From: Secretary ACS DCHAS <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] CHAS Tweets and Chemical Safety headlines (8 articles)
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 07:16:28 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 3C61F982-45F2-43AA-9034-643814130D06**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


**At_Symbol_Here**ACSDCHAS and **At_Symbol_Here**LabSustain tweets and Chemical Safety Headlines
Links to the headlines below can be found at the http://www.dchas.org/newsflash

Table of Contents (8 articles)

HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO FOND DU LAC AMMONIA LEAK
Tags: us_WI, industrial, release, response, ammonia

WBTV 3 NEWS, WEATHER, SPORTS, AND TRAFFIC FOR CHARLOTTE, NC
Tags: us_NC, transportation, release, response, flammables

BILLERICAY FIRE CREWS ATTEND CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, batteries, sulfuric_acid

CHEMICAL SPILL AT NW CHARLOTTE INDUSTRIAL SITE
Tags: us_NC, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical

GREYMOUTH RESIDENTS TOLD TO BOIL WATER AFTER CHLORINE LEAK
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, response, chlorine, water_treatment

EPA REPORT SHOWS AGENCY WAITED 5 DAYS TO DISCOVER OHIO SPILL CHEMICAL CONTENTS
Tags: us_OH, public, release, environmental, toxics

OAKLAND: BODY BAG'S OPENING CREATES HAZMAT INCIDENT AT CORONER'S OFFICE
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

UPDATE: BERRY THERMOMETER SPILL NOT MERCURY
Tags: Australia, public, explosion, response, mercury


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

HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO FOND DU LAC AMMONIA LEAK

Tags: us_WI, industrial, release, response, ammonia

Fond du Lac -
The Hazmat team was called Wednesday night to deal with an ammonia leak in Fond du Lac.

At about 11:45 p.m., the Fond du Lac Fire Department was alerted to the smell of ammonia in the 300 block of Dixie Street.

The Hazmat team was called to the area, and they were able to locate the source of the smell. They experienced high readings coming from the roof of a building.

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

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

Tags: us_NC, transportation, release, response, flammables

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -
A section of road in Charlotte has reopened as cleanup is underway after a chemical spill along a railway.

Charlotte firefighters were called out to the railway along the 600-block of North Hoskins Road around 9 a.m. Thursday morning.

Officials told WBTV they do have a spill of nearly 150 gallons of a chemical called Vinyl Acetate.

Vinyl acetate is an industrial chemical that is produced in large amounts in the United States. It is a clear, colorless liquid with a sweet, fruity smell.

It is very flammable and may be ignited by heat, sparks, or flames. These chemicals are used mainly to make glues for the packaging and building industries.

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

BILLERICAY FIRE CREWS ATTEND CHEMICAL SPILL

Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, batteries, sulfuric_acid

A fire crew from Billericay were called to deal with spilt battery acid earlier today.

The incident, which saw a cleaning vehicle overturn and spill the liquid, happened in Sainsbury?s car park in Chafford Hundred at around 9.15am.

Crews from Orsett and Grays also attended.

A fire service spokesman said: ?A man in his 30s needed oxygen therapy after breathing in fumes from his vehicle. He was left in the care of the ambulance service.

?Crews used an environmental pack to prevent the acid from spilling into drains.?

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

CHEMICAL SPILL AT NW CHARLOTTE INDUSTRIAL SITE

Tags: us_NC, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical

hazardous materials team was called Thursday morning to deal with a reported chemical spill at a plant in northwest Charlotte, fire officials said.

The chemical spill was reported in the 600 block of North Hoskins Road. That is off Brookshire Boulevard, just north of Interstate 85.

Charlotte fire Capt. Dennis Gist said there had been ?a limited? number of evacuations from the plant.

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

GREYMOUTH RESIDENTS TOLD TO BOIL WATER AFTER CHLORINE LEAK

Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, response, chlorine, water_treatment

Greymouth District Council is warning residents to boil drinking water until further notice after an emergency at the Coal Creek water treatment pump station this morning.

Machinery at the station failed, causing chlorine used to treat the water supply to escape into the air.

The chlorine supply has since been switched off by the Fire Service, meaning water could be unsafe to drink.

It could take days before specialists from Christchurch can fix the pump station and allow the treatment of water to resume.

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

EPA REPORT SHOWS AGENCY WAITED 5 DAYS TO DISCOVER OHIO SPILL CHEMICAL CONTENTS

Tags: us_OH, public, release, environmental, toxics

A fracking company made federal and state agencies that oversee drinking-water safety wait days before it shared a list of toxic chemicals that spilled from a drilling site into a tributary of the Ohio River.

Although the spill following a fire on June 28 at the Statoil North America well pad in Monroe County stretched 5 miles along the creek and killed more than 70,000 fish and wildlife, state officials said they do not believe drinking water was affected.

But environmental advocacy groups said they wonder how the state can be sure.

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report obtained by The Dispatch shows that the federal and state EPA officials had to wait five days before they were given a full list of the fracking chemicals the drilling company used at the site.


Halliburton, the company hired by Statoil to frack the horizontal well, provided a partial list up front that included most of the chemicals. Others, which are protected by Ohio?s trade-secrets law, were omitted.

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

OAKLAND: BODY BAG'S OPENING CREATES HAZMAT INCIDENT AT CORONER'S OFFICE

Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

OAKLAND -- The Alameda County Coroner's Office was evacuated for more than an hour Wednesday after 15 people were sickened following the opening of a body bag with a badly-decomposed corpse.

At least one employee of the office was taken to the hospital, fire officials said, with an unspecified ailment. None of those affected was seriously injured, fire officials said.

Just before noon, emergency crews were dispatched to the office at 480 Fourth St. in downtown Oakland after a deputy coroner unzipped a bag containing a badly decomposed body and immediately had an adverse reaction, Battalion Chief Emon Usher said.

Crews evacuated the building, set up a hazmat triage and evaluated the 15 patients suffering from complaints, including irritation to their eyes and throat.

The corpse belonged to a man in his 70s and was found on July 16 in his Berkeley garage in an advanced state of decomposition, Sheriff's Office Sgt. Ray Kelly said. The circumstances of his death were under investigation, he said.

When the deputy coroner picked up the body from a local mortuary, it had a strong, chemical odor and was covered with a powdery, deodorizing substance because it was so badly decomposed.

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

UPDATE: BERRY THERMOMETER SPILL NOT MERCURY

Tags: Australia, public, explosion, response, mercury

Investigations into a potentially life-threatening mercury spill in Berry proved the liquid to be harmless.

Fire fighters from Fire and Rescue NSW Berry and a Hazmat Unit from Shellharbour were called to what was thought to be a dangerous mercury spill after a thermometer had exploded after being placed in an oven.

The crews were called to the home in Galls Lane, off Beach Road, on Thursday morning.

Responding to calls of the thermometer containing mercury, fire personnel donned hazardous material spillage suits and breathing apparatus to remove the liquid from the oven and place it in a safe container.

Investigations by the crews, including consultation with Hazmat chemists and the company that produced the thermometer, revealed it contained an alcohol-based paraffin and not mercury.

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

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.