Chemical Safety Headlines =46rom Google
Wednesday, August 24, 2011 8:27:33 AM

   A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
   Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
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Table of Contents (27 articles)

HAZMAT TEAM CALLED FOR CLEANUP AFTER HOMEWOOD HOTEL INSPECTION
Tags: us_IL, public, discovery, response, pool_chemicals

FIRE DEPARTMENT CONTAINS GREASE SPILL AT BALDUCCI'S
Tags: us_VA, public, release, environmental, grease

BULL SEMEN SPILL CLOSES DOWN NASHVILLE HIGHWAY
Tags: us_OH, transportation, release, response, liquid_nitrogen

HAZMAT FINDS NO LEAKS AT UW MEDICAL CENTER
Tags: us_WA, education, release, injury, unknown_chemical

SANTA CRUZ GARBAGE COLLECTORS REFUSE TREATMENT AFTER HAZMAT SITU
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, injury, acids, wastes

METH LAB DISCOVERED AFTER SMALL EXPLOSION IN SURREY
Tags: Canada, public, explosion, response, meth_lab

DIVERSIFIED CHEMICAL NEGLIGENCE SUIT CLAIMS CHEMICAL REACTED WITH 
CONTAINER, CAUSING $14 MILLION FIRE
Tags: us_MI, industrial, fire, injury, follow-up

GYNAECOLOGY WARD AT UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL LEWISHAM EVACUATED DUE TO 
REFRIGERANT GAS LEAK (FROM THIS IS LOCAL LONDON)
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, response, hvac_chemicals

FREIGHTLINER WORKER SUFFERS CHEMICAL BURN
Tags: us_NC, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

CHEMICAL SPILL AT WHEAT RIDGE MARKET SICKENS SEVERAL
Tags: us_CO, public, release, injury, pesticides

PROPANE TANKER CATCHES FIRE, PROMPTS EVACUATIONS
Tags: us_CA, transportation, fire, injury, propane

NUMC OXYGEN TANK LEAK CAUSES STIR
Tags: us_NY, public, release, response, oxygen

CHLORINE GAS LEAK AT WOODLAND CANNERY SENDS 43 TO HOSPITALS
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, injury, chlorine

ACID LEAK IN FED EX TRUCK CLOSES N. HWY 99 ONRAMP IN ELK GROVE
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, response, chlorine

HIGHWAY 99 REOPENS AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, response, bleach

NEW ZEALAND LIGHT LEATHERS SPILL SICKENS WORKERS
Tags: New_Zealand, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AT TENN. JAIL HOSPITALIZE 6
Tags: us_TN, public, release, injury, meth_lab

WBTV 3 NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS, AND TRAFFIC FOR CHARLOTTE, NC-
Tags: us_NC, industrial, release, response, ammonia

INVESTIGATORS PROBE TWO WORK-RELATED INJURIES
Tags: Canada, industrial, explosion, injury, dust

MAN BURNED IN METH LAB EXPLOSION
Tags: us_GA, public, explosion, injury, meth_lab

HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO HYDROGEN PEROXIDE LEAK OUTSIDE COCOA FACTORY
Tags: us_NJ, transportation, release, response, hydrogen_peroxide

SUSPECTED METH LAB DISCOVERED AT KINGSPORT MOTEL- KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS
Tags: us_TN, public, release, response, meth_lab

CONTAMINATED STAFF RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL
Tags: New_Zealand, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

CHEMICAL LEAK SENDS WOODLAND CANNERY EMPLOYEES TO AREA HOSPITALS
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, injury, chlorine

HOSPITAL WORKERS TREATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL IN ESSEX
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, solvent

GRASSFIRE BURNS CHEMICALS, SLOWS TRAFFIC
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, response, waste

MAN'S LEGS BLOWN OFF IN BACKYARD EXPLOSION
Tags: Australia, public, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

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

HAZMAT TEAM CALLED FOR CLEANUP AFTER HOMEWOOD HOTEL INSPECTION

http://homewood-flossmoor.patch.com/articles/hazmat-team-responds-after-ho
mewood-hotel-inspection
Tags: us_IL, public, discovery, response, pool_chemicals

A hazardous materials team responded Tuesday morning to Homewood Hotel, 
after improperly stored pool chemicals were discovered during a 
scheduled building and fire inspection.

The hazmat team helped the Homewood Fire Department with cleanup, 
according to a village press release. Homewood Fire Chief Robert 
Grabowski said guests in the 36 occupied hotel rooms were evacuated.

=93Once the hazmat condition is mitigated, occupants will be permitted 
to return to their rooms, typically within four to eight hours,=94 
Grabowski said.

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

FIRE DEPARTMENT CONTAINS GREASE SPILL AT BALDUCCI'S

http://mclean.patch.com/articles/fire-department-contains-grease-spill-at-
balduccis
Tags: us_VA, public, release, environmental, grease

Fire Department HazMat units spent several hours at the Balducci's 
supermarket on Old Dominion Drive Monday afternoon trying to contain a 
grease spill.

Capt. Keith Cross of the fire department explained that the underground 
grease holding tank at the supermarket clogged up causing it to overflow 
into the parking lot and more importantly into the storm drain.

That called for an environmental cleanup because the storm drain carried 
the grease out to McLean Drive and a small pond and creek there, Capt. 
Cross said.

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

BULL SEMEN SPILL CLOSES DOWN NASHVILLE HIGHWAY

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/entertainment/bull-semen-spill-closes-down-
nashville-highway
Tags: us_OH, transportation, release, response, liquid_nitrogen

Fire and emergency crews shut down an on-ramp to Interstate 65 South in 
Nashville on Tuesday morning after they found several steaming canisters 
with a foul odor. HAZMAT officials were able to determine that the 
canisters contained bull semen, which had fallen off a Greyhound bus, 
according to WKRN.

Officials traced the containers to Greyhound after finding bus tickets 
on the ground.  The bus did not know it lost its load and had continued 
on. Authorities called Greyhound, who, after speaking with the driver 
the bus, determined the canisters were filled with straws of frozen 
sperm packed in liquid nitrogen.

The load originated in Columbus, Ohio and was en route to a breeding 
facility in Laredo, Texas. Canisters, such as the ones spilled across 
the interstate typically carry between 300 and 400 straws, each 
containing one-milliliter of sperm.

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

HAZMAT FINDS NO LEAKS AT UW MEDICAL CENTER

http://www.kndo.com/story/15317781/hazmat-finds-no-leaks-at-uw-medical-cen
ter
Tags: us_WA, education, release, injury, unknown_chemical

SEATTLE (AP) - The Seattle Fire Department hazardous material team 
responded Tuesday morning when a maintenance worker reported trouble 
breathing in the basement of a wing at the University of Washington 
Medical Center.

Department spokesman Kyle Moore says about a dozen people were evacuated 
from the basement. Medics drove the worker to the hospital's emergency 
room for treatment of a minor respiratory problem. Moore says the worker 
may have smelled refrigerant.

Tests found no leaks or spills, and people were allowed back in the 
basement.

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

SANTA CRUZ GARBAGE COLLECTORS REFUSE TREATMENT AFTER HAZMAT SITU

http://www.kionrightnow.com/story/15318792/santa-cruz-garbage-collectors-r
efuse-treatment-after-hazmat-situation
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, injury, acids, wastes

SANTA CRUZ, Calif- Two city of Santa Cruz workers were in their garbage 
truck when they say that a white cloud enveloped their truck and they 
could not breathe.

Santa Cruz Fire was dispatched to the scene around 6:30 AM. Firefighters 
isolated the area around the truck. Santa Cruz Police closed streets to 
traffic and pedestrians in the area of Sumner and Darwin.

Firefighters used PH paper to determine that the white substance was an 
acid. The acid was neutralized with Sodium Bicarbonate and the truck was 
driven to the city's landfill to dispose of the contents.

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

METH LAB DISCOVERED AFTER SMALL EXPLOSION IN SURREY

http://www.vancouversun.com/Meth+discovered+after+small+explosion+Surrey/5
296295/story.html
Tags: Canada, public, explosion, response, meth_lab

An explosion in a Surrey basement suite Monday led police to discover a 
suspected drug lab.

Emergency crews were called to a home in the 7200-block of 140-A Street 
around 8:30 p.m. after neighbours reported a loud bang followed by smoke 
and noxious odours, a spokesman for Surrey RCMP confirmed.

He said neighbours saw a Caucasian man of about 35 years of age leaving 
the house on a bicycle shortly after the explosion erupted from the 
basement.

Two tenants who live upstairs in the house told investigators the 
downstairs tenant may have been operating a do-it-yourself drug lab.

With the help of Surrey Fire Service, police determined that the 
basement suite contained what appeared to be a methamphetamine lab

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

DIVERSIFIED CHEMICAL NEGLIGENCE SUIT CLAIMS CHEMICAL REACTED WITH 
CONTAINER, CAUSING $14 MILLION FIRE
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110823/FREE/110829968#
Tags: us_MI, industrial, fire, injury, follow-up

Diversified Chemical Technologies Inc. blames a chemical drum from an 
Ohio additive supplier for igniting one of its industrial heating ovens, 
causing the fire that destroyed one of the company's buildings.

The Detroit-based supplier of packaging adhesives, coatings and recycled 
polymeric materials seeks unspecified damages over $75,000 against 
Chardon, Ohio-based Rhein Chemie Corp. and Sea Land Chemical Co. in 
Westlake, Ohio, for the fire that destroyed a 20,000-square-foot 
building on Woodrow Wilson street and forced Diversified to relocate 
some production temporarily to Ferndale.

At issue in the lawsuit is a 55-gallon drum ostensibly containing an 
anti-wear industrial compound called Additin, which Diversified was 
heating in an industrial oven in Building 4 on the day of the fire.

Rhein Chemie makes Additin for Diversified, and Sea Land Chemical 
distributes the drum in which it was stored. Diversified uses Additin as 
part of the mixture in a lubricant it manufactures for the automotive 
industry.

The fire, which broke out in Building 4 two years ago Wednesday, sent 
clouds across the city and drew out Detroit firefighters and a response 
team from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, which later 
determined the smoke was nontoxic. More than 260 employees were 
evacuated, but none were injured.

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

GYNAECOLOGY WARD AT UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL LEWISHAM EVACUATED DUE TO 
REFRIGERANT GAS LEAK (FROM THIS IS LOCAL LONDON)

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/9212236.Lewisham_Hospital_ward_eva
cuated_due_to_chemical_incident/
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, response, hvac_chemicals

A GYNAECOLOGY ward at Lewisham Hospital had to be evacuated because of a 
chemical incident yesterday (August 23).

Patients and staff were transferred to another part of the fifth floor 
of A-block at University Hospital Lewisham at around 9.40am yesterday 
morning after refrigerant gas began leaking from a fridge.

Specialist firefighter crews were called in and removed the fridge from 
a utility room, just off the ward.

Wearing breathing apparatus they double bagged the fridge so no more gas 
could escape before using the fire lift to get it out of the building.

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

FREIGHTLINER WORKER SUFFERS CHEMICAL BURN
http://www.gastongazette.com/news/chemical-60216-crews-medical.html
Tags: us_NC, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

A man was taken to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte on Tuesday 
after being splashed with chemicals at Freightliner in Mount Holly.

The call came in to medical crews at 1 p.m.

Mount Holly Fire Department and Gaston Emergency Medical Services 
responded to the call at the plant on North Main Street.

The man, in his 30s, has small burns to his extremities, according to 
GEMS.

When emergency crews arrived, he was in a shower being washed down, 
according to Mount Holly Fire Chief Dale Oplinger.

Fire crews responded because they were told there was a chemical spill. 
When they learned it was a contained situation, they stood by to assist.

GEMS did not have a description of what kinds of burns the Freightliner 
worker had other than a chemical burn.

Oplinger said the chemical that splashed the man was some type of 
degreasing agent.

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

CHEMICAL SPILL AT WHEAT RIDGE MARKET SICKENS SEVERAL
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/28955179/detail.html
Tags: us_CO, public, release, injury, pesticides

WHEAT RIDGE, Colo. -- One man was taken to a hospital during a Hazmat 
situation at a Wheat Ridge market on Tuesday afternoon
According to the Arvada Fire Department, which responded to the call, 
one employee at Heinie's Market suffered injuries after being exposed to 
an insecticide.
Arvada Fire Spokesman Scott Pribble said a quart of Malathion, an 
insecticide used especially for mosquito control, spilled off a shelf. 
The worker was cleaning up the mess when he suffered injuries to his 
arm, Pribble said.

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

PROPANE TANKER CATCHES FIRE, PROMPTS EVACUATIONS
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_18741707
Tags: us_CA, transportation, fire, injury, propane

LINCOLN, Calif.=97Authorities on Tuesday ordered residents of a 
Sacramento suburb to leave an area within one mile of a burning rail car 
loaded with a potentially explosive chemical.
The 29,000-gallon tanker holding liquid propane caught fire in Lincoln, 
injuring one worker, said California Department of Forestry and Fire 
Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant. No details on the worker's injuries 
were available.
Flames shot into the air from a vent as fire crews soaked the tanker to 
keep down its temperature. Firefighters were allowing the propane to 
burn off because extinguishing the flames could allow a propane gas 
cloud to escape and ignite in a fireball, Berlant said.
The tanker located in an industrial area off the tracks could burn into 
Wednesday, he said. No other structures or train cars were reported on 
fire.

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

NUMC OXYGEN TANK LEAK CAUSES STIR
http://libn.com/2011/08/23/numc-oxygen-tank-leak-causes-stir/
Tags: us_NY, public, release, response, oxygen

Fire fighters evacuated neighboring homes as a precaution after a valve 
broke during the replacement of a tank filled with liquid oxygen outside 
Nassau University Medical Center, sending clouds of vapor streaming into 
the sky.

The East Meadow hospital, part of the NuHealth System, said the problem 
occurred while workers were decommissioning an oxygen tank on the 
southeastern side of the hospital, before replacing it with a new one. 
The tank is used to supply patients with oxygen.

=93Once the valve broke, we called the fire department and the police 
department as a precaution,=94 said NuHealth spokeswoman Shelley 
Lotenberg. =93No one was hurt. There was no need to evacuate patients, 
or visitors or employees.=94

Fire department officials evacuated some nearby homeowners as a 
precaution, although things were back to normal in less than an hour, 
according to Lotenberg.

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

CHLORINE GAS LEAK AT WOODLAND CANNERY SENDS 43 TO HOSPITALS

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/22/3852331/chlorine-gas-leak-at-woodland.htm
l
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, injury, chlorine

More than 40 employees at a Woodland cannery were taken to Sacramento 
area hospitals and more than 800 people were evacuated shortly after 
noon Sunday when a chemical used in tomato processing leaked into a work 
area, authorities said.

Two employees of Pacific Coast Producers, an agricultural cooperative, 
were seriously affected from exposure to the gas, chlorine dioxide, 
according to Greg Robinson, battalion chief for the Woodland Fire 
Department.
He put the number of affected employees at 43. A dozen ambulances 
transported 22 workers to area hospitals. The other 21 were taken to 
hospitals by bus.

Company spokeswoman Mona Shulman said the two most seriously affected 
workers suffered "inhalation distress" from exposure to the gas at the 
plant in the 1300 block of Lemen Avenue.
The chlorine dioxide leaked into the work area in the form of 
"off-gassing," apparently when an injection system carrying the gas 
became overloaded.

Chlorine dioxide is routinely injected during processing "to keep the 
water and tomatoes sanitary as they go into canning," Shulman said.

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

ACID LEAK IN FED EX TRUCK CLOSES N. HWY 99 ONRAMP IN ELK GROVE

http://www.news10.net/news/article/151340/29/Acid-spill-closes-N-Hwy-99-on
ramp-in-Elk-Grove
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, response, chlorine

ELK GROVE, CA - The Calvine Road onramp and one lane of Northbound 
Highwaw 99 in Elk Grove was reopened around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday after 
California Highway Patrol had closed it due to a hydrochlorine leak in a 
Fed Ex truck.

The truck was removed from the highway near the unfinished Elk Grove 
mall for further investigation.

According to California Highway Patrol spokesman, Rich Wetzel, the 
driver noticed something leaking from the back of his truck. When he got 
out to investigate, he noticed a strong chemical odor, reminiscent of 
pool chlorine coming from the truck's cargo hold and contacted 
authorities. 

Upon arrival, Consumnes Fire issued a level-two hazmat warning and 
called for a forklift to remove the leaking container from the back of 
the truck. 

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

HIGHWAY 99 REOPENS AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
http://www.kcra.com/r/28948171/detail.html
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, response, bleach

ELK GROVE, Calif. -- The far right northbound lane of Highway 99 near 
Grant Line Road has reopened after an early-morning chemical spill.
A Sacramento fire captain told KCRA 3 that a FedEx truck spilled sodium 
hypochlorite, or household bleach, in the area early Tuesday morning.
 =46rom The Field: Hazmat Situation Cleared
The driver reportedly noticed the spill just before 1 a.m. and pulled 
over on the shoulder of the highway, until a hazardous materials crew 
from the Sacramento Fire Department arrived.
By about 5:30 a.m., the leak from a container in the truck appeared to 
be secured, and fire crews escorted the truck off the highway.

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

NEW ZEALAND LIGHT LEATHERS SPILL SICKENS WORKERS

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/5489423/Chemical-spill-sickens-w
orkers
Tags: New_Zealand, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

Four people were hospitalised following a chemical spill at the New 
Zealand Light Leathers factory at Washdyke.

Emergency services were called to the Meadows Rd business in Washdyke 
around 12.30pm yesterday.

About 300 litres of tanning chemicals were spilled, resulting in five 
people being treated.

Three men and a woman were taken to hospital.

Timaru senior fire station officer Phil De Joux said staff were outside 
identifying a mixture of chemicals when they became sick.

Mr De Joux said employees who had inhaled fumes were put through a 
decontamination shower before being taken away by ambulance.

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

HAZARDOUS MATERIALS AT TENN. JAIL HOSPITALIZE 6

http://www.firerescue1.com/fire-ems/articles/1108887-Hazardous-materials-a
t-Tenn-jail-hospitalize-6/
Tags: us_TN, public, release, injury, meth_lab

ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. =97 At least six people were taken to Sycamore 
Shoals Hospital late Friday night after they came into contact with 
hazardous materials believed to have been associated with a 
methamphetamine lab, according to Carter County Sheriff Chris Mathes.

A large section of downtown Elizabethton near the Carter County Jail was 
shut down shortly around 10:30 p.m. while emergency personnel and 
hazardous materials teams worked to clear the scene after a deputy 
collapsed in the jail's processing area while bringing in a man arrested 
on drug charges during a routine stop in the Stoney Creek community.

"What we believe has happened to this point is this individual, who was 
arrested on drug charges, has been in a meth lab," Mathes said.

The harsh fumes from the unknown chemical substance permeated the man's 
clothing and skin to the point where the fumes overpowered the officer, 
leading to an immediate quarantine of the area, Mathes said.

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

WBTV 3 NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS, AND TRAFFIC FOR CHARLOTTE, NC-

http://www.wbtv.com/story/15306289/ammonia-leak-monday-morning-in-southwes
t-charlotte
Tags: us_NC, industrial, release, response, ammonia

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Dozens of firefighters responded to a business in 
southwest Charlotte after ammonia was released inside the facility early 
Monday morning forcing employees to evacuate.

The incidence occurred at a warehouse located at 11922 General Drive in 
the Steele Creek area.

We're told the chemical leak happened in a suite which houses a 
distribution center for ProFlowers.

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

INVESTIGATORS PROBE TWO WORK-RELATED INJURIES

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/08/22/ottawa-explosion-mas
terloy.html
Tags: Canada, industrial, explosion, injury, dust

The first happened a little after noon when a reported dust explosion 
injured a 46-year-old man.

Ottawa fire officials reported a fire in a factory warehouse at 5663 
Doncaster Rd. and said it was evacuated after a possible explosion.

About 25 firefighters extinguished the blaze and about a dozen emergency 
workers with the Hazmat team were called in as a precaution.

The man was treated by paramedics for second-degree burns to his torso 
and third-degree burns to back and legs. He was then transported to 
hospital in critical condition and has since been upgraded to serious 
condition.

The factory is run by Masterloy Products Company, which makes iron 
alloys.

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

MAN BURNED IN METH LAB EXPLOSION

http://moultrieobserver.com/local/x1699203018/Man-burned-in-meth-lab-explo
sion
Tags: us_GA, public, explosion, injury, meth_lab

MOULTRIE =97 Drug agents expect to make arrests related to two 
methamphetamine labs that were discovered Sunday morning after one of 
them exploded, severely burning a Colquitt County man.

The Moultrie-Colquitt County Drug Enforcement Team was called to a 
mobile home at 845 Tillman Road after 3 a.m. Sunday after emergency 
medical personnel found the man there with severe chemical burns, agency 
Cmdr. Steve Exum said.

=93DET agents found evidence to indicate a meth lab exploded,=94 he 
said.
....
No finished product was found at the operation, but the agents found 
chemicals used in making the drug.

Exum refused to identify the man, who has been taken to a hospital in 
Augusta for treatment of burns, because he has not been charged with a 
crime in the case.

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

HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO HYDROGEN PEROXIDE LEAK OUTSIDE COCOA FACTORY

http://www.nj.com/gloucester-county/index.ssf/2011/08/hazmat_team_responds
_to_hydrog.html
Tags: us_NJ, transportation, release, response, hydrogen_peroxide

GLASSBORO =97 A tanker was apparently leaking hydrogen peroxide outside 
a cocoa factory here Monday night, prompting a response from the 
county=92s hazmat team.
The tanker was leaking at ADM Cocoa on Ellis Street, reports indicated.
Hydrogen peroxide, according to the federal Environmental Protection 
Agency, is corrosive in a concentrated form and can be explosive in not 
stored under proper conditions.
The clear, colorless liquid is infinitely soluble in water. Agricultural 
pesticide products usually contain no more than 35 percent hydrogen 
peroxide, which is usually diluted to 1 percent or less when applied, 
according to the EPA.

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

SUSPECTED METH LAB DISCOVERED AT KINGSPORT MOTEL- KINGSPORT TIMES-NEWS

http://www.timesnews.net/article/9035002/suspected-meth-lab-discovered-at-
kingsport-motel
Tags: us_TN, public, release, response, meth_lab

KINGSPORT -- Four suspects are in custody following the discovery of a 
meth lab Saturday afternoon at the West Side Inn on Stone Drive.

Personnel with the Kingsport Police Department, Sullivan County EMS and 
the Kingsport Fire Department=92s HazMat unit responded to a suspicious 
odor complaint at the inn around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

A nearby resident made the call, saying the foul odor was coming from 
Room 309.

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

CONTAMINATED STAFF RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL

http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/five-contaminated-chemical-spill-in-timaru
-4360266
Tags: New_Zealand, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical

Staff contaminated by a chemical spill at a Timaru factory have been 
released from hospital.

An alkaline substance leaked from the New Zealand Light Leathers 
facility on Meadows Road at about 12.25pm today.

The chemical was meant to go into a treatment plant but a system failure 
resulted in the substance overflowing and running onto a driveway and 
down an effluent drain.

Four staff started feeling unwell and an ambulance and fire crews were 
called to the scene.

The affected people were decontaminated at the site and were treated at 
hospital for breathing problems.

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

CHEMICAL LEAK SENDS WOODLAND CANNERY EMPLOYEES TO AREA HOSPITALS

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/21/3851995/chemical-leak-sends-woodland-cann
ery.html
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, injury, chlorine

More than 40 employees at a Woodland cannery were taken to Sacramento 
area hospitals and close to 800 to 1,000 people were evacuated shortly 
after noon today when a chemical used in tomato processing leaked into a 
work area, authorities said.

Two employees of Pacific Coast Producers were seriously affected from 
exposure to the gas, chlorine dioxide, according to Greg Robinson, 
battalion chief for the Woodland Fire Department.

He put the number of patients at 43. A dozen ambulances transported 22 
employees to area hospitals. The other 21 were taken to hospitals by 
bus.

Company spokeswoman Mona Shulman said chlorine dioxide leaked into the 
work area in the form of "off-gassing," apparently when an injection 
system carrying the gas became overloaded.

Chlorine dioxide is routinely injected during processing "to keep the 
water and tomatoes sanitary as they go into canning," Shulman said. She 
said work is under way to detect the reason for the overload.

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

HOSPITAL WORKERS TREATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL IN ESSEX
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-14607532
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, solvent

Two workers from a hospital in Essex are being treated for the effects 
of a chemical spillage.

The incident happened at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford where they 
were exposed to acidic chemical fumes following a spillage in a storage 
area.

Fire crews were called to the incident on Saturday afternoon involving a 
canister of the citrus fragranced solvent d-Limonene.

Firefighters said the spillage was small and straightforward to deal 
with.

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

GRASSFIRE BURNS CHEMICALS, SLOWS TRAFFIC
http://www.turnto23.com/news/28928342/detail.html
Tags: us_CA, industrial, fire, response, waste

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A grassfire in central Bakersfield got into a 
building storing chemicals Saturday afternoon, and the smoke slowed 
traffic way down on Highway 99.
As traffic crawled through the smoke southbound on Highway 99, fire 
crews had to shut down the on-ramp to Golden State Highway as they 
worked.
Fire crews said there were actually two fires. The first was burning 
near Landco Road, along some train tracks in that area. That fire burned 
about seven acres.
The second fire was on Standard Drive, and got into the railroad ties 
and other items being behind some businesses, including an outbuilding 
at B.C. Labs, a chemical company.
Environmental health investigators say flames got close to some 
"chlorinated hazardous waste," but it was contained and nothing was 
released.

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

MAN'S LEGS BLOWN OFF IN BACKYARD EXPLOSION

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-22/backyard-chemical-explosion-melbourn
e/2849354/?site=melbourne
Tags: Australia, public, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

The Victoria Police arson squad says two men who were critically injured 
in a backyard explosion south-east of Melbourne last night were 
experimenting with chemicals.
A 24-year-old Pakenham man and a 23-year-old man from Cannons Creek are 
undergoing emergency surgery after the chemicals they were mixing 
exploded.
The arson squad says the men planned to bury an improvised explosive 
device they had made, but it blew up earlier than they had expected.

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

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