From: Secretary ACS DCHAS <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] CHAS Tweets and Chemical Safety headlines (11 articles)
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2014 08:07:35 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 2B66D2E7-8209-4B01-BD29-C928BCF267AE**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


**At_Symbol_Here**ACSDCHAS and **At_Symbol_Here**LabSustain tweets and Chemical Safety Headlines
A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
Tweets available on our ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety (DCHAS) Facebook Page
Tagged Article summaries are available at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

labsustain Cornell research: Maybe robots should, like, hedge a little

labsustain ACSf Blog - How Much Can Biochar Slow Climate Change?

acsdchas Subway Phasing Out Bread Additive After Blogger Flags Health Concerns

cornelllabsafe 100 Solutions Wanted for Global Sustainability Campaign:

cornelllabsafe Cornell‰??Will Make Printing Eco-Friendly | Cornell Sustainable Campus

labsustain Widener University recently signed the Green Chemistry Commitment, becoming the 18th institution to sign

acsdchas CSB chair: The human costs paid at the Anacortes Tesoro refinery

chemsafetyboard Tesoro bars federal safety agency from East Bay refinery - SFGate


Table of Contents (11 articles)

**At_Symbol_Here**CENMAG BEEFING UP REFINERY REGULATIONS
Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, injury, petroleum

CANE RUN RESIDENTS REPORT NEW NOXIOUS ODORS
Tags: us_KY, industrial, release, response, hydrogen_sulfide

CHEMICAL SCARE FORCES GUESTS OUT OF SYDNEY‰??S PARK HYATT LUXURY HOTEL
Tags: Australia, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

CHEMICAL SPILL A 'WAKEUP CALL', POLL FINDS
Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, environmental

CHEMICAL SPILL AT DALE FARM DEALT WITH
Tags: Ireland, industrial, release, response, corrosives

HAZMAT SCARES RAISE QUESTIONS IN PA.
Tags: us_PA, transportation, follow-up, response, oils, petroleum

PAULSBORO CHEMICAL SPILL INSPIRES A PLAY
Tags: us_NJ, transportation, follow-up, response, toluene

W.VA. CHEMICAL SPILL FIRM WINDING DOWN OPERATIONS
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, response, other_chemical

WORKER SPLASHED IN FACE WITH ACID
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, injury, nitric_acid

CHEMICAL MIX-UP CAUSES HOSPITAL EVACUATION
Tags: us_OH, public, release, injury, chlorine, hydrochloric_acid

TOLEDO CLUB EVACUATED AFTER POOL CHEMICALS CAUSE REACTION
Tags: us_OH, public, release, injury, chlorine, pool_chemicals


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**At_Symbol_Here**CENMAG BEEFING UP REFINERY REGULATIONS

Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, injury, petroleum

A state panel is calling for a major overhaul of California refinery regulations in the wake of a 2012 explosion and fire at Chevron‰??s refinery in Richmond, Calif. The incident prompted thousands of nearby residents to seek medical treatment.
After an 18-month review, the Interagency Working Group on Refinery Safety is recommending improvements in emergency response, accident prevention and investigations, and workplace safety. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) created the panel, which consists of representatives from 13 key state agencies, shortly after the 2012 accident. The group aims to improve worker and community safety through better oversight of the state‰??s 15 major petrochemical refineries.
The panel‰??s recommendations appear to respond to the immediate cause of the Chevron accident‰??a ruptured, badly corroded pipe that the company knew about for a decade but did not replace. The explosion and resulting fire burned for hours and sent some 15,000 Richmond residents to hospitals.
The working group urges refineries to implement inherently safer systems, as well as to conduct periodic assessments of their safety culture. Likewise, the U.S. Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board‰??s report on the Chevron incident also underscored that inherently safer approaches would have at a minimum required replacement of the corroded pipe.

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CANE RUN RESIDENTS REPORT NEW NOXIOUS ODORS

Tags: us_KY, industrial, release, response, hydrogen_sulfide

A smelly weekend near the Cane Run power plant has turned into a potential hazmat situation, according to email exchanges between citizens and regulators on Saturday.

It is the latest in a long running battle over the plant‰??s handling of coal ash and scrubber waste, despite past fines and $1.5 million spent by LG&E to fix problems involving dust and odors for a coal-fired plant that is scheduled to close next year. The neighbors also sued the company late last year.

Air pollution control district officials were out there on Friday, and when residents continued to complain about persistent rotten egg smells Saturday, one official notified the health department and called on a hazmat response to measure hydrogen sulfide levels.

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CHEMICAL SCARE FORCES GUESTS OUT OF SYDNEY‰??S PARK HYATT LUXURY HOTEL

Tags: Australia, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

FUMES from swimming pool chemicals have forced the evacuation of one of Sydney‰??s most exclusive hotels.

Six people were taken to hospital and staff and about 100 guests were ordered out of the Park Hyatt this morning because of the scare, which was blamed on wrongly-mixed chemicals.

Hazmat crews were called to the hotel, which is tucked below the Sydney Harbour Bridge and overlooks the Opera House, about 9.30am. The all-clear was declared just before 11am.

‰??The spillage occurred on the third floor and consisted of chlorine and an acid,‰??‰?? Inspector Wayne Buxton told reporters.

‰??We removed the substance from the third floor to the fourth floor and emptied the contents of that particular container into the swimming pool, which neutralised the problem.‰??‰??

But the smell had already permeated the whole building and forced a full evacuation of some 100 guests and staff, he said.

Five hotel employees and a male guest were taken to hospital with minor respiratory ailments but Insp Buxton said the fumes did not pose a significant risk.

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CHEMICAL SPILL A 'WAKEUP CALL', POLL FINDS

Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, environmental

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginians view the January chemical spill on the Elk River as a "wake-up call" that the state needs a different approach to environmental protection, according to a new public opinion poll conducted for the Sierra Club.

Seventy-three percent of voters polled agreed West Virginia has paid too little attention to addressing threats to air and water, and that the Elk River spill should change that, according to the survey.

Voters of all ages, education levels, incomes and political persuasions agreed, with particularly high agreement -- 82 percent -- among seniors.

"This spill has been a wake-up call for the voters and they want it to be a wake-up call for the politicians," said Geoff Garin, president of Hart Research Associates, which conducted the poll.

Conducted from Feb. 4 to Feb. 7, the survey questioned 504 registered voters in West Virginia. The results of the full sample have a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

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CHEMICAL SPILL AT DALE FARM DEALT WITH

Tags: Ireland, industrial, release, response, corrosives

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said up to 1,000 litres of the corrosive chemical were spilt outside the factory on the Moneymore Road just before 4pm on Saturday.

The factory was evacuated and people living nearby were asked to stay in their homes, due to a toxic cloud forming around the spill.

It took around four hours for the situation to be dealt with. The factory is now back to normal.

NIFRS district commander of Cookstown Andy Sinclair said: "We had 25 firefighters at the scene of this serious incident.

"Eight firefighters, wearing specialist suits, were tasked to specifically deal with the large spill. We were lucky that the wind was blowing in the right direction for us, otherwise we may have had to evacuate surrounding homes, due to the toxic nature of the gases."

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HAZMAT SCARES RAISE QUESTIONS IN PA.

Tags: us_PA, transportation, follow-up, response, oils, petroleum

Every year, thousands of hazardous materials move through or are stored in Pennsylvania.

They may be piled close to your house, rumbling through your neighborhood on a railcar or transported in a semi-truck you pass on the highway.

We don't often think of these chemicals ‰?? until there's an incident.

The most recent scare came when train cars carrying crude oil derailed in Westmoreland County. There were no injuries.

However, when several thousand gallons of crude oil spilled, it became the largest such spill in the state since 1990, according to federal records.

Near Philadelphia, there have been a series of accidents involving crude oil since the beginning of the year.

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PAULSBORO CHEMICAL SPILL INSPIRES A PLAY

Tags: us_NJ, transportation, follow-up, response, toluene

NEW YORK In a cozy New York theater this weekend, under the auspices of academia and art, the circumstances facing a small, industrial New Jersey borough were placed under a new lens.

More than a year after the November 2012 train derailment in Paulsboro spewed vinyl chloride, sparking a litany of lawsuits, a South Jersey native has staged a play inspired by the accident.

Written by 2002 Paulsboro High School alumna Nicole Pandolfo, Pump is a fictionalized version of the aftermath of the derailment, which in the play releases toxic toluene.

Pump, Pandolfo's master's thesis at Hunter College, was put on as a workshop production Thursday through Saturday on the college campus as part of the annual Hunter Playwrights Festival.

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W.VA. CHEMICAL SPILL FIRM WINDING DOWN OPERATIONS

Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, response, other_chemical

CHARLESTON, W.Va. ‰?? The company at the center of West Virginia‰??s chemical spill that contaminated drinking water for 300,000 people is selling the rest of its chemicals, helping its 51 employees find new jobs and winding down operations.

Saying the company‰??s problems exceed its small size, attorney Mark Freedlander announced Freedom Industries‰?? plans in federal bankruptcy court Friday. Time is running out before the company‰??s March 15 deadline to remove all chemicals from the Charleston spill site and start dismantling the tanks there, per state orders.

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

WORKER SPLASHED IN FACE WITH ACID

Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, injury, nitric_acid

Firefighters responded to a hazmat situation at a city warehouse this morning that left a worker hospitalized.

Nitric acid splashed in the face of a worker at a electroplating production facility along the 5100 block of Comly in Northeast Philadelphia‰??s Tacony neighborhood around 5:30 a.m. Friday, according to the Philadelphia Fire Department.

According to first responders, about 30 gallons of acid leaked from a 55-gallon drum inside Hillock Anodizing Inc.'s two-story building.

An initial investigation revealed that workers were moving the drum when a hose on top of it came loose, splashing an employee in the face.

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CHEMICAL MIX-UP CAUSES HOSPITAL EVACUATION

Tags: us_OH, public, release, injury, chlorine, hydrochloric_acid

FREMONT ‰?? A mistake made by maintenance personnel led to the evacuation of HealthLink clients and patients at Memorial Hospital Herbert-Perna Center.

On Thursday morning, a gallon of muratic acid was poured into a barrel of chlorine by an employee while working in the pool area.

He thought he was pouring an additional gallon of chlorine into the barrel. He noticed heat coming from the barrel along with a change of color in the liquid. The liquid also was starting to foam up, according to a Fremont Fire Department report.

After putting a cap on the barrel, he told two others in the area ‰?? an employee and a client ‰?? to evacuate the pool area. The chemical reaction created a gas that filled the area.

When the fire department arrived at 11:20 a.m., HealthLink clients and patients at Herbert-Perna Center already were evacuated. The pool area was entered, and the barrel was removed and taken outside to a remote area where it was fanned out.

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TOLEDO CLUB EVACUATED AFTER POOL CHEMICALS CAUSE REACTION

Tags: us_OH, public, release, injury, chlorine, pool_chemicals

The Toledo Club was evacuated for about three hours Friday and part of 14th Street was closed temporarily after swimming-pool chemicals were involved in a chemical reaction.

Two club employees suffered exposure, with one treated at the scene and the other taken to a hospital for evaluation, Toledo Fire Lt. Matthew Hertzfeld said.

Firefighters were summoned to the building at 235 14th St., near Madison Ave., about 3:05 p.m. after staff handling a pool chemical containing chlorine transferred it from one container to another, triggering a reaction that released vapor, the lieutenant said. It was not reported what might have reacted with the chlorine.

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