, with none of more than 50 people attacking the flames hurt and damage confined. But it was still harrowing, with invaluable property at risk and mounting fears of a catastrophe as emergency personnel rushed through the night for a close-quarters assault on the fire.
‰??This right here might be a major explosion getting ready to happen,‰?? said a plant operator in an urgent 911 call.
It happened inside a ‰??dog house,‰?? a large building made of thick metal walls inside and on the third floor of a giant, high-rise building in east Orange County. The blaze enveloped a piece of machinery called a turbine, an elongated propeller as long as and far heavier than a city bus that emits a deafening scream at 3,600 revolutions per minute. The temperature of the turbine, which is spun by a torrent of steam, ordinarily runs at a flame-hot, 1,000 degrees.
---------------------------------------------
STILL HIGHLY FLAMMABLE
https://www.thedailystar.net/city/news/still-highly-flammable-2048001
Tags: Bangladesh, industrial, follow-up, environmental, flammables
The buildings that caught fire two years back at Chawkbazar's Churihatta have been renovated, but survivors are still reeling from the horrors of that deadly night.
On February 20, 2019, a huge explosion ripped through Churihatta intersection, causing a massive inferno that engulfed three surrounding multi-storey buildings. The tragic incident left 67 people dead on the spot and injured more than 20.
Over the next 11 days, four more victims succumbed to their burns.
The inferno forced the government to take a flurry of measures like sealing off and removing chemical warehouses in the area. Another major plan was to relocate chemical stores from the densely-populated neighbourhood to somewhere safe.
Still, Old Dhaka houses extremely hazardous stocks of flammable chemicals and risky factories without any safety measures whatsoever, putting lives of hundreds of people at serious risk of fires.
---------------------------------------------
ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS LINKED TO SEVERAL CANCERS: EXPERT
http://www.uniindia.com/endocrine-disruptors-linked-to-several-cancers-expert/west/news/2323702.html
Tags: India, public, discovery, environmental, ag_chems
Panaji, Feb 20 (UNI) Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are an exogenous (non-natural) chemical or mixture of chemicals that interferes with any aspect of hormone action. There is good reason to suspect that increasing chemical production and use is related to the growing incidence of endocrine-associated disorders over the past 20 years, including male reproductive problems, early female puberty, cancers, and neuro-behavioural disorders, according to an expert.
Speaking to UNI, Dr Naresh Purohit, Advisor-National Cancer Control Programme, averred that the exponential growth of pollutant discharges into the environment due to increasing industrial and agricultural activities is a rising threat for human health and a biggest concern for environmental health globally.
''Several synthetic chemicals, categorized as potential environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), are evident to affect the health of not only livestock and wildlife but also humankind. In recent years, human exposure to environmental EDCs has received increased awareness due to their association with altered human health as documented by several epidemiological and experimental studies. EDCs are associated with deleterious effects on male and female reproductive health; causes diabetes, obesity, metabolic disorders, thyroid homeostasis and increase the risk of hormone-sensitive cancers. These EDCs act via various receptors through a variety of known and unknown mechanisms including epigenetic modification,'' he said.
Quoting his recent scientific study published in the Asian Journal of Environmental Health, Lead Author and acclaimed Epidemiologist, Dr Purohit said most of the information on the detrimental effect of EDCs comes from animal studies.
---------------------------------------------
---
For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post