DCHAS-L Archives Sep 02 2011 - Chemical Safety Headlines From Google (13 articles)

CHEMICAL SPILL CLOSES AREA AROUND TORONTO YMCA< /div>

Tags: Canada, edu cation, release, environmental, unknown_chemical

CREWS SAFELY IGNITE, DISARM DYNA MITE FOUND IN JACKSON OUTBUILDING

Tags: us_CA, public, discovery, response, explosives

CREWS R ESPOND TO CHEMICAL SPILL IN MON RIVER

Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, environmental, a lcohol

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CPSC, FIRMS RECALL FUEL G EL DUE TO FIRE, BURN RISK

http://www.cnn.com /2011/US/09/01/fuel.gel.recall/

Tags: us_MD, other, fire, injury, follow-up

Bethesda, Maryl and (CNN) -- The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday a rec all of pourable gel fuels used in outdoor decorative lighting because of bur n and flash fire hazards.

The voluntary recall, ahead of the Labor Day weekend, covers about 2 million bottles and jugs of gel fuel, and it follows a similar recall and warning in June.

Incidents of flash fires and burns have been reported when consumers add th e gel to an already burning fire pot. The CPSC says the agency has received r eports of at least 65 incidents, including two deaths, 75 injuries, and 34 v ictims hospitalized with second and third degree burns.

Because of the alcohol base of the p roduct, the CPSC says the fires spread easily, sometimes resulting in injuri es to more than one person, and they are difficult to put out.

< div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin- left: 0px; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit- composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-f rame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); font-size: medium; ">"The standard way of putting o ut flame doesn't work. Water very rarely works. Patting it or smothering the flame does not work. So you have to use a dry chemical extinguisher to get t he flame out," CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum told CNN.

The nine manufacturers and distributor s involved in the voluntary recall include Bird Brain, Bond Manufacturing, S unjel, Fuel Barons, Lamplight Farms, Luminosities, Pacific Decor, Real Flame , and Smart Solar USA. CPSC said a tenth manufacturer, Marshall Group, backe d out of a recall agreement at the last-minute.

Tenenbaum also said the nine companies agree d to recall the items only if the CPSC would not show a video made in their l aboratory of the products exploding.

The recalled gel fuel has been sold by retailers since 2 008. The CPSC and Napa Home & Garden recalled 460,000 bottles and ju gs of gel fuel in June, and the CPSC recommends the removal of all remaining gel fuel stock from store shelves. For information on how to obtain a refun d, consumers can visit cpsc.gov.

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TORONTO NEWS: TWO INJURED IN CHEMICAL SPILL AT TORONTO SCHOOL

http://www.thestar.com/news/artic le/1047733--two-injured-in-chemical-spill-at-toronto-school

Tags: Canada, education, release, injury

Two people were injured after a chemical spill, leaving crews wo rried that a potentially explosive compound had formed at a high school, fir e department officials said.

The two people suffered eye irritation after bottles h olding chemicals were broken by movers at The Academy, a YMCA-run school on C harles St. E., near Yonge St.

Captain Adrian Ratushniak said a Canada Post buildi ng was evacuated shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday after a report that a chemical had splashed in one person=E2=80=99s eyes at the school.< /div>

Toronto Fire l ocated a spill on the fifth floor of the school building, Ratushniak said. T here were concerns the mix of chemicals could form nitrogen triiodide, a vol atile explosive compound.

A crew is now cleaning up the spill.

The spill warranted a haz -mat level three designation, the highest tier of response. In these situati ons, investigators need to wear special suits and must be decontaminated bef ore leaving the site, Ratushniak said.

Police said it appears someone dropped the c hemicals in a hallway while moving some items from one room to another, rele asing vapours into the air.

A police team that specializes in handling hazardous m aterials and the Canadian Transport Emergency Centre also responded to the i ncident, Ratushniak said.

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STEAM EXPLOSION INJURES 3 WORKERS AT HANOVER PLANT

http://www.abc27.com/s tory/15376489/explosion-injures-3-workers-at-hanover-plant

Tags: us_PA, industrial, e xplosion, injury, unknown_chemical

A steam explosion injured three workers Thursday m orning at the SKF USA Inc. Plant in York County.

Company spokesman Warren Gondolf said the accident injured an SKF employee and two technicians from a furnace manufacturer, Aichelin Heat Treatment Systems Ltd., at the facility on Industrial Drive in Penn Township at around 8:30 a.m.

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Gondolf said the ac cident was caused by an explosion of hot salt solution in the plant's heat t reatment area.

The injured workers were flown to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Ce nter in Baltimore for treatment of their injuries. Their names and details o n their conditions were not available, but emergency officials said they app eared to be in stable condition before they left the scene.

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STETSON UNIVERSITY STUDENT FOUND WITH URANIUM ON CAMPUS

http://www.news-journalonline.com/breakingnews/2011/09/stetson-universit y-student-found-with-uranium-on-campus.html

Tags: us_FL, education, discovery, response , uranium

Stetson University officials confiscated a package containing low-grade u ranium from a student today, DeLand police said.

Volusia County's HAZMAT team, al ong with DeLand's police and fire departments were called to the scene. Auth orities discovered that the amount of uranium was small enough that it could be possessed legally. Police said there was no immediate threat to the camp us, but the Public Safety Office was temporarily sealed off as a precaution.

According to Cindi Brownfield, Stetson spokeswoman, possession of uranium f alls under the university's weapons policy, and the student will go through S tetson's judicial process.

DeLand Deputy Chief Randel Henderson said in an ema il that the police are "conferring with the FBI as a routine protocol."

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DEPARTMENTS RESPOND TO HAZMAT SITUATION AT ME DICAL LAB

http://www.wisn.com/r/29053517/detail.html

Tags: us_WI, la boratory, release, response, flammables, solvent, waste

WAUWATOSA, Wis. -- The Wauwatosa Fire Department is on the scene of a hazardous materials incident near the Medic al College of Wisconsin.

A fire department spokesperson confirmed they had responded to a HAZ MAT situation at 11001 W. Plank Ct.

The address is a Wheaton Franciscan laboratory located near Highway 100 and Watertown Plank Rd.

A representative with Wheaton Francis can told 12 News that an employee discovered a leak in a solvent recycling m achine. While employees contained the spill, the fire department was called p art of their standard procedure.

When the Wauwatosa Fire Department arrived on scene, they ask ed for HazMat to also respond as the solvent involved was highly flammable.< /font>

The Milwaukee Fir e Department HazMat team was also asked to respond to the scene.

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UPDATE: TOXIC HAZARD AT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUILD ING IN CHARLESTON

< a href="http://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/BREAKING_NEWS_Hazmat_Team_Calle d_to_the_National_Weather_Service_Building_in_Charleston_128879223.html">htt p://www.wsaz.com/news/headlines/BREAKING_NEWS_Hazmat_Team_Called_to_the_Nati onal_Weather_Service_Building_in_Charleston_128879223.html

Tags: us_WV, public, rele ase, response, batteries

UPDATE: 9/1/11 **At_Symbol_Here** 7:05 p.m.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- It's a situation even e xperts couldn't predict as a group of meteorologists were caught off guard w hen a strange odor forced them out of their office and turned out to be toxi c fumes from battery acid.

Employees at the National Weather Service in Charleston s ay they first noticed something wasn't right about 7:30 Thursday morning.

A c ouple hours later, emergency crews shut down Parkway Road off of Corridor G, allowing hazmat teams to move in.

"We started to smell something and we thought it almost smelled like chlorine or something electrical before we tracked it d own and found out in fact it was battery acid," meteorologist Alan Rezek sai d. "As soon as we called 911, boom, they were here to take care of it."

Leaking ba ttery acid was caused by a malfunction in the back-up power supply.

Taking every p recaution possible, employees evacuated the building and no one was hurt.

"We did n't want to look any further we wanted to let the professionals do that," Re zek said.

Emergency crews cut power to the batteries and that stopped the leak.

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HAZMAT TEAM CALLED TO SEMI SPILL

http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/Hazmat_Team_Called_to_Semi_Spi ll_128857503.html

Tags: us_WI, transportation, release, environmental, unknown_chemi cal

Th e City of Madison Fire Department's Hazardous Materials Incident Team was re quested this evening by the Cottage Grove Fire Department after a semi truck driver noticed a liquid leaking from his truck's trailer.

The driver pulled off of I90 East at County Road N. The first call came in just before 6 p.m. The Hazmat team was called a short time later and arrived at the scene at 6:30.

The exit ramp was closed while crews worked to contain the leak and iden tify the product. The leaking fluid was found to be a cleaning solution that had no environmental impact.

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BREAKING: H AZMAT TEAM RESPONDING TO CAPAC HIGH SCHOOL

http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20110831/NE WS05/110831014

Tags: us_MI, education, discovery, response, nitric_acid

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The St. Clair Count y hazardous materials team has been requested about 8:45 p.m. today at Capac High School for a chemical incident.

The Mussey Township Fire Departmen t is on scene and is reporting there are several packages of nitric acid in a garbage can at the school.

One of the packages has been breached and is leaking. C rews are working to neutralize the acid with baking soda.

Check back for updates.< /font>

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BLAST DISTURBS THE PEACE AT CANNONS CREEK

http://cranbourne-leader.where ilive.com.au/news/story/blast-disturbs-the-peace-a-cannons-creek/

Tags: Australia, p ublic, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

Police examine the backyard w here a chemical blast injured two men. Picture: Andrew Batsch

CURRAWONG Grove in Cannons Cree k is a quiet rural street, with large homes on acreage. It=E2=80=99s lush an d green, with only the noise of the odd sheep bleating or bird chirping to b reak the uneventful silence.

But that all changed On Sunday, August 21, resident Be n Goodman, 23, had a group of mates over, including Matt Lewis, 24, of Paken ham, and decided to experiment with mixing chemicals, which produced devasta ting results. Two young men suffered horrific injuries in the chemical explo sion that rocked houses more than 15km away.

Neighbour Kelly Evens, 22, said the b ang, at about 11pm, was one of the loudest things she had ever heard.

" There was a big shock in our street,=E2=80=99=E2=80=99 Ms Evens said.

"We k now people in Pearcedale, whose whole house shook when it went off.

"We w ent outside and within about five minutes of the explosion, there were three fire trucks in the street and then after that two ambulances and six or eig ht police cars.

"There were two ambulance helicopters that landed in open l and near our house. They didn=E2=80=99t take off until after 2.30am, so they must have been taking their time in stabilising the injured guys,=E2=80 =99=E2=80=99 she said.

Mr Goodman and Mr Lewis were both seriously injured and were f lown to separate hospitals.

Mr Goodman suffered burns to his eyes, face and upper b ody, and is in a stable condition at the Alfred Hospital.

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LEADING OIL PRODUCER SACKS GM OVER PLANT FIRES

http://english.cri.cn/6909/2011/08/31/1781s656145.h tm

Tags: China, industrial, fire, death, diesel, follow-up

The general manager of the Dali an Petrochemical Company of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), a l eading on-shore oil producer, was removed from his post Tuesday following th e branch's second fire in two months, a company source said Wednesday.

Jiang Fan, former general manager of Dalian Petrochemical Company in Liaoning Pro vince's coastal city of Dalian, was replaced by Leng Shengjun, former genera l manager of Daqing Refining & Chemical Company of CNPC, according t o its official website.

The Dalian branch has been the scene of two fires i n the past two months. The latest incident occurred when a diesel oil tank c aught fire on Monday. Fortunately, no one was injured or killed in the accid ent.

On July 16, a fire was triggered by a leak in a distillation device at t he Dalian branch. No one was killed or injured as a result.

The CNPC also decided th at the corporation would set up its own investigation team to assist with an on-going investigation conducted by the municipal work safety watchdog, acc ording to its website.

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CHEMICAL SPILL CLOSES AR EA AROUND TORONTO YMCA

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/tor onto/story/2011/08/31/toronto-chemical-spill.html

Tags: Canada, education, release, e nvironmental, unknown_chemical

A chemical spill in downtown Toronto closed a secti on of one of the city's busiest areas for several hours on Wednesday evenin g.

Fire and emergency crews were called to 42 Charles St. E., near the in tersection of Yonge and Bloor streets, to deal with the spill of some chemic als at a local YMCA.

According to fire officials, the chemicals =E2=80=94 part of a science class =E2=80=94 were being transferred from one room to another whe n they were spilled.

As a precaution, firefighters in full haz-mat suits were call ed to clean up the spill.

The Toronto Fire Department treated the situation as a ' haz-mat level three,' which requires the use of special clothing as well as t he evacuation of buildings adjacent to the incident.

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CREWS SAFELY IGNITE, DISARM DYNAMITE FOUND IN JACKSON OUTBUILDING< /font>

http://www.news10.net/news/local/article/152645/2 /Bomb-squad-works-to-neutralize-dynamite-areas-of-Jackson-remain-evacuated

Tags: us_C A, public, discovery, response, explosives

JACKSON, CA - Calaveras County bomb sq uad detonated a box of dynamite that was found inside an old outbuilding on French Bar Road Wednesday around 11:30 p.m.

The denotation created a small f lash then a small boom, said Amador County Sheriff's Dispatch. The fire burn ed for another 15 minutes before it was extinguished.

Around 8 p.m., crews soa ked the dynamite in an acetone oil compound desensitized the crystallize dyn amite, Calaveras County Sheriff's Bomb Squad' Josh Crabtree said. Crews then moved the dynamite from the outbuilding then set it on fire.

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Crabtree said this i s the most crystallized dynamite he has seen.

"We always go worst case scenario, so we're not taking any chances with this," Crabtree said. "This is very old d ynamite. It's been in this house for over 20 years."

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CREWS RESPOND TO CHEMICAL SPILL IN MON RIVER

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11244/1171375-55.stm

Tags: us_PA, indus trial, release, environmental, alcohol

A Fayette County industrial water treatment p lant spilled an unknown quantity of an alcohol-based chemical into the Monon gahela River Wednesday night, killing several fish and shutting down ri ver traffic for a time, the state Department of Environmental Protection sai d.

An e mergency response team from the DEP, the county's hazardous materials team a nd four fire departments responded to the Henwil treatment plant in Newell, a cross the river from California Borough, after the spill was reported at aro und 5:40 p.m, said DEP spokeswoman Katy Gresh.

Ms. Gresh said the compan y told DEP offcials that the material was held in a tank that apparently lea ked, spilling into two containment areas that overflowed. The material then e ntered the river, leaving a sheen that hugged the riverbank about 700 yards l ong and 20 yards wide.

In total, the company said it lost about 2,000 gallons of the chemical, but it's not clear how much of that escaped the containment pits a nd went into the river. The company told DEP that the material was "biodegra dable but toxic to aquatic organisms," Ms. Gresh said, adding that DEP was w orking to verify what was spilled into the river.

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