Chemical Safety Headlines =46rom Google
Friday, July 22, 2011 8:15:01 AM

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Table of Contents (12 articles)

CLANDESTINE LAB HIDDEN AT COLUMBIA COUNTY CAMPGROUNDS UNDER 
INVESTIGATION
Tags: us_NY, public, discovery, response, meth_lab

CHEMICAL EXPLOSION CLOSES OLYMPIA-AREA PLANT
Tags: us_SC, industrial, explosion, injury, peroxide

BUILDING EVACUATED AT ALABAMA A&M FOR UNUSUAL ODOR; NO INJURIES 
REPORTED
Tags: us_AL, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

UPDATE: BERTHOUD PASS TO REMAINED CLOSED UNTIL AT LEAST 6:30 P.M.
Tags: us_CO, transportation, release, response, gasoline

TANKER EXPLODES IN BERRIEN COUNTY, NO INJURIES REPORTED
Tags: us_IN, transportation, explosion, response, hydrochloric_acid

TOLUENE SPILL IN RUBBERTOWN CONTAINED BUT ONE WORKER SENT TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_KY, industrial, release, injury, toluene

NO INJURIES REPORTED IN TRUCK STOP HAZMAT EXPLOSION
Tags: us_MI, transportation, explosion, response, flammables

AMMONIA LEAK SCARE CAUSES TWO-HOUR EVACUATION
Tags: us_ND, industrial, release, response, ammonia

THOUSANDS EVACUATED AFTER SEWAGE PLANT FIRE AT RIVERBANK STATE PARK
Tags: us_NY, public, explosion, response, water_treatment

FIREFIGHTERS RACE TO POISON GAS LEAK NEAR SHELL OIL REFINERY
Tags: Australia, industrial, release, injury, hydrogen_sulfide

HAZMAT RESPONDS TO LOWER TOWNSHIP PUBLIC WORKS YARD AFTER HOUSEHOLD 
CLEANING CHEMICALS COMBINE IN TRASH TRUCK
Tags: us_NJ, public, fire, response, wastes

POISONOUS GAS LEAK AFTER CHEMICAL WORKSHOP FIRE SICKENED VILLAGERS
Tags: China, industrial, fire, injury, sulphur, nitrobenzene

---------------------------------------------

CLANDESTINE LAB HIDDEN AT COLUMBIA COUNTY CAMPGROUNDS UNDER 
INVESTIGATION

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2011/July/22/TCol_shoot_inv-22Jul11.html

Tags: us_NY, public, discovery, response, meth_lab

AUSTERLITZ - State Police said a man who shot at police at his Town of 
Colonie home Wednesday evening and who was shot in the head by a local 
police officer, may have been involved in a clandestine laboratory that 
was discovered in a campground in the Town of Austerlitz.

Troopers began their investigation when they conducted a traffic stop 
for motorists not wearing seatbelts while on Konig Road in the Town of 
Ghent. An officer noted a strong chemical smell and saw chemicals and 
paraphernalia associated with making illegal drugs which resulted in the 
deployment of the State Police Contaminated Crime Scene Emergency 
Response Team. Konig Road was shut down for 12 hours while the chemicals 
were secured.

Investigation revealed one of the men in the car had been staying at an 
Austerlitz campground in tents since Monday where the lab was set up. It 
was abruptly dismantled after one of the campers was involved in a hit 
and run accident in Kinderhook and the two people disposed of the items 
in dumpsters at the campgrounds behind an apartment building in Ghent.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL EXPLOSION CLOSES OLYMPIA-AREA PLANT

http://www.wistv.com/story/15125175/chemical-explosion-closes-olympia-area
-plant
Tags: us_SC, industrial, explosion, injury, peroxide

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Three people were injured Thursday morning after a 
small explosion at a Columbia chemical plant, according to the Richland 
County Fire Marshal's office.

A spokesman said crews transported three people from Lindau Chemicals on 
Granby Lane in the Olympia area. Their injuries are not considered to be 
life threatening.

Jim Beasley from the South Carolina Department of Health and 
Environmental Control said the explosion happened when peroxide was 
improperly placed in the wrong location.  He says a small explosion 
happened and released a small cloud into the air.  The cloud dissipated 
once it left the plant.

Beasley says there was no threat to the public or the environment from 
the cloud.  DHEC asked the plant to close the section where the 
explosion happened to ensure the structural integrity of the plant.

According to the company's web page Lindau Chemical is responsible for 
producing "LINDRIDE - a curing agent for epoxy resins".

---------------------------------------------

BUILDING EVACUATED AT ALABAMA A&M FOR UNUSUAL ODOR; NO INJURIES 
REPORTED
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/07/building_evacuated_at_alabama.html
Tags: us_AL, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- An academic  building on the campus of Alabama 
A&M University has been evacuated after a security guard detected an 
unusual odor.
HAZMAT officials are investigating the issue at Carter Hall, which 
houses classrooms and labs for chemistry and biology, school vice 
president Wendy Kobler said. No injuries have been reported, Kobler 
said.
Carter Hall has been evacuated and a 100-foot perimeter has been 
established around the building.
According to Kobler, a security officer was doing a routine patrol 
through the building when he smelled the unusual odor. The security 
officer activated an alarm and cleared the building.

---------------------------------------------

UPDATE: BERTHOUD PASS TO REMAINED CLOSED UNTIL AT LEAST 6:30 P.M.
http://www.skyhidailynews.com/article/20110721/NEWS/110729985/1103
Tags: us_CO, transportation, release, response, gasoline

Berthoud Pass will be closed until at least 6:30 p.m. this evening, July 
21, while clean-up continues on an accident involving a tanker truck.

Colorado State Patrol hazmat units are on scene dealing with a spill 
from gasoline tanker that rolled on Berthoud Pass, just above Floral 
Park according to Colorado Department of Transportation spokesperson Bob 
Wilson.

---------------------------------------------

TANKER EXPLODES IN BERRIEN COUNTY, NO INJURIES REPORTED

http://www.wndu.com/hometop/headlines/Possible_tanker_explosion_in_Berrien
_County_125992894.html
Tags: us_IN, transportation, explosion, response, hydrochloric_acid

Hazmat crews are on the of a tanker explosion in Berrien County.

County dispatchers received a of a possible explosion at the Sawyer TA 
truck stop at the Sawyer Road exit of I-94.

A witness told NewsCenter 16 everyone within a quarter-mile of the truck 
stop was evacuated.

Employees at the restaurant inside the TA truck stop said a truck 
crashed around 7:30 p.m., but the explosion didn't occur until just 
before 10:00 p.m.

The restaurant was evacuated early on because of a fear hydrochloric 
acid was leaking from the truck.

Officials on the scene confirm nobody was injured and there was no 
damage to the building, however there were holes in the parking lot.

Hazmat crews remained on the scene into the night cleaning up debris.

---------------------------------------------

TOLUENE SPILL IN RUBBERTOWN CONTAINED BUT ONE WORKER SENT TO HOSPITAL

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110721/ZONE07/307210082/Toluene-s
pill-Rubbertown-contained-one-worker-sent-hospital?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews
%7Ctext%7CHome
Tags: us_KY, industrial, release, injury, toluene

A chemical spill at a Rubbertown plant Thursday evening sent one worker 
to the hospital but was quickly contained and posed no threat to the 
public, officials said.

An unknown amount of toluene was spilled at the American Synthetic 
Rubber Company at 4500 Camp Ground Road, according to MetroSafe 
Communications. The incident was reported at 6:09 p.m.

Three employees came in contact with the chemical, and one was taken to 
the hospital as a precaution because the liquid got in his eye, said 
Chief John Wilkinson of the Lake Dreamland Fire Department.

The spill, which may have been caused by a broken flange, was contained 
in one building at the plant, Wilkinson said.

---------------------------------------------

NO INJURIES REPORTED IN TRUCK STOP HAZMAT EXPLOSION

http://www.wsjm.com/No-Injuries-Reported-In-Truck-Stop-Hazmat-Explosio/104
23526
Tags: us_MI, transportation, explosion, response, flammables

Crews worked into the early morning hours last night to clean up a 
hazardous spill after a tanker truck exploded at the TA Travel Center 
truck stop off I-94 in Sawyer after 7 p-m. The explosion was heard and 
felt for miles around the site. No injuries were reported. The chemical 
that leaked may have been Butanone, a flammable and explosive liquid 
used for welding or a solvent. Traffic continued to flow through I-94, 
but the exit from eastbound 94 was closed well into the wee hours of the 
morning.

---------------------------------------------

AMMONIA LEAK SCARE CAUSES TWO-HOUR EVACUATION
http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/210392/
Tags: us_ND, industrial, release, response, ammonia

An anhydrous ammonia leak at the J.R. Simplot plant in Grand Forks 
prompted the evacuation of a compressor room and surrounding businesses 
shortly before noon today, the fire department said.

About 45 people were working in the compressor room when a valve started 
leaking, Grand Forks Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Sandry said.

Because of high winds, authorities evacuated nearby businesses Hebron 
Brick and Strata Corporation in addition to evacuating the compressor 
room.

=93Anytime you=92re dealing with anhydrous (ammonia), you certainly have 
the opportunity it could be serious," Sandry said.

Ammonia exposure can cause burning of the eyes, nose and throat or, at 
high levels, death, according to the North Dakota Department of Health.

---------------------------------------------

THOUSANDS EVACUATED AFTER SEWAGE PLANT FIRE AT RIVERBANK STATE PARK

http://www.dnainfo.com/20110720/harlem/twoalarm-fire-breaks-out-at-wastewa
ter-treatment-plant
Tags: us_NY, public, explosion, response, water_treatment

MANHATTAN =97 Thousands of people were evacuated from a packed Harlem 
park Wednesday afternoon after an explosion triggered a roaring fire at 
a sewage treatment plant that spewed a 30-foot plume of fire into the 
air, officials said.

The ferocious four-alarm blaze, which also snarled traffic on the West 
Side Highway, broke out in the engine room of the city's North River 
Wastewater Treatment plant, at 725 W. 135th St., at 11:46 a.m., an FDNY 
spokesman said.

"There was heavy fire, heavy smoke," said FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief 
Joseph Woznica. The cause of the fire, which raged for hours, was not 
immediately clear, but Woznica said that pressurized fuel helped spark a 
"30-foot plume of fire."

---------------------------------------------

FIREFIGHTERS RACE TO POISON GAS LEAK NEAR SHELL OIL REFINERY

http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/firefighters-race-to-poison-gas-leak-201107
21-1hpn2.html
Tags: Australia, industrial, release, injury, hydrogen_sulfide

Two workers were exposed to a poisonous gas at the Shell refinery near 
Geelong this morning, firefighters say.

The contractors were working at the Refinery Road site in Corio when a 
refinery pump began leaking hydrogen sulphide just after 8.35am.

A Country Fire Authority (CFA) spokesman said refinery employees 
isolated the leak within minutes, and the two workers suffered only 
minor exposure.

Advertisement: Story continues below
=91=91Both attended the site=92s health centre for assessment and 
observation by their team and Ambulance Victoria. They were not taken to 
hospital. It=92s a mild exposure,=92=92 he said.

The CFA spokesman said there appeared to be a leak of hydrogen sulphide, 
a poisonous flammable gas.

---------------------------------------------

HAZMAT RESPONDS TO LOWER TOWNSHIP PUBLIC WORKS YARD AFTER HOUSEHOLD 
CLEANING CHEMICALS COMBINE IN TRASH TRUCK

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/communities/lower_capemay/hazmat-respon
ds-to-lower-township-public-works-yard-after-household/article_2d6400e4-b2
e0-11e0-a1a3-001cc4c002e0.html
Tags: us_NJ, public, fire, response, wastes

LOWER TOWNSHIP =97 Emergency crews responded Wednesday to the township=92s
 public works yard after a trash crew picked up a mix of solvents and 
acids that started smoking in the back of the truck.
Crews were called out at 8:18 a.m., police said.
A township garbage truck picked up materials from in front of a house 
undergoing renovations in the Tranquility neighborhood, Cape May County 
Health Officer Kevin Thomas said.
The chemicals reacted with each other in the truck, so the truck dumped 
them in the township public works yard, Thomas said. He said the 
material will be rebagged and taken to the county landfill, along with 
the sand used to stop the chemical reaction.

---------------------------------------------

POISONOUS GAS LEAK AFTER CHEMICAL WORKSHOP FIRE SICKENED VILLAGERS
http://english.cri.cn/6909/2011/07/21/1461s649680.htm
Tags: China, industrial, fire, injury, sulphur, nitrobenzene

Some villagers were sickened Wednesday evening by gas leak after a 
chemical plant fire in north China's Hebei Province, but exact number of 
casualties remains unknown, local officials said Thursday.

The accident occurred Wednesday evening when a benzenesulfonic hydroxide 
workshop of Hebei Jianxin Chemical Co., Ltd. caught fire at Lingang 
Economic and Technological Development Zone in Cangzhou City of the 
province, according to the management committee of the zone. 

No deaths or injuries was reported at the site. But some residents at a 
downstream village named Xinzhuangzi developed such symptoms as chest 
tension and nauseating after they inhaled acid smog from the plant. Some 
villagers have been hospitalized for treatment and observation, but 
exact number of them is yet to be known. 

Experts said that the fire, which was put out at around 9:00 p.m. 
Wednesday, was ignited by nitrobenzene created after sulfur trioxide 
leaked from the chemical workshop met humid air.

---------------------------------------------

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