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OSHA issued $787,000 in proposed penalties Tuesday
against a hazardous waste management and solvent recycling company, WRR
Environmental Services Co. of Eau Claire, Wis. There were 14 willful and
one serious citation filed for allegedly failing to implement measures
to prevent chemical fires and explosions at its plant in Eau Claire,
where an OSHA investigation took place after a June 29 explosion and
fire in a solvent sludge feed tank.
The tank's roof blew off,
and a nearby tank also exploded. "Employees had been working in the area
of the solvent sludge feed tank immediately prior to the explosion.
Fortunately, there were no reported injuries," OSHA stated in its news
release.
"Even after WRR Environmental Services experienced a
devastating fire that destroyed the facility in 2007, the company still
failed to implement an adequate program to ensure safe operating
conditions," said OSHA Assistant Secretary Dr. David
Michaels.
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Federal investigators looking into the Sept. 9 natural
gas explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people and destroyed 35
homes reported Tuesday that they still don't know what caused that
section of pipe to burst, but have ruled out external corrosion and have
found no sign of damage from excavation.
The update from the National Transportation Safety
Board also noted that "no physical evidence suggests that a pre-existing
leak occurred in the ruptured pipe pieces."
In the days immediately following the blast, some
experts had speculated that the 54-year-old steel gas transmission pipe
may have been weakened by corrosion or by work in 2008 on a sewer line
in the same location.
Saying
the agency is
continuing to analyze the
chemical and mechanical properties of the pipe, as well as unspecified
"environmental factors at the accident site," the report added, "the
investigation is still in an early phase and there is much factual
information to be developed."
Lingering
uncertainties over what caused that section of pipe to rupture has
aroused widespread concern that other sections of PG&E pipe may
have similar vulnerabilities, especially since PG&E officials
insist they had inspected that portion of pipe and found nothing wrong.
In the first report on the accident, which was issued Oct. 13, the
safety board noted only that the steel pipe fractured lengthwise and at
welds that held it together.
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FOUR fire crews spent nearly two hours clearing up a
chemical spill at Tilbury Docks this afternoon
(Tuesday).
Crews from Grays and Orsett were called at 3.11pm
after a valve on a tank broke and ethanol, a volatile and flammable
liquid, started to leak.
A spokesman for Essex Fire and Rescue described the
ethanol =93pouring=94 from the container which can hold up to 33,000
litres of the liquid.
The firefighters laid down a blanket of foam to
prevent risk of ignition and contain the spillage while the Port of
London Authority brought a new container to put the remainder of the
liquid into.
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TWO factory workers had to be taken to hospital
following a chemical spill at a site in Holbeach St
Marks.
Bakkavor Pizza on Sluice Road had to be evacuated and
about 30 firefighters called in just before 9pm on
Saturday.
Two staff members were left suffering from breathing
difficulties from the incident, which was caused by an overconcentration
of a chemical.
They were given oxygen before paramedics arrived on
the scene and were later taken to hospital after showering and changing
their clothes.
A spokesman for Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue said
Bakkavor workers had diluted a cleaning agent down and flushed the area
before fire crews arrived.
-----------------------
LA
CROSSE, Wisconsin (WXOW) - UPDATE: A magnesium fire in a kiln
inside Cowley Hall on the UW-L campus has forced students and faculty
from the building.
According to a La Crosse Fire Department spokesperson,
there is no danger to anyone or the building. The department plans
to let the small amount of magnesium burn itself out. There was a
concern over possible chemical reactions if water or other fire
suppression chemicals were used. Firefighters wearing hazmat gear
as a precaution are in the building monitoring the
situation.
The spokesperson was not
sure how many people were in the building when the fire started around
4pm.
There are no reports of any injuries.
-----------------------
Johannesburg - The Johannesburg Emergency Management Services
Fire Safety Directorate has issued a notice to an ice manufacturer in
Richards Street after a dangerous ammonia gas leak was reported on
Tuesday.
"At approximately 10:00 this morning, our call centre
received a frantic call from one of the business owners, operating in
the same location, about an unusual gaseous odour emanating from a
neighbouring factory," said spokesperson Percy
Morokane.
"A Hazardous Materials Team (HAZMAT) was dispatched to
the scene and all employees were evacuated.
"The team
investigated, traced the source and the substance which was leaking was
identified as ammonia."
The factory's manager was instructed to close the
factory and he brought in their contracted technicians.
-----------------------
Interstate 76 was closed at
Bromley Lane in Brighton for about three hours as crews cleaned an oil
spill caused by a Chevy pickup that veered across
traffic.
John Bradley, a spokesman for Brighton Police, said
the accident happened just after 5 p.m.
A man in
his 50s who was driving the pickup was in the eastbound lanes and
crossed into westbound traffic, hitting a semi-trailer head on, Bradley
said.
The semi-trailer =97 carrying two tankers filled with
crude oil =97 "veered about 150 to 200" feet and eventually ended in the
eastbound lanes and lost its second tanker as it rolled on the
highway.
There is no estimate as to how much oil was spilled,
but Bradley said each of the tankers had a capacity for about 80 barrels
of oil.
-----------------------
A crude oil leak from a pipeline connected to the
Lemont Citgo Refinery has roads closed and was responsible for
re-routing an inbound commuter train during this morning=92s
commute.
Fire crews and hazmat teams are currently on the scene
and assessing potential damage caused when a 12-inch pipeline broke
open, said Kathy Hoffmeyer, a representative for the Will County
Sheriff=92s Office.
As of 1:30 p.m., the Will County Sherriff's Police had
left the scene, Hoffmeyer said.
The leak, reported at about
8 a.m. this morning, closed New Avenue from Archer Avenue to 135th
Street in Romeoville, Hoffmeyer said. The leak has been patched, but
crews are not sure how much oil leaked or for how long it had been
leaking, she added.
-----------------------
KEARNEY
STUDENT'S DEATH BEING INVESTIGATED BY POLICE | NEWS 5 | NEWS, WEATHER,
SPORTS FOR HASTINGS | KEARNEY | GRAND ISLAND | NEBRASKA | COVERAGE YOU
CAN COUNT ON | LOCAL NEWS, http://www.khastv.com/news/local/Kearne
y-students-death-being-investigated-by-police-111817544.html
Kearney
Police are investigating the mysterious death of a University of
Nebraska Kearney Student after a dangerous chemical is found in his
apartment.
Sunday police responded to a call at an apartment
complex on 23rd Street in Kearney.
21 year old Khoa Tam Vu was
found in his bedroom by his roommate Sunday afternoon.
During
the investigation, the Buffalo County hazmat team was called to secure a
suspected dangerous chemical found in the apartment.
Police
said they're working with the University of Nebraska Kearney chemistry
department to determine what the chemical was.
-----------------------
FALMOUTH, Maine (AP) =97 Officials say a spill from a
broken container of muriatic acid that was illegally dumped in Falmouth
forced the temporary closing of an access road and sent two people to
the hospital, but they were treated and released with no serious
injuries.
Assistant Fire Chief Doug Patey of the Falmouth Fire
Department said police were called Monday morning after the two public
works employees went to retrieve a recycling container behind the West
Falmouth Shopping Center, and discovered a liquid chemical inside and
outside of the container.
-----------------------
Bob Mosier, Public
Information Officer for Anne Arundel County Schools, said that the
chemical odor issue at Northeast High School caused by the remains of an
organic solvent has been addressed in full and that students were back
in class the same day.
"The kids were back in the classrooms and they were
back in their classes that day," said Mosier.
Mosier
said he believed that the school responded effectively to the
situation.
"They contacted the fire department and they decided
to bring the hazmat unit out to be safe," said Mosier. "That required
students to stay out of class longer; it's certainly unfortunate that
the students had to be out on a very cold day and the evacuation lasted
so long."
-----------------------
Fire
officials continued their investigation on Sunday into what
sparked a three-alarm blaze that destroyed a biodiesel plant in Adams
County.
The fire started at the Soy Energy biodiesel plant on
Oxford Road in Tyrone Township around 2:00 PM Saturday. 16 different
fire departments battled the blaze for 10 hours.
Soy
Energy owner Dan Scharrer met with the Fire Marshall on
Sunday.
"I was happy nobody was hurt," Scharrer said.
"Because, at the time, the plant was shut down."
Fire
crews monitored hot spots as investigators rummaged through the
smoldering pile searching for clues on how the fire
started.
"I still can't figure out what may have happened,"
Scharrer said. "Something just sparked or something. I don't
know."
Soy Energy's biodiesel plant also produced a slight
chemical scare, according to authorities. Officials said soy bean oil,
methanol, and sodium methylate flowed into the runoff. Officials said
hazardous material crews thoroughly cleaned up any dangerous mess.
Officials said the water is safe to use.
-----------------------
Route 50
was closed in both directions from Annapolis to Davidsonville for hours
Sunday night while the county's hazardous material crew cleared a
chemical spill near the Interstate 97 split, county Fire Department
officials said.
AP VIDEOmore>>
A DuPont
tanker truck was traveling west on Route 50 near I-97 around 6 p.m. when
the driver noticed a large vapor cloud coming from the vehicle, said
Capt. James Rostek, a county Fire Department spokesman. The vehicle was
coming from New Jersey.
The truck driver pulled over and called 911.
Firefighters and paramedics found the 50-year-old driver on the
roadside, sickened from fumes he had inhaled. The driver suffered
respiratory problems and was taken to the Maryland Shock Trauma Center
in Baltimore for treatment, Rostek said.
A small
vapor cloud still surrounded the truck when crews
arrived.
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