From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (18 articles)
Date: April 27, 2012 7:33:19 AM EDT
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, April 27, 2012 7:32:47 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 (18 articles)

TWO STUDENTS BURNED IN LAB FIRE MAY BE HOSPITALIZED OVERNIGHT
Tags: us_NY, education, fire, injury, methanol

DISMANTLING A METH LAB IS A DANGEROUS JOB NOT FOR AMATEURS
Tags: us_WV, public, discovery, response, meth_lab

DELIVERY DRIVER TAKEN TO HOSPITAL DUE TO LEAKING PACKAGE
Tags: us_SC, transportation, release, injury, unknown_chemical

LAB FIRE AT KANSAS STATE
Tags: us_KS, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

HOTEL EVACUATED FOLLOWING CHEMICAL INCIDENT (FROM YOUR LOCAL GUARDIAN)
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, bleach

CHARGES EXPECTED IN EXPLODING BOTTLE PRANK AT LRU
Tags: us_NC, education, explosion, response, other_chemical, illegal

CHEMICAL TRUCK DRIVER INJURED WHILE PUMPING BLEACH FOR PROVIDENCE CUSTOMER
Tags: us_RI, transportation, release, injury, bleach

CHEMICAL SPILL CAUSES ROAD CLOSURE IN JOHOR
Tags: Malaysia, transportation, release, response, sulfuric_acid

TOXIC CHEMICAL GETS INTO STORM SEWER SYSTEM
Tags: Canada, laboratory, release, response, toluene

CHEMICAL SPILL PRODUCES FISH KILL
Tags: us_IL, public, release, environmental, pesticides

CANADA NEWS: DUST, ÔPOOR HOUSEKEEPING' POSSIBLE CULPRITS IN SAWMILL BLAST
Tags: Canada, industrial, explosion, death, dust, flammables

REDHOOK EMPLOYEE DIES IN KEG EXPLOSION
Tags: us_NH, industrial, explosion, death, other_chemical

RESIDENTS EVACUATE AFTER GAS LEAKS FROM OIL WELL
Tags: us_WY, industrial, release, response, natural_gas

DEPT OF LABOR ON UCLA: THE MOST HAUNTING NUMBER
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, follow-up, death, other_chemical

MICH. HAZMAT CREWS ON SITE OF BROKEN THERMOMETERS
Tags: us_MI, public, release, response, mercury

RURAL CHEMICAL FERTILIZER SPILL CLOSES ROADS
Tags: us_IL, transportation, release, response, diesel, pesticides

QUESTIONS SURROUND SULFURIC ACID SPILL ALONG HIGHWAY 60 IN BARTOW
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, sulfuric_acid

VINA POLICE INVESTIGATING MONDAY NIGHT METH LAB EXPLOSION
Tags: us_AL, public, explosion, injury, meth_lab


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TWO STUDENTS BURNED IN LAB FIRE MAY BE HOSPITALIZED OVERNIGHT
http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/Two-students-burned-in-lab-fire-may-be/lNhYcGpQOkScEoq7GI4UOg.cspx
Tags: us_NY, education, fire, injury, methanol

Liverpool (WSYR-TV) -- A science class demonstration turned dangerous at a Liverpool middle school Thursday. Three students and a teacher ended up in the hospital with burns. Two of the students are still being treated.

"The first thing that we saw wasÉthere were kids laying in the hallway and that is a pretty horrible sight," said Liverpool Superintendent, Dr. Richard Johns.

By the time Johns was called to Soule Road Middle School, fire trucks and ambulances surrounded the main door. Inside an eighth grade science room, three students and a teacher were being treated for serious burns.

"The teacher told me that he'd performed this experiment dozens of times in his career and never had a problem with it, but something went wrong, horribly wrong this time," Dr. Johns told NewsChannel 9.

The teacher was holding a jar of methanol when fumes ignited; it created a flash fire, burning the students nearby.

Rescuers found one young girl burned from the waist up. Another child's eyebrows and lashes were singed by the heat, even though she was wearing goggles.

"Her collar had obviously started on fire and it had burned her nape and the back of her back pretty significantly," Dr. Johns continued.

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DISMANTLING A METH LAB IS A DANGEROUS JOB NOT FOR AMATEURS
http://www.wtrf.com/story/17795308/dismantling-a-meth-lab-is-a-dangerous-job-not-for-amateurs
Tags: us_WV, public, discovery, response, meth_lab

t's a clean-up job with serious danger involved.

A specially trained crew was called out Wednesday after two Belmont County parole officers discovered a meth lab in a Barnesville man's basement.

Now the man is in jail, and the lab has been dismantled by experts.

It all started when two parole officers dropped in to check on 22-year-old Michael Malesky of Sandy Ridge Road, outside Barnesville.

The parole officers told 7 News they noticed drugs in the house, and then noticed other items--Coleman lantern fluid, denatured alcohol, pseudo ephedrine, and cold packs.

Together in one place, those items spell meth lab.

And they found one in the basement.

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DELIVERY DRIVER TAKEN TO HOSPITAL DUE TO LEAKING PACKAGE
http://www2.wspa.com/news/2012/apr/26/5/delivery-driver-taken-hospital-due-leaking-package-ar-3679901/
Tags: us_SC, transportation, release, injury, unknown_chemical

GREER, S.C. --
A delivery truck driver in Greer was taken to the hospital after a package on the truck was leaking liquid.

The Greer Fire Department says the driver was overcome with fumes.

After investigating, Hazmat crews found the package contained a basic cleaning solven for paint.

The driver is out of the hospital and is reported to be fine.

Greer fire and police officials, as well as the Greenville Hazmat Team, were called to where the UPS truck was on Aaron Tippin Drive Thursday morning.

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

LAB FIRE AT KANSAS STATE
http://www.themercury.com/news/article.aspx?articleId=487509ab4bee43318249af941586aaf4
Tags: us_KS, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

The Manhattan Fire Department responded Wednesday at approximately 11 a.m. to reports of a small lab fire in Ward Hall at Kansas State University.
Officials said a chemical caught fire in one of the building's labs, but that lab workers had extinguished it before firefighters arrived. At press time, officials said they were unsure how the fire started.

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HOTEL EVACUATED FOLLOWING CHEMICAL INCIDENT (FROM YOUR LOCAL GUARDIAN)
http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news/topstories/9671909.Hotel_evacuated_following_chemical_incident/?ref=nt
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, bleach

Eighty people were evacuated following a chemical incident at a Croydon hotel yesterday.

Firefighters from New Addington fire station were called to the Selsdon Park Hotel, Addington Road, just before 6.43pm to reports of an automatic fire alarm going off.

When the crew arrived they discovered there was a chemical incident, with the wrong quantities of sodium hypochlorite and sodium bisulphate mixed in the hotel's leisure centre.

London ambulance were called and one person was taken to hospital suffering from the effects of inhaling chemical fumes.

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CHARGES EXPECTED IN EXPLODING BOTTLE PRANK AT LRU
http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/news/2012/apr/25/4/lru-police-investigate-exploding-bottle-dorm-ar-2205939/
Tags: us_NC, education, explosion, response, other_chemical, illegal

HICKORY, N.C. --
A plastic bottle filled with a chemical exploded in a dorm bathroom Tuesday night at Lenoir-Rhyne University in what was likely a prank that went too far.

Lenoir-Rhyne University's security received a call at about 8:20 p.m. from one of Morgan Hall's resident advisors. The caller said someone threw a 2-liter drink bottle with a chemical substance through an open window of a bathroom on the second floor of the building, according to a report filed by security officer Kevin Ripley.

When Hickory police began investigating, it became apparent the bottle was placed in the bathroom by one of the people involved in the incident, said Thurman Whisnant with the Hickory Police Department.

"It would not have been possible for it to have been thrown in," Whisnant said.

Student Maggie Brown was in Morgan Hall when the bottle exploded in the empty bathroom.

"I was walking up the stairs, and it sounded like a boom," she said. "It sounded like an explosive."

Ripley told the advisor to clear the hallway of students until he arrived and could examine the bathroom. When Ripley opened the bathroom door he was overwhelmed.

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CHEMICAL TRUCK DRIVER INJURED WHILE PUMPING BLEACH FOR PROVIDENCE CUSTOMER
http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2012/04/chemical-truck.html
Tags: us_RI, transportation, release, injury, bleach

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A truck driver unloading bleach from a 300-gallon plastic container was injured and most of the bleach was lost when the tank's pressure system malfunctioned and pumped bleach into the street, a fire official said Wednesday.
Acting Deputy Assistant Chief Joseph R. Desmarais said the solution of 12.5 percent bleach spilled on the leg of the driver for Roberts Chemical. He was taken to Rhode Island Hospital with an injury that was not life-threatening, Desmarais said.
The bleach was being pumped into Monarch Metal Finishing, 189 Georgia Ave, when the spill occurred at about 10:30 a.m., Desmarais said. Clean Harbors contained and removed bleach that spilled in the street, he said.

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CHEMICAL SPILL CAUSES ROAD CLOSURE IN JOHOR
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/4/26/nation/11179645&sec=nation
Tags: Malaysia, transportation, release, response, sulfuric_acid

JOHOR BARU: A section of Km16 Jalan Johor Baru-Skudai had to be closed to traffic for three hours after two drums containing chemicals fell off a lorry.

The lorry was believed to be heading towards Johor Baru when the accident took place at around 9am yesterday.

Twenty-three firemen, including a hazmat (hazardous material) team from Taman Universiti Fire and Rescue Department, rushed to the site about 10 minutes later to retrieve the contents of the 1,800kg drums, believed to be sulphuric acid, which spilled onto the road.

Fire operations commander C. Kesavan said the drums were leaking when his men arrived.

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

TOXIC CHEMICAL GETS INTO STORM SEWER SYSTEM
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Toxic+chemical+gets+into+storm+sewer+system/6519973/story.html
Tags: Canada, laboratory, release, response, toluene

CALGARY Ñ The city fire department was called Wednesday to clean up a toxic spill near the airport that spread into the storm sewer system.

The Hazardous Materials Response Team were dispatched about 5 p.m. to a lab at the 4400 block of 14th Street N.E.

Crews were told up to 53 litres of toluene had spilled and some of the liquid may have entered the storm sewer system.

Investigators were able to soak up much of the product with absorbent material, but they did find some in the sewer system.

The area was cordoned off due to the chemical's flammability. A contract company was called to vacuum the liquid from the sewer.

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

CHEMICAL SPILL PRODUCES FISH KILL
http://www.pekintimes.com/news/x1780494913/Chemical-spill-produces-fish-kill
Tags: us_IL, public, release, environmental, pesticides

ORTON, Ill. Ñ
Officials are warning against any consumption by livestock of waters in Prairie Creek, which experienced a "complete" fish kill downstream of the site of a chemical spill into the creek Tuesday.

Several hundred gallons of a mixture containing 28 percent nitrogen and 13 percent of a herbicide containing Atrazine, along with about 60 gallons of diesel fuel, spilled into the creek along Allentown Road west of Allentown when a fertilizer spreader tipped over.

Responders with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the state Department of Natural Resources and the Pekin and Morton fire departments returned to the creek's downstream path Wednesday to contain the spill and collect water samples.

The chemicals can still be dangerous even if the water appears clear, officials warned.


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

CANADA NEWS: DUST, ÔPOOR HOUSEKEEPING' POSSIBLE CULPRITS IN SAWMILL BLAST
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1168111--dust-poor-housekeeping-possible-culprits-in-sawmill-blast?bn=1
Tags: Canada, industrial, explosion, death, dust, flammables

Workplace safety experts are highlighting the dangers of poor housekeeping in sawmills in the wake of a deadly explosion at a Prince George sawmill on Monday.

The cause of the blast has not been determined but high accumulations of dust, which can be extremely combustible when a spark is present, were found inside the Lakeland Mill sawmill Ñ something University of Toronto workplace safety expert Graeme Norval says shouldn't occur.

"It's poor housekeeping Ñ you get piles of dust on the floor, or on the pipes, it's dirty, the dust gets into the air," said Norval, a chemical engineer who teaches courses in factory safety. "Once you get the dust in the air it's like having a flammable gas mixture, and it just finds a source of ignition and up it goes."

He said it's just "common sense" that management should be inspecting vigilantly Ñ "this is not new or novel."

Two workers were killed and nine remain seriously injured from the blast that tore through the sawmill Monday. Two dozen workers had been in the factory's lunchroom in a training session at the time.

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

REDHOOK EMPLOYEE DIES IN KEG EXPLOSION
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120424/GJNEWS_01/120429812/-1/SANNEWS0103
Tags: us_NH, industrial, explosion, death, other_chemical

ORTSMOUTH Ñ An employee of the Redhook Brewery was fatally wounded Tuesday when a pressurized beer keg exploded at the company's facility in Portsmouth.

The man was rushed to Portsmouth Regional Hospital by ambulance after he was struck in the head and chest by pieces of the keg, according to Assistant Portsmouth Fire Chief Steve Achilles.

Redhook employees found the worker unresponsive in the loading dock area at approximately 7:06 a.m., a short time after the explosion.

Achilles said the worker, who is believed to be in his 20s or early 30s, had been filling kegs with air as part of a cleaning process that removes residual beer from the kegs. He said firefighters responded within three minutes after receiving a 911 call from the employees.

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

RESIDENTS EVACUATE AFTER GAS LEAKS FROM OIL WELL
http://www2.whlt.com/business/2012/apr/25/residents-evacuate-after-gas-leaks-from-oil-well-ar-3672613/
Tags: us_WY, industrial, release, response, natural_gas

GLENROCK, Wyo. (AP) More than 60 residents have evacuated their homes after a natural gas leak at an oil well being drilled into the Niobrara (NYE'-oh-BRER'-uh) formation in Wyoming.

Natural gas has been spewing into the air from the oil well since Tuesday. Witnesses told television station KCWY-TV that the roar of escaping gas could be heard six miles away.

The town of Douglas is not threatened, since it is about 10 miles northeast. Well operator Chesapeake Energy says air samples are normal but the company asked about 80 residents who live within 2.5 miles to voluntarily evacuate.

Chesapeake officials say they are working with contractors to bring the well under control.

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

DEPT OF LABOR ON UCLA: THE MOST HAUNTING NUMBER
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/04/25/2495482/the-most-haunting-number.html
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, follow-up, death, other_chemical

Every day, 12 workers die on the job across America. As the nation's secretary of labor, I am surrounded by numbers about jobs, the labor market and about the economy more broadly. But the number 12 stays with me. It is a haunting reminder of the hard-working Americans we lose every day, often in the prime of their life, filled with the energy that we need to build a better world.

Sheri Sangji was one of these Americans, so full of promise. She was a 23-year-old research assistant in a lab at the University of California at Los Angeles, looking forward to a career that would allow her to pursue her interests in chemistry, law and the rights of women and immigrants. One day, while performing an experiment with highly reactive chemicals, a flash fire ignited her clothes and skin, causing fatal burns. Sheri had not been properly trained in the handling of the chemical that set off the blaze. I later met her family, a loving and tight-knit group of people. The weight of their loss was nearly unbearable. I think about them every day.

To remember Sheri Sangji and all others who die on the job across our country, we observe Workers Memorial Day every April 28. Today, we remember families who have lost a loved one because of workplace injuries, and we pledge to continue fighting tirelessly to make sure that no worker trades a life for a livelihood.

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MICH. HAZMAT CREWS ON SITE OF BROKEN THERMOMETERS
http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/mich-hazmat-crews-on-site-of-broken-thermometers/433603af025e48b987589f23e3e8bc7b
Tags: us_MI, public, release, response, mercury

MONROE, Mich. (AP) Ñ Hazardous materials crews have been called to deal with a box of broken thermometers found in a metal trash bin at a Michigan hospital.

Monroe police Sgt. Charles McCormick IV tells The Monroe Evening News (http://bit.ly/I88I9R ) the roughly 2-foot-by-2-foot box contained several thermometers that apparently broke and spilled a small amount of mercury.

Cleanup teams were sent to Mercy Memorial Hospital in Monroe on Tuesday to dispose of the toxic chemical. Monroe is located near the Ohio border about 35 miles southwest of Detroit.

The Monroe fire department cordoned off a 150-foot area of the trash bin that's located on the side of the hospital building.

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

RURAL CHEMICAL FERTILIZER SPILL CLOSES ROADS
http://www.pekintimes.com/news/x787569704/Rural-chemical-fertilizer-spill-closes-roads
Tags: us_IL, transportation, release, response, diesel, pesticides

PEKIN, Ill. Ñ
Fire department personnel from Morton and Pekin and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency responded this morning to a spill of herbicide chemicals into a creek south of Morton that prompted road closings in the area.

A strong chemical odor was present about 1,000 feet from the area of Allentown Road between Baer Road and Fourth Street. Workers posted "Emergency Scene Ahead" signs on Baer Road between Morton and Tremont.

An agricultural spreader carrying about 1,200 gallons of herbicide chemicals tipped over into a creek, releasing an unknown amount of the herbicide, as well as oil and diesel fuel from the vehicle, into the water, according to a press release issued by Morton Fire Department Chief Joe Kelley.

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QUESTIONS SURROUND SULFURIC ACID SPILL ALONG HIGHWAY 60 IN BARTOW
http://www.wtsp.com/news/article/252528/250/Chemical-spill-shuts-down-major-highway-in-Bartow
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, sulfuric_acid

Bartow, Florida -- An accident leading to an sulfuric acid spill shut down a major road in Polk County for several hours Tuesday, and the driver of the truck carrying those corrosive chemicals had to be airlifted to Tampa.

Hazmat workers, wearing protective suits, worked for hours neutralizing and then removing the acid, which had soaked the pavement and penetrated the soil along Highway 60 north of downtown Bartow.

A thousand gallons of the material somehow spilled from a flat-bed operated by Davis Supply out of Ft. Myers with an office in Lake Wales.

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VINA POLICE INVESTIGATING MONDAY NIGHT METH LAB EXPLOSION
http://www.waaytv.com/news/local/story/Vina-Police-Investigating-Monday-Night-Meth-Lab/X4zxr-mZWkO82yIHWEYRPA.cspx
Tags: us_AL, public, explosion, injury, meth_lab

VINA, Ala.- One man was injured in a house fire investigators believe was caused by a meth lab explosion.

Vina fire and Hodges/Vina police responded to residence on hwy 19 in Vina around 6 p.m. Monday. When they arrived emergency first responders found 33-year-old Johny Bell with possible chemical burns.

Bell was transported to Eliza Coffee Hospital where he was treated for possible chemical burns and turned over to law enforcement on drug drug charges.

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