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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, February 11, 2022 at 6:27:11 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 (12 articles)
70 EVACUATED IN TOWER BRIDGE CHEMICAL SPILLS
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, response, pool_chemicals
CAPE FEAR REGIONAL SPECIAL TEAMS BOMB SQUAD REMOVES HAZARDOUS MATERIALS FROM RAILROAD MUSEUM
Tags: us_NC, public, discovery, response, bomb
FUNDS AVAILABLE TO HELP IMPACTED RESIDENTS AFTER CHEMICAL FIRE
Tags: us_NC, public, follow-up, environmental, ag_chems
QUESTIONS REMAIN ABOUT CHEMICALS STORED AT BURNED FERTILIZER PLANT
Tags: us_NC, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ammonium_nitrate
MAJOR BLAZE AT OIL EXTRACTION FIRM AT KINFRA PARK DOUSED AFTER 7 HOURS- THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
Tags: India, laboratory, fire, injury, flammables
'OIL SPILLS OF OUR TIME': EXPERTS SOUND ALARM ABOUT PLASTIC LOST IN CARGO SHIP DISASTERS
Tags: Sri_Lanka, transportation, follow-up, environmental, metals, oils, plastics, various_chemicals
EXPLOSIVES FOUND AT HOME IN THURSTON COUNTY
Tags: us_WA, public, discovery, response, explosives
WINSTON-SALEM FERTILIZER FIRE REVEALS REGULATORY LOOPHOLES, SPURS HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT BUILDING AND WORKPLACE SAFETY
Tags: us_NC, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ag_chems, ammonium_nitrate
BRIDGETOWN BUSHFIRE SURVIVORS WAIT TO LEARN EXTENT OF CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION
Tags: Australia, public, fire, response, metals
LFR RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT FORMER GOODYEAR BUILDING
Tags: us_NE, industrial, release, response, flammables
CHEMICAL LEAK AT NORTHEAST LINCOLN MANUFACTURER FORCES EVACUATION, OFFICIALS SAY
Tags: us_OK, industrial, release, response, flammables, solvent
MUSCATINE TRANSFER STATION REOPENS AFTER MINOR CHEMICAL SPILL INCIDENT
Tags: us_IA, industrial, follow-up, response, bleach, waste
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70 EVACUATED IN TOWER BRIDGE CHEMICAL SPILLS
https://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/tower-bridge-chemical-incident-8681990
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, response, pool_chemicals
A man was treated by paramedics and 70 people were evacuated from a block of flats during a chemical incident near Tower Bridge.
Emergency services were called at 10.20am yesterday - February 9 - after the process of mixing chemicals for a swimming pool in the basement of a block of flats went wrong.
About 25 firefighters carried out a sweep of the mixed-use commercial and residential block in Tower Brigade Road where they found "elevated readings of chemical substances".
Crews evacuated about 70 people from the building and set up a 50-metre cordon as a precaution.
The incident lasted for nearly five hours, during which firefighters used specialist equipment to contain a chemical spill and ventilated the property.
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CAPE FEAR REGIONAL SPECIAL TEAMS BOMB SQUAD REMOVES HAZARDOUS MATERIALS FROM RAILROAD MUSEUM
https://www.wect.com/2022/02/09/wpd-bomb-squad-removing-hazardous-materials-railroad-museum/
Tags: us_NC, public, discovery, response, bomb
N.C. (WECT) - The Wilmington Police Department brought in the Cape Fear Regional Special Teams Bomb Squad to remove 'outdated railroad flares and other hazardous materials' from the Railroad Museum on Wednesday.
Officials say units were called to the scene at approximately 10:30 a.m.
According to museum officials, volunteers were cleaning up some boxes when some of the potentially hazardous items were found inside the caboose located outside the building. Two more items were then found inside the building.
Staff members then called the Wilmington Police Department.
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FUNDS AVAILABLE TO HELP IMPACTED RESIDENTS AFTER CHEMICAL FIRE
https://www.wfdd.org/story/funds-available-help-impacted-residents-after-chemical-fire
Tags: us_NC, public, follow-up, environmental, ag_chems
Residents in Winston-Salem who were forced to leave their homes after a chemical fire can now get some help with their evacuation expenses.
City officials recently announced that the Winston Weaver Fertilizer Plant designated $100,000 dollars to assist with community relief efforts.
So far, the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina received a quarter of that pot. The organization provided meals to families and first responders during the emergency.
A local nonprofit called Love Out Loud has been allocated $50,000. Those funds will be used to directly reimburse those impacted for hotel and other expenses incurred during the evacuation period. They will need to provide proof of residency and receipts.
Liz Miller, with Love Out Loud, says their phone has been ringing off of the hook.
"A lot of the people in the evacuation zone are already individuals that are living at or below the poverty rate, so they don't have just kind of this liquid cash to go stay at a hotel for four nights or go eat out for four days, so the need is definitely great," says Miller.
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QUESTIONS REMAIN ABOUT CHEMICALS STORED AT BURNED FERTILIZER PLANT
https://www.wfdd.org/story/questions-remain-about-chemicals-stored-burned-fertilizer-plant
Tags: us_NC, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ammonium_nitrate
Winston-Salem Fire Chief Trey Mayo provided a timeline on Wednesday on how firefighters attacked a massive blaze at the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant, but questions still remain about what chemicals were in the building.
A Tier II report is a federally required document that lets first responders know if potentially dangerous materials are stored at a location.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Emergency Management Director August Vernon says there are nearly 300 places in the city that file the documents. He says the annual report for the Weaver plant hadn't been submitted since 2019.
He says the report is just a snapshot, but it's good for emergency workers to have.
'It gives us a general idea of how much material there is, where it's at, what materials are in the facility,' he says. 'And it also has information on a general map of the site."
Failure to file Tier II reports can lead to fines and other penalties. Vernon says compliance is done by agencies higher up than the county and he didn't know if Weaver had been cited.
Mayo learned about the ammonium nitrate shortly after the fire began when he asked a plant employee who said there was as much as 600 tons of it on site.
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MAJOR BLAZE AT OIL EXTRACTION FIRM AT KINFRA PARK DOUSED AFTER 7 HOURS- THE NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/kochi/2022/feb/10/major-blaze-at-oil-extraction-firm-atkinfra-park-doused-after-7-hours-2417509.html
Tags: India, laboratory, fire, injury, flammables
KOCHI: It took over seven hours for the Fire and Rescue Services personnel to douse the fire that broke out at a spices oil extraction company at Kinfra Park, Kalamassery, on Wednesday. Things weren't easy for over 150 firefighters who toiled continuously for hours to put out the fire that gutted Green Leaf Extractions Private Ltd and prevent it from spreading to two other adjacent companies in the park.
About 40 fire personnel were shifted to Government Medical College, Kalamassery, for medical support after they suffered minor secondary burns from the heat generated following the raging fire and also uneasiness after inhaling the chemical-infused smoke.
While the exact cause of the fire is still unknown, officials suspect a short-circuit in a lab in the company might have caused the fire. The fire was first spotted around 6am by three staff of the company who were on duty. A huge loss has been estimated in the fire that destroyed a machinery plant, equipment and furniture in a three-storey building, apart from a product stock of five tonnes.
'Though the staff tried to douse the flame, they couldn't succeed. They called for help. We reached the spot by 6.30am and 34 fire tenders from Thrissur, Ernakulam and Alappuzha were pressed into service. The oil extract stock at the plant was highly inflammable and it aggravated the fire. We could only use foam to douse the flame,' said Fire and Rescue Services district officer Jogy J S.
'An investigation will be conducted to find out the reason for the fire and a report will be submitted to the administration,' he said. A lorry and a car parked on the premises of the company were also gutted. Jogy said the smoke was heavy and thick, making the operation tough for the fire personnel.
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'OIL SPILLS OF OUR TIME': EXPERTS SOUND ALARM ABOUT PLASTIC LOST IN CARGO SHIP DISASTERS
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/09/cargo-ship-disasters-are-oil-spills-of-our-time-because-of-health-risk-from-plastic
Tags: Sri_Lanka, transportation, follow-up, environmental, metals, oils, plastics, various_chemicals
Container ship accidents at sea should be considered the 'oil spills of our time', warned environmental organisations that found a toxic mix of metals, carcinogenic and other harmful chemicals on plastic washed up on Sri Lanka's beaches after a cargo ship fire.
When the X-Press Pearl sank off nine nautical miles off Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital, in May 2021, the most 'significant harm' from the country's worst maritime disaster initially came from the spillage of 1,680 tonnes of plastic pellets, or 'nurdles', into the Indian Ocean. They were found in dead dolphins, fish and on beaches ' in some places 2 metres deep. A UN report called it the 'single largest plastic spill' in history.
But a new study, from Sri Lanka's Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ) and the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), a coalition of NGOs in 124 countries, said the nurdle spill was the 'tip of the iceberg' of environmental harm from the accident.
Researchers analysed samples of nurdles and burnt lumps of plastic from four Sri Lankan beaches for heavy metals and various chemicals, including benzotriazole UV-stabilisers, which are used to prevent discoloration in plastics, bisphenols and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
They found heavy metals as well as chemicals that both cause cancer and are 'endocrine-disrupting', or interfering with hormones. Of particular concern, they said, were levels of PAHs found on the burnt lumps, which far exceeded safe limits for consumer products set by the EU. For some substances, no level of exposure is considered safe.
---------------------------------------------
EXPLOSIVES FOUND AT HOME IN THURSTON COUNTY
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/explosives-found-at-thurston-county-home/281-15efd720-020f-4234-9862-649727cb22c6
Tags: us_WA, public, discovery, response, explosives
THURSTON COUNTY, Wash. ' Family members of a recently-deceased Thurston County resident discovered explosives and materials to make them on his property.
The Thurston County Sheriff's Office received a call Tuesday afternoon as the family members were cleaning up the property in the 20000 block of Neat Road SE in Yelm.
The Washington State Patrol, FBI, and hazmat crew also responded.
Since then, a bomb squad has been conducting controlled detonations.
Law enforcement will likely be on scene through the night, into Wednesday, according to the sheriff's office.
It's currently unclear why there was a large amount of explosive-making materials.
---------------------------------------------
WINSTON-SALEM FERTILIZER FIRE REVEALS REGULATORY LOOPHOLES, SPURS HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT BUILDING AND WORKPLACE SAFETY
https://triad-city-beat.com/winston-salem-fire-reveals-loopholes/
Tags: us_NC, industrial, follow-up, environmental, ag_chems, ammonium_nitrate
Owners of the Weaver Fertilizer plant in Winston-Salem failed to submit a required chemical inventory to the NC Department of Public Safety in 2020, a key piece of information for state and local emergency officials ' and a symptom of the lack of oversight of facilities nationwide that handle ammonium nitrate.
Nearly 600 tons of ammonium nitrate caught fire at the Weaver plant on Jan. 31 and burned for four days. The risk of explosion was so great that Winston-Salem officials asked people to evacuate within a mile radius, temporarily displacing 6,000 residents. Residents are now allowed back into their homes, although on Feb. 6, the ruins were still smoldering.
Whether Weaver Fertilizer is also required to file an emergency response plan hinges on that inventory, according to Keith Acree, public information officer with the NC Department of Public Safety. Without the chemical inventory, 'it's unknown if an emergency response plan is required,' Acree wrote in an email.
Plant owners have yet to file an inventory for 2021, Acree said. The deadline is March 1.
---------------------------------------------
BRIDGETOWN BUSHFIRE SURVIVORS WAIT TO LEARN EXTENT OF CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-08/bridgetown-bushfire-sparks-chemical-contamination-fears/100813344
Tags: Australia, public, fire, response, metals
Residents near Bridgetown in Western Australia are anxiously waiting to learn the extent of toxic heavy metal contamination in the area after a devastating bushfire on Saturday.
The damage from four emergency level bushfires in communities across the South West, Great Southern and Wheatbelt is still being assessed, but at least five houses have been lost.
Fire authorities said they were still gauging the extent of heavy metal contamination in Hester after a bushfire burnt through 600 tonnes of chemically treated pine logs at the Timber Treaters plant.
The logs were treated with the preservative copper chromium arsenate.
At a meeting this afternoon community members were told the HAZMAT zone could be "contained" tomorrow and were again advised not to drink from water tanks.
---------------------------------------------
LFR RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT FORMER GOODYEAR BUILDING
https://klin.com/2022/02/08/lfr-responds-to-chemical-spill-at-former-goodyear-building/
Tags: us_NE, industrial, release, response, flammables
Lincoln Fire and Rescue responded to a hazardous materials spill at the former Goodyear building near 56th and Seward just before noon Tuesday afternoon.
LFR's Nancy Crist tells KLIN News several hundred gallons of a flammable liquid spilled in a holding area inside the plant, which has been owned by Continental for many years. LFR arrived and immediately evacuated the employees. They also shut down any potential ignition sources within the building.
Crist tells KLIN there was no threat to the public and the spill was contained to the building. Crews were working to mitigate the spill and get it cleaned up. There were no reports of any employees needing medical assistance.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL LEAK AT NORTHEAST LINCOLN MANUFACTURER FORCES EVACUATION, OFFICIALS SAY
https://journalstar.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/chemical-leak-at-northeast-lincoln-manufacturer-forces-evacuation-officials-say/article_7c40e0aa-1b43-5d8a-abca-589cebf97f73.html
Tags: us_OK, industrial, release, response, flammables, solvent
chemical solvent leak at ContiTech forced the evacuation of employees Tuesday afternoon and prompted a hazmat response from the city's fire department.
The department had encouraged caution in the area surrounding the former Goodyear plant at 4021 N. 56th St., but Lincoln Fire and Rescue Capt. Nancy Crist said there's was no ongoing threat to the public.
Crist said the spill of an unspecified flammable gas affected only the plant's interior and the company shut down all potential points of ignition.
The plant was immediately evacuated when the solvent spilled at around noon Tuesday, according to the company. No injuries were reported.
---------------------------------------------
MUSCATINE TRANSFER STATION REOPENS AFTER MINOR CHEMICAL SPILL INCIDENT
https://muscatinejournal.com/muscatine/news/local/muscatine-transfer-station-reopens-after-minor-chemical-spill-incident/article_1eff46a6-d911-5422-9e5a-4cace2049676.html
Tags: us_IA, industrial, follow-up, response, bleach, waste
MUSCATINE ' The staff at the Muscatine Transfer Station returned to work and reopened for normal hours Tuesday following a small chemical spill Monday afternoon.
According to reports, the Muscatine Fire Department responded at 12:30 p.m. following the incident, which occurred on the Transfer Station's tipping floor, where some material had been dumped from a refuse hauler's load. This material then interacted with another chemical that was also on the floor, creating a toxic gas.
All employees were immediately evacuated from the building as they waited for first responders to arrive. The facility was closed to the public for the rest of the day as a safety precaution, although there was no hazard to anyone outside of the initial spill area and no need for an evacuation outside of the building, as it did not present a danger to the surrounding areas.
The Muscatine Fire Department and Hazmat Response Team arrived at the facility within 10 minutes and quickly confirmed that a gas had been created, detecting a 'bleach-like' smell. Looking at the incident report, Assistant Chief Mike Hartman said the likely chemicals involved in the spill were calcium hypochlorite and linen oil.
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