From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (14 articles)
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2014 13:00:07 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 7F805362-9DAD-406B-B910-95C7BC3EDAA3**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, August 4, 2014 at 12:59:44 PM

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

Table of Contents (14 articles)

FIREFIGHTERS DEALING WITH AMMONIA LEAK AT NC BUSINESS; TRAIN SERVICE STOPPED
Tags: us_NC, industrial, release, response, ammonia

CHEMICAL COMPANY APOLOGIZES AFTER DEADLY EXPLOSIONS IN TAIWAN
Tags: Taiwan, industrial, follow-up, death, petroleum

ALBEMARLE CORPORATION SAYS MAGNOLIA SOUTH PLANT BROMINE LEAK CONTAINED
Tags: us_AR, industrial, release, response, bromine

ONE MISSING, TWO INJURED IN FIRE AT TARAPUR CHEMICAL FACTORY IN MUMBAI
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

FIRE CREWS IN MEDWAY TO CLEAN UP CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_MA, industrial, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid

TOXINS FOUND IN TOLEDO, OHIO, LAKE ERIE, WATER SUPPLY
Tags: us_OH, public, discovery, response, toxics, water_treatment

VAT OF EGGNOG FLAVORING EXPLODES AT NEW JERSEY LABORATORY, INJURING 2 WORKERS
Tags: us_NJ, laboratory, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

LCY CHEMICAL MADE MISTAKES AHEAD OF EXPLOSION: KAOHSIUNG OFFICIAL
Tags: Taiwan, industrial, follow-up, death, unknown_chemical

BIRDS FALL FROM SKY IN ST. LOUIS, MICH., AMID MASSIVE CHEMICAL CLEANUP
Tags: us_MI, public, discovery, environmental, pesticides

TAIWAN GAS BLAST DEATH TOLL RISES TO 28, CHEMICAL COMPANY SUSPECTED
Tags: Taiwan, public, follow-up, death, unknown_chemical

IPSWICH: SUBWAY EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

HAZMAT TEAM CALLED TO AUGUSTA HOUSE AFTER MAN FOUND DEAD
Tags: us_GA, public, release, death, unknown_chemical

POOL CHEMICALS CAUSE MINOR INCIDENT AT CAPTAIN?S QUARTERS
Tags: us_SC, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

EXPLOSION AT CHEMICAL FACTORY IN DELHI, ONE DEAD
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical


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FIREFIGHTERS DEALING WITH AMMONIA LEAK AT NC BUSINESS; TRAIN SERVICE STOPPED
Tags: us_NC, industrial, release, response, ammonia

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. ? A Hazmat crew along with Fayetteville firefighters are at Vanguard Culinary Group on Whitefield Street trying to stop an ammonia leak.

Officials told WTVD-TV that they are having a difficult time reaching the valves to stop the leak.

Whitfield Street between Robeson Street and Southern Avenue is blocked off.

Crews have been at the scene since 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

At least six trains have been stopped because of the situation.

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CHEMICAL COMPANY APOLOGIZES AFTER DEADLY EXPLOSIONS IN TAIWAN
Tags: Taiwan, industrial, follow-up, death, petroleum

A petrochemical company has apologized to the residents of Taiwan?s second-largest city following explosions that left 28 people dead and more than 300 injured.

Bowei Lee, chairman of the Taipei-based LCY Chemical Corporation, said he ?solemnly apologized to society? and, along with two other company executives, bowed before reporters at a news conference on Sunday. Separately, the company issued a statement saying it would not ?shun any responsibility we should bear.?

LCY stopped short of accepting blame for the deadly explosions but said it was not hiding information and was cooperating with investigators. ?We more than anyone want to know the cause,? it said in the statement.

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

ALBEMARLE CORPORATION SAYS MAGNOLIA SOUTH PLANT BROMINE LEAK CONTAINED
Tags: us_AR, industrial, release, response, bromine

Albemarle Corporation said that a bromine leak at its Magnolia South plant was contained as of 9 p.m. Sunday.
A chemical leak was reported about 5:30 p.m. at Albemarle?s plant off U.S. 79 south of Magnolia. A nearby resident said she heard the plant's alert sirens go off.
Albemarle Corporation issued the following statement:
?The release has been contained on site. All employees have been accounted for and there have been no injuries as a result of the incident.
??Our emergency response team has successfully secured the leak and is working to complete our mitigation procedures for the released material,? said Peggy Matherne, Magnolia site manager. ?We are also investigating the cause of the incident and amount of bromine that has been released.?

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

ONE MISSING, TWO INJURED IN FIRE AT TARAPUR CHEMICAL FACTORY IN MUMBAI
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

MUMBAI: A supervisor is missing after a fire followed by an explosion took place at a chemical factory in Tarapur on Sunday night. Two workers of an adjoining industry sustained burn injuries.

According to the Boisar MIDC police, the fire broke out in plot number 72 of Nutraplus India Limited, a chemical manufacturing company at around 10.40 pm. While the seven to eight workers were rescued, the supervisor identified as Ajay Bore was reported as missing. The fire spread to the neighbouring Vineet Textiles, injuring two employees Indrajeet Tiwari and Nandan Singh, both 40. Police said that both sustained around 45 per cent burns and have been admitted to a private hospital said API Abbasaheb Patil.

Both the industrial units were badly damaged. Police said that the cause of the fire could not be ascertained. Eye-witnesses said that they heard an explosion and the entire building was in flames. It is believed that some chemicals leaked and caused the fire and subsequent explosion.

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

FIRE CREWS IN MEDWAY TO CLEAN UP CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_MA, industrial, release, injury, hydrochloric_acid

MEDWAY, Mass. (WHDH) - Crews responded to a hazmat incident in Medway Sunday morning after a chemical spill.

According to fire officials, an employee at 7 Industrial Park Rd. was cleaning metal and spilled roughly 16 ounces of nitric hydrochloric acid. While he had proper clothing on, some got on his skin.

He was transported to Milford Regional Medical Center with minor injuries. No other injuries were reported.

A fire official said that employees on the scene were trained in incidents like this and did a great job deconning themselves and the scene to contain the spill.

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

TOXINS FOUND IN TOLEDO, OHIO, LAKE ERIE, WATER SUPPLY
Tags: us_OH, public, discovery, response, toxics, water_treatment

Residents of Toledo, Ohio, and its suburbs remained without potable water Sunday, and officials warn the water woes could linger as tests are conducted on the water supply.

"We don't really want to speculate on this," Ohio Gov. John Kasich told The Associated Press. "When it comes to this water, we've got be very careful."

Toledo, Ohio city officials issued an urgent notice to residents to not drink or use the city's tap water after harmful levels of algae-related toxins were discovered at one of the city's water treatment plants.

A post to the city's Facebook page urged the 400,000-plus residents of Ohio's fourth largest city not to drink or boil the water until the city cleared the water for consumption. Some Toledo, Ohio, suburbs along with areas of southwestern Michigan were also affected by the water ban.

"Chemists testing water at Toledo?s Collins Park Water Treatment Plant had two sample readings for microcystin in excess of the recommended ?DO NOT DRINK? 1 micro-gram per liter standard," the post read in part.

The post went on to explain that consuming the water could lead to a series of health complications, including "abnormal liver function, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea numbness or dizziness." Attempting to boil and drink the water would only worsen those health effects because it would "increase the concentration of the toxins."

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

VAT OF EGGNOG FLAVORING EXPLODES AT NEW JERSEY LABORATORY, INJURING 2 WORKERS
Tags: us_NJ, laboratory, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

TOTOWA, New Jersey ? A fire official says a vat of eggnog flavoring exploded at a laboratory in New Jersey, injuring two workers.

Totowa Fire Marshal Allen Del Vecchio tells WABC-TV (http://7ny.tv/1lovdoU">http://7ny.tv/1lovdoU) that he felt the blast from Pharmachem Laboratories in Totowa at his house a mile away.

Pharmachem produces ingredients that flavor foods. Workers tell the TV station they had just started on a new recipe for eggnog when it somehow ignited. The two workers suffered minor injuries.

Del Vecchio says given the severity of the blast, he's surprised more workers weren't hurt. The entire rear of the building was completely blown out.

An investigation into the cause of the explosion is underway.

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

LCY CHEMICAL MADE MISTAKES AHEAD OF EXPLOSION: KAOHSIUNG OFFICIAL
Tags: Taiwan, industrial, follow-up, death, unknown_chemical

Taipei, Aug. 2 (CNA) The deadly explosions that rocked Kaohsiung Thursday were linked to several mistakes on the part of LCY Chemical Corp. in handling a gas leak in its piping system, Kaohsiung's top environmental official said Saturday.

A sudden pressure decrease indicating a leak occurred at 8:43 p.m. Thursday night in a pipeline used by LCY to obtain propylene from its supplier, China General Terminal & Distribution Corporation (CGTD), according to Chen Chin-der, chief of the city's Environmental Protection Bureau.

Although CGTD turned off the pipe system at 9:30 p.m. after detecting the abnormal sign, it reopened it at 10:10 p.m. at the request of LCY, Chen said.

CGTD only shut down the system again at 11:35 p.m. after receiving a report of a propylene leak in the city's Cianjhen District, Chen said.

He pointed to failing to examine if the pressure decrease in the pipeline was caused by a leak as one of many mistakes made by the company before the explosions that killed at least 28 and left over 280 injured.

Instead of asking CGTD to shut down the pipe system and reporting the situation to the Environmental Protection Bureau, LCY requested CGTD continue supplying the propylene, causing a large amount of the gas to leak out over a span of three hours, he said.

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

BIRDS FALL FROM SKY IN ST. LOUIS, MICH., AMID MASSIVE CHEMICAL CLEANUP
Tags: us_MI, public, discovery, environmental, pesticides

ST. LOUIS, MICH. ? It?s startling to watch robins drop from the air, flop around and die, Jim Vyskocil said.

But the St. Louis resident has seen it multiple times.

?It?s like they are having a convulsion, and then they?re dead,? he said.

A few houses down, Michelle Van Horn said she has picked up at least a dozen dead robins and blackbirds from her backyard in the 18 years she has lived there. The most recent was just a couple of weeks ago, she said.

The cause is no mystery to the nearly 7,500 people who live in this Gratiot County town ? a toxic legacy of decades of pollution from the nearby former Velsicol Chemical site on the banks of the Pine River. Velsicol, and Michigan Chemical before it, made a variety of chemicals starting in the 1930s, including the insecticide DDT and polybrominated biphenyl, or PBB, a flame retardant.

A Michigan State University environmental toxicologist?s new study in St. Louis has helped quantify and magnify the concerns arising out of the residents? dead-bird anecdotes.

Matt Zwiernik and volunteers collected 29 dead birds, including 22 robins, last year from a nine-block residential area near the now demolished plant ? only a small portion of the dead birds they could have collected, Zwiernik said. The drive time from East Lansing to St. Louis often meant that by the time they could get to the scene, a cat or other animal had already made off with the bird. And they also couldn?t always get permission to go onto every property where the dead birds were seen.

The birds? sudden death is from feeding on contaminated worms, grubs and insects, poisoned by the area?s tainted soils.

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

TAIWAN GAS BLAST DEATH TOLL RISES TO 28, CHEMICAL COMPANY SUSPECTED
Tags: Taiwan, public, follow-up, death, unknown_chemical

KAOHSIUNG, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 28 people have been confirmed dead in Taiwan's underground gas explosions, according to latest data from the island's emergency operation authority on Saturday.

The death toll has climbed after two new bodies were found Saturday.

The blasts that hit Kaohsiung City at about midnight Thursday, also left another 287 injured and two firefighters missing.

As the missing firefighters have yet to be found, the casualties are very likely to further increase.

Local firefighting authority has pledged non-stop search and rescue efforts.

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

IPSWICH: SUBWAY EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

A chemical was poured down a sink in the basement of the takeaway in Carr Street and fumes rose into the main shop on the ground floor.

Staff and customers were told to leave while emergency services attended.

There were no casualties. One member of staff complained of a sore throat and was examined by an ambulance paramedic but was given the all-clear.

Station Commander Chris Gibbs from Suffolk Fire Service said his team had checked what had happened and was waiting for a chemical expert assess the situation before handing the building back to its occupiers.

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

HAZMAT TEAM CALLED TO AUGUSTA HOUSE AFTER MAN FOUND DEAD
Tags: us_GA, public, release, death, unknown_chemical

AUGUSTA, GA (WFXG) -
A Hazmat team with the Augusta Fire Department quarantined two houses on Second Avenue Friday morning after a man was found dead.

EMTs were called to 514 Second Avenue off Wheeler Road around 4:45 a.m., according to the Augusta Fire Department. A woman said she had found her grandson, 38-year-old Walton Peterson, unresponsive on her couch.

Peterson was pronounced dead at 5:03 a.m., Chief Deputy Coroner Kenneth Boose said. Peterson lived next door to his grandmother and was spending the night at her house.

During the investigation, Boose said he smelled a foul, musty chemical odor but wasn't sure what it was.

He and a deputy went next door to check Peterson's house, and when they returned the grandmother, 78-year-old Drue Stokes, had passed out on a floor in the back area of her house. She was taken to Georgia Regents Medical Center for treatment.

Neighbor Essie Hobbes said she could always smell an odor, and now she's worried for her health.

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

POOL CHEMICALS CAUSE MINOR INCIDENT AT CAPTAIN?S QUARTERS
Tags: us_SC, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - According to Chief Bruce Arnel of Myrtle Beach Fire, a maintenance worker in a pool chemical room inadvertently mixed some non compatible pool chemicals and was overcome by the reaction. He was transported as a precautionary measure. The incident happened around 10:30 a.m.

The pool chemical room and two floors above it, were isolated. The rooms were also evacuated as a precaution. It was determined that no chemical cloud or anything of that nature was present outside of the room. The incident remains relatively minor and everything is now back to normal.

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

EXPLOSION AT CHEMICAL FACTORY IN DELHI, ONE DEAD
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical

New Delhi: One person was left dead today after a massive explosion took place at a chemical factory in Rohini's Deep Vihar area earlier this morning. Eyewitnesses said that the explosion's intensity was such that the nearby houses also shook badly.

Vinod Kumar, a resident of Deep Vihar and an eyewitness to the incident said, "We were sitting at our homes when the explosion took place. We quickly came outside and saw that people were running here and there. We tried to help and picked out the victim who had died in the blast."

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Ralph Stuart
secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Secretary
Division of Chemical Health and Safety
American Chemical Society

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