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Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:22:24 -0500
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From: List Moderator <ecgrants**At_Symbol_Here**UVM.EDU>
Subject: 4 Chemical Safety news reports from Google
Illinois
Eight
Quincy fire trucks on scene at Quincy University's North Campus
in
response to substance spill;
one person taken to hospital
Quincy
firefighters responded to Quincy University's North Campus
at
18th and Seminary Road
Friday morning after a report of some kind of
substance being spilled, and at least one person has
been taken to
Blessing Hospital after
reportedly having breathing difficulties.
Officials
from Quincy University and the Quincy Fire Department
have
been unavailable for
comment.
Eight trucks from three engine houses are on the
scene. The call was
made at
approximately 9:30 a.m. Several firefighters are on the
east
side of 18th Street across
from the front of the North Campus building.
A hazardous material response unit arrived on the
scene at 10:30 a.m.
Traffic is blocked off on 18th Street at Seminary Road
on the south
side and at Quintron Way on
the north side.
Chemical
spill at QU's north campus
Not
considered dangerous
Friday, January 15, 2010 at 10:20 a.m.
Read
more: Local, Breaking, Alexis Hunt, On the Scene, Chemical Spill, Quincy
University's North Campus, Near 18Th and Seminary Road, Emergency Crews
on the Scene, Quincy Fire Department, Quincy Police
Department
QUINCY, ILL. -- The Quincy Fire Department was called
to a chemical spill at Quincy University's North Campus shortly after
9:30 AM January, 15th.
A member of a cleaning crew had accidentally knocked
over a chemical bottle inside a laboratory.
That crew
member swept the chemical and glass into a bag and it was taken outside
and placed on Circle Drive.
The chemical was Glutaric Dialdehyde, which is a low
grade acid that can cause eye, skin and respiratory
irritation.
Soda ash was placed on the chemical to neutralize
it.
Quincy Fire Department assistant chief James Pioch
told KHQA two people were sent to Blessing Hospital.
They were
complaining of respiratory issues.
Both of them have been
released from the hospital in good condition
Quincy
University hasn't started classes after the winter break yet, so less
than ten people were inside the building at the time of the
spill.
===
Iowa
Man Dies at Scene of Hospital Chemical
Spill
Mason City, IA- The cause of a Mason City man's death
is still unknown after emergency crews respond to a chemical
spill.
Mason City Fire Chief Bob Platts says his department
got a call of a person not breathing at Mercy Medical Center-North
Iowa's West Campus at about 7:00pm Thursday.
It
happened in the center's laundry facility known as the Textile Service
Department. A press
release from Mercy says David Weaver died.
Mason
City=92s Fire Chief says the call seemed routine, but once first
responders arrived the emergency changed.
"When
they got there, they started to work on the victim there they realized
that there had probably been some type of spill in the building," Chief
Bob Platts.
Mercy says sodium hydroxide started leaking. It=92s a chemical used as
an additive to the laundry cleaning process.
Employees
contained the spill to one room. Platts says calling in a
hazardous material crew wasn't necessary.
"In this
case at the operations level it was already contained, so we just
basically kept people out of that area until a cleanup company was able
to come in and clean up that spill," said Platts.
Mercy
says efforts to revive David Weaver, a Mercy employee of 15 years,
proved unsuccessful.
Doctors evaluated four other employees and several
firefighters.
"Because of the potential exposure to this product we
wanted to make sure that had been in there we actually had 5 people in,
four of them were checked out one of them didn't display any symptoms of
anything, it was just kind of a precautionary thing," said
Platts.
The employees and firefighters all checked out
okay. Platts says
it's still unclear how the sodium hydroxide started leaking from its
holding tank, and if the chemical spill had anything to do with Weaver's
death.
"I don't know the association between his medical
emergency and the chemical spill we had, really can't tell at this time
without the medical examiner doing his autopsy to find out exactly what
might have happened," he said.
We talked with the Medical
Examiner of Cerro Gordo County. They performed an autopsy
Friday. They say the
cause of Weaver's death is still pending, and it could take several
weeks to make a determination.
Platts says the room where
the chemicals leaked and the room where they found Weaver is separated
by a much larger area about the size of a high school
gymnasium.
Platts says maintenance workers helped to control the
airflow through the building.
The occupational safety and health administration is
also working on the case.
A spokesman for the agency says they could launch an
investigation if any of its regulations are connected to Weaver's
death.
===
Australia
Sydney chemical spill prompts
evacuation
January 15,
2010
AAP
More than
100 people have been evacuated from a western Sydney factory and
neighbouring buildings after a chemical spill, firefighters
say.
Six people at the Jalco factory in Smithfield inhaled
the unidentified chemical fumes following the spill at 2.15pm (AEDT)
Friday, a NSW Fire Brigades spokesman said.
They were
treated at the scene, while 104 other people evacuated from the factory
and adjacent buildings were assessed and given the
all-clear.
Three Hazmat trucks and a pumper were called to the
factory but a fire brigades spokesman said the slight fumes that
remained in the air posed no danger.
"We have isolated the valves
that caused it. It's under control," the spokesman
said.
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