From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (17 articles)
Date: January 30, 2012 7:38:43 AM EST
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: <214DA616-A1A0-4336-A214-B17BD9375AE9**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>

Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, January 30, 2012 7:37:58 AM

A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

Table of Contents (17 articles)

ISAT: STRINGENT SAFETY MEASURES IN PLACE TO AVOID LIFE-THREATENING ACCIDENTS
Tags: us_VA, laboratory, follow-up, response

GASOLINE SPILL IN OWEGO
Tags: us_NY, public, release, response, gasoline

- VERNON CENTER FIRE STARTS FROM CHEMICAL COMBUSTION
Tags: us_MN, public, fire, response, other_chemical

VILLAGE SEALED OFF DUE TO CHEMICAL INCIDENT (FROM BANBURY CAKE)
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, hydrogen_sulfide, suicide

CAR HITS CHEMICAL STORAGE TANK IN SMITHFIELD
Tags: us_PA, public, release, response, flammables

HAZMAT SCARE FORCES COMCAST EVACUATION
Tags: us_CO, public, release, response, freon

CHEMICAL FIRE REPORTED AT MUELLER
Tags: us_TN, industrial, fire, response, toluene

EXCLUSIVE: CANADA'S ILLICIT DRUG EXPORT BOOM
Tags: Canada, public, follow-up, response, illegal

OTTAWA SCHOOL EXPLOSION DEATH LEADS TO CHARGES
Tags: Canada, education, follow-up, death

MINOR CHEMICAL ACCIDENT AT GROVE ACADEMY
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, release, injury, bromine

DEADLY CHEMICAL DISCHARGED INTO CHINESE RIVERS
Tags: China, industrial, release, environmental, toxics

KFVS12 NEWS & WEATHER CAPE GIRARDEAU, CARBONDALE, POPLAR BLUFF
Tags: us_MO, public, release, injury, cleaners

METH LAB EXPLODES, FIVE PEOPLE ARRESTED
Tags: us_TN, public, explosion, injury, illegal, meth_lab

13 INJURED, EXPOSED TO CARBON MONOXIDE
Tags: us_WI, industrial, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

U.S. CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD
Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, death, propane

CHEMICAL TURNS RIVER PURPLE, NO HARM DONE TO DRINKING WATER
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, environmental, water_treatment

HAZMAT CALLED AFTER CLEANING SOLUTION DUMPED
Tags: us_OH, public, discovery, response, waste


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

ISAT: STRINGENT SAFETY MEASURES IN PLACE TO AVOID LIFE-THREATENING ACCIDENTS
http://www.breezejmu.org/news/article_3821edb6-4af7-11e1-91f0-001a4bcf6878.html
Tags: us_VA, laboratory, follow-up, response

Heather Armstrong will never forget the graphic chemistry demonstration gone wrong while someone was trying to place a cap on a glass container.
"This person had the stopper in his hand, and ended up impaling the whole glass through his hand," said Armstrong, a chemical hygiene officer. "I'll never forget that sight."
Most accidents that occur in the lab are chemical splashes or small cuts from broken beakers, though occasionally something more serious happens.
Senior chemistry major Casey Rogers said accidents can happen if lab safety measures aren't observed.

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

GASOLINE SPILL IN OWEGO
http://www.wicz.com/news2005/viewarticle.asp?a=21927
Tags: us_NY, public, release, response, gasoline

A broken gas pump causes ten homes to evacuate Saturday night in Owego.

Owego First Assistant Fire Chief Scott gurney says a gas pump malfunctioned at the Citgo gas station on West Main Street around 6:30 p.m. Saturday night, spraying 500 to 700 gallons of gasoline into the street.

Gurney says somewhere around 50 to 100 gallons of gas went into a storm drain. The storm drain goes to the reservoir which leads to the river. A Hazmat team and the Fire Department stopped the gasoline spill before it reached the river.

Hazmat teams found high readings of vapor levels and created a single block radius evacuation.

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

- VERNON CENTER FIRE STARTS FROM CHEMICAL COMBUSTION
http://www.keyc.tv/story/16627505/vernon-center-fire-starts-from-chemical-combustion
Tags: us_MN, public, fire, response, other_chemical

We know the cause of a fire in Vernon Center that destroyed most of a one story home.

The fire began on the back porch after rags used for staining spontaneously ignited in a trash can, according to Vernon Center Fire Chief Landon Davis.

The fire then moved through the home and into the attic.

Fire Chief says the structure is still standing but the roof is almost completely gone.

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

VILLAGE SEALED OFF DUE TO CHEMICAL INCIDENT (FROM BANBURY CAKE)
http://www.banburycake.co.uk/news/9499912.Village_sealed_off_due_to_chemical_incident/
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, hydrogen_sulfide, suicide

A VILLAGE was sealed off earlier today after a chemical suicide bid turned a home into a potential death scene.

Firefighters, paramedics, police and an ambulance hazardous area response team (HART) rushed to Chippinghurst, near Garsington, at about 7am.

The entire village was sealed off and residents were told not to leave their homes after a 23-year-old man filled his house with the killer gas hydrogen sulphide.

He was found gasping for breath by his father who immediately called the police and paramedics.

The incident ended with the suicidal man being taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

Fire brigade officials refused to discuss the incident and referred all calls to the police.

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

CAR HITS CHEMICAL STORAGE TANK IN SMITHFIELD
http://m.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120129/NEWS/201290328/-1/NEWS01&template=wapart
Tags: us_PA, public, release, response, flammables

A car slammed into a roadside chemical storage tank Saturday afternoon in Smithfield Township.

The crash, which occurred on Seven Bridges Road near the corner of Route 447 around 2 p.m., triggered a big response from emergency service personnel because the chemical in the storage tank, bioxide, is explosive and highly flammable.

However, the chemical is only dangerous in powder form. It was in liquid form in the roadside storage tank, according to Joe Quaresimo, chief of Marshalls Creek Fire Company.

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

HAZMAT SCARE FORCES COMCAST EVACUATION
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/30324791/detail.html
Tags: us_CO, public, release, response, freon

ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. -- Dozens of Comcast employees were evacuated Saturday evening after fire officials said the air conditioning system may have leaked Freon.
Cunningham Fire Chief Jerry Rhodes said crews were called to the Comcast facility at 8000 East Iliff Avenue at about 5:17 p.m. He said an employee noticed a "vapor," triggering the company to activate emergency alarms and evacuate the building.
HAZMAT crews from South Metro Fire Rescue assisted with the incident. Inside the building, they found the possible source of the problem, a leak in a Freon line. The leak was stopped and crews were working to ventilate the building before allowing employees back inside, Rhodes said.

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

CHEMICAL FIRE REPORTED AT MUELLER
http://www.clevelandbanner.com/view/full_story/17327803/article-Chemical-fire-reported-at-Mueller-?instance=latest_articles
Tags: us_TN, industrial, fire, response, toluene

Cleveland Fire Department rushed to the scene of a reported chemical fire at Mueller Co. Saturday afternoon. According to 911 dispatchers, the call came in at 2:38 p.m.

Mueller is located just off Industrial Drive in southwest Cleveland.

Dispatchers were notified the chemical involved was Toluene.

Firefighters were able to vent the plant after opening a roof panel. Thick smoke covered the area after the fire was vented.

Off-duty firefighters were paged to man CFD's Main Station while ladders and pumpers remained on the scene several hours Saturday. Dispatchers noted the fire was contained within approximately two hours.

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

EXCLUSIVE: CANADA'S ILLICIT DRUG EXPORT BOOM
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/01/28/exclusive-canadas-illicit-drug-export-boom
Tags: Canada, public, follow-up, response, illegal

TORONTO - Canada has joined Colombia as a leading exporter of synthetic or designer drugs, flooding the global market on an almost unprecedented scale, police say.

The RCMP have seized tonnes of illicit synthetic drugs that include Ecstasy and methamphetamine being shipped abroad after being "cooked" in make-shift labs in apartments, homes and businesses in the GTA.

Police are now seizing more chemicals and synthetic drugs, which they say is favoured by young people, at Canadian border checks rather than the traditional cocaine, heroin or hashish that officers call drugs of "a last generation."

Most of the Ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), meth or ketamine, a hallucinogenic used in "drug cocktails," are smuggled from Canada by trucks, air cargo, human couriers or courier services to a network of traffickers.

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

OTTAWA SCHOOL EXPLOSION DEATH LEADS TO CHARGES
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/01/25/ottawa-eric-leighton-charges-school-board.html
Tags: Canada, education, follow-up, death

The father of a student who died following an explosion in shop class says he is relieved charges have been laid against the Ottawa Catholic school board.

The Ontario Ministry of Labour has laid three charges against the Ottawa-Carleton Catholic District School Board under the Occupational Health and Safety Act in relation to the May 26, 2011incident

Eric Leighton, 18, was attempting to cut open an old oil drum at Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School when it exploded. He died of his injuries and four others who were in the classroom were injured.

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

MINOR CHEMICAL ACCIDENT AT GROVE ACADEMY
http://www.guideandgazette.co.uk/news/local-headlines/minor_chemical_accident_at_grove_academy_1_2079630
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, release, injury, bromine

WHAT was described as a Ôminor' chemical accident at Grove Academy on Friday morning led to eight pupils and a teacher being taken to Ninewells Hospital.

The incident took place within a science laboratory at the Broughty Ferry secondary school.

The exact circumstances surrounding what occurred are not known but it believed that the chemical bromine was involved.

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

DEADLY CHEMICAL DISCHARGED INTO CHINESE RIVERS
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9044328/Deadly-chemical-discharged-into-Chinese-rivers.html
Tags: China, industrial, release, environmental, toxics

Authorities in Liuzhou, a city of 3.7 million in Guangxi Province in southern China, are battling to contain the spread of the toxic chemical, after elevated levels of cadmium were detected on Friday in the Liujiang River, the main source of drinking water in Liuzhou. Panicked residents were rushing to stock up on supplies of bottled water, after being told not to drink water from the river.
Sluices were being opened upstream in an effort to dilute the carcinogenic cadmium, which was discharged into the Longjiang River and has spread downstream leaving large numbers of fish dead. Earlier in the week, fire fighters dumped hundreds of tons of dissolved aluminium chloride into the Longjiang River in an effort to neutralise the pollutant, but fears remain that it will continue to flow further downstream and affect other cities.
Local officials, though, are insisting that tap water in Liuzhou is safe.
"The water is still up to national standards and is safe for drinking," said Gan Jinglin, the head of Liuzhou's Environmental Bureau. The chemical spill in Guangxi is the latest in a long line of incidents that have rendered China's rivers and waterways some of the most polluted in the world, despite efforts by Beijing to pressure local authorities to shut down polluting industries.
The deadly discharge occurred almost two weeks ago on January 15th, but was only reported by state media on Thursday. The Guangxi Jinhe Mining Company in Hechi City is being blamed for the release of the cadmium. It is not known for how long the company had been discharging the pollutant into the Longjiang River or in what quantities.

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

KFVS12 NEWS & WEATHER CAPE GIRARDEAU, CARBONDALE, POPLAR BLUFF
http://www.kfvs12.com/story/16617401/chemical-spill-sends-some-to-hospital
Tags: us_MO, public, release, injury, cleaners

Several people were sent to the hospital after a chemical mixture error in Cape Girardeau.

It happened around 11:15 a.m. at HealthPoint Fitness. The building was evacuated after a mixing error involving laundry chemicals, according to Southeast Health.

According to the fire department, the mixture caused a chemical reaction as one of the chemicals was a mild acid and the other was an oxidizer

According to Cape Girardeau Fire Chief Rick Ennis, crews were dispatched to some sort of chemical mixture sending fumes in the air.

Three employees were taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons, according to Southeast Health. They were being treated for minor chemical irritation and were released later Friday.

Fire department crews say large electric fans were placed in the building to bring fresh air into the structure. While the fans were running personnel continued to monitor the area for toxic levels.

Crews say hospital personnel then shut off the HVAC system while the incident was ongoing to keep the fumes from traveling throughout the building. Fire personnel then started monitoring the area for toxicity in the environment.

The fire department used Haz-Mat suits and removed a 15-gallon container of mixed chemicals from the building, according to the fire department.

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

METH LAB EXPLODES, FIVE PEOPLE ARRESTED
http://www.volunteertv.com/news/headlines/Meth_lab_explodes_138227024.html?ref=024
Tags: us_TN, public, explosion, injury, illegal, meth_lab

RUTLEDGE, Tenn. (WVLT) -- Grainger County Deputies raided a house, finding an active meth lab. When one of the people inside tried to flush the meth lab down the toilet, it exploded.

Deputies went to the house on Highway 92 in Rutledge early Thursday morning. They arrested five people: Krystal Holbert, Johnny Lee, James Keck, Brandy Gibson and Cecille Evans for making meth.


Holbert faces additional charges for aggravated burglary, theft, criminal simulation and tampering with evidence.

Deputies says she is the one who ran through the house and tried to flush the meth lab down the toilet. It exploded and burned her face. Crews took her to the hospital, then to the Grainger County Detention Center.

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

13 INJURED, EXPOSED TO CARBON MONOXIDE
http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/138192479.html
Tags: us_WI, industrial, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

BLACK RIVER FALLS, Wis. (AP) -- Authorities say a faulty propane tank likely caused carbon monoxide fumes that sent 13 workers to the hospital in Jackson County.

Emergency responders were called to Chippewa Bi Products near Alma Center Thursday on a report that at least one worker had passed out.

EMTs determined that there were several people who may have been overcome by carbon monoxide fumes in one of the buildings. The company says the faulty tank was used to fuel a forklift.

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

U.S. CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD
http://idevmail.americaneagle.com/message.aspx?d=30&m=913&e=Rstuartcih**At_Symbol_Here**me.com&r=3736392&f=TEXT
Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, death, propane

CSB Safety Recommendations from Ghent, West Virginia Propane Explosion Largely Adopted, Effecting Life-Saving Change

Statement by Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso Marks Five-Year Anniversary of the Convenience Store Tragedy that Claimed Lives of
Two Emergency Responders and Two Propane Technicians

Monday, January 30, marks the fifth anniversary of a terrible tragedy that occurred in Ghent, West Virginia - a propane explosion that took the lives of four people and injured six others at a Little General convenience store. The accident occurred as an inexperienced worker attempted to transfer propane from a tank located against an outside wall of the store.

I am pleased to report today satisfactory progress in the adoption of a number of important CSB recommendations made in our final report of September 2008, aimed at improving training requirements for propane technicians, and at improving emergency response actions by on-scene technicians and 911 operators. The recommendations have largely been adopted and will result in lives saved.

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

CHEMICAL TURNS RIVER PURPLE, NO HARM DONE TO DRINKING WATER
http://www.yourfoxchapel.com/node/6571
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, environmental, water_treatment

The Allegheny River flowed liked wine last week near Sharpsburg when the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority released a harmless chemical that turned the water purple.

As expected, phone calls poured in about the mysterious-colored water, according to Sharpsburg Councilman Tony Sacco.

The local fire department, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Allegheny County Health Department responded.

"I knew it wasn't anything the borough did wrong because we don't have the capacity to dump those kind of chemicals," Sacco said.
The borough has it's own water supply system and treatment plant, drawing from wells near the river.

"Everybody was on the job immediately and found out where the source was," Sacco said.

It was the second day on the job for Rich Aluise, Sharpsburg's new water plant manager.

"I got the call from Councilman Lou DeLuca and all I could do was look upstream to the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority," he said.

And that has been an automatic reaction for Aluise, who worked at the Authority for 21 years.

Authority employees were washing out a bin, located about 1 mile north of Sharpsburg near Aspinwall, where Permanganate, a chemical routinely used to remove iron and manganese from drinking water, is stored.

The chemical ended up in the Allegheny because recent rain caused the sewer system to overflow into the river, said Stanley States, PWSA's director of water quality and production.

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

HAZMAT CALLED AFTER CLEANING SOLUTION DUMPED
http://www.journal-news.com/news/crime/hazmat-called-after-cleaning-solution-dumped-1319102.html
Tags: us_OH, public, discovery, response, waste

WEST CHESTER TWP. Ñ An unknown substance found in a dumpster today has been identified as cleaning solution by the West Chester Twp. hazardous materials team.
Around 2:10 p.m., West Chester Twp. fire officials responded to 4758 Interstate Drive after an employee reported seeing someone dump a 55-gallon drum of liquid into a dumpster, according to Barb Wilson, township spokeswoman.
Wilson said as of 2:30 p.m. units have already cleared the scene after the fluid ended up being cleaning solution. The person that dumped the fluid was found and will properly dispose of the liquid.

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

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post



The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.
The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.