From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (19 articles)
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2015 07:29:31 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: A41ABD99-9BEE-4C8D-9267-BD75A06BC391**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, March 13, 2015 at 7:29:06 AM

A membership benefit 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 (19 articles)

HAZMAT CREWS CLEAN UP MINOR MERCURY SPILL
Tags: us_NV, public, release, response, mercury

SIXTH VICTIM HOSPITALIZED AFTER CARBON MONOXIDE EXPOSURE AT MOORESVILLE HOME
Tags: us_NC, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

FIRE CHIEF: SMALL ACID SPILL AT MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP BUSINESS
Tags: us_PA, laboratory, release, response, acids

CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD PREVAILS IN DEEPWATER HORIZON CASE
Tags: us_LA, public, follow-up, environmental

POLICE IDENTIFY MAN KILLED IN EXPLOSIONS AT BRENT INDUSTRIAL PLANT, INVESTIGATORS HOPE TO ENTER SITE FRIDAY
Tags: us_AL, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical

UPDATE: 55-GALLON DRUM HAD OIL-TYPE CHEMICAL IN IT
Tags: us_WI, industrial, explosion, injury, metals

SEN. DAVID VITTER'S CHEMICAL SAFETY BILL HAS NEW COMPETITION
Tags: other, release, environmental, toxics

2 TREATED AFTER SAMSUNG CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, injury, peroxide, sulfuric_acid

SMALL CHEMICAL SPILL NEAR THE PORT OF LONGVIEW
Tags: us_WA, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical

CHEMICAL LEAK FORCES STAFF, GUESTS TO EVACUATE HOTEL IN OAK CREEK
Tags: us_WI, public, release, response, chlorine

ADAPTING ADVANCED INORGANIC CHEMISTRY LECTURE AND LABORATORY INSTRUCTION FOR A LEGALLY BLIND STUDENT
Tags: us_CT, laboratory, discovery, response

RISK SCIENCE CENTER DUNKIN' DONUTS DITCHES TITANIUM DIOXIDE ‰?? BUT IS IT ACTUALLY HARMFUL?
Tags: public, discovery, response, nanotech, titanium

HAZMAT UNITS RESPOND TO SMALL ACID SPILL IN SE HOUSTON
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, hydrochloric_acid

HAZMAT INCIDENT AT MOUNT ST. MARY'S
Tags: us_MD, laboratory, release, response, solvent

CHEMICAL SPILL LEADS TO CHLORINE GAS FORMATION IN MCCAYSVILLE GA
Tags: us_GA, industrial, release, response, chlorine, water_treatment

FIRE BREAKS OUT AT CHEMICAL GODOWN
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

THREE HURT AFTER EXPLOSION AT GRANDVIEW FLOUR PROCESSING PLANT
Tags: us_MO, industrial, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

1 DEAD AFTER EXPLOSIONS ROCK BRENT MANUFACTURING PLANT IN BIBB COUNTY
Tags: us_AL, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical

FAILURE TO SEGREGATE WASTE STREAMS MIXES NITRIC ACID AND ORGANIC SOLVENT, CAUSES WASTE BOTTLE TO EXPLODE FROM PRESSURE BUILDUP; WRITTEN PROCEDURES DID NOT REFLECT CURRENT PROCEDURES
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, follow-up, injury, waste


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

HAZMAT CREWS CLEAN UP MINOR MERCURY SPILL
Tags: us_NV, public, release, response, mercury

RENO, NV - KOLO 8 News Now has learned the Reno Fire Department is on the scene of a mercury spill.

The call came in just after 4pm stating the spill occurred at El Tavern Motel at 1801 W. 4th Street.

RFD tells KOLO a thermometer was dropped and stepped on in the parking lot.

An undisclosed number of people will be decontaminated after possibly coming in contact with the mercury.

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

SIXTH VICTIM HOSPITALIZED AFTER CARBON MONOXIDE EXPOSURE AT MOORESVILLE HOME
Tags: us_NC, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

A sixth person has been admitted to the hospital for treatment stemming from carbon monoxide poisoning at a Mooresville home.
The victim, a man, joins two women who were hospitalized after being rescued from a home by Mooresville emergency responders Thursday morning. The women were taken to Lake Norman Regional Medical Center with life-threatening conditions and have been transferred to another hospital, the Mooresville police said at midday Thursday.
Also, three police officers who were transported to Lake Norman Regional after exposure to the carbon monoxide have been admitted to the hospital. A fourth officer was treated there and released.
The incident happened about 7:30 a.m. at a home on Cinebar Road, off N.C. 115 north of Mooresville near Mazeppa Road. Responding officers found a man outside a house and two women inside.
While rescuing the women, fire and police personnel noticed a distinct smell in the house and victims displaying signs of carbon monoxide exposure, police said.

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

FIRE CHIEF: SMALL ACID SPILL AT MONTGOMERY TOWNSHIP BUSINESS
Tags: us_PA, laboratory, release, response, acids

MONTGOMERY TWP. >> A small acid spill prompted an evacuation at TCI America‰??s Philadelphia Distribution Center in Montgomery Township on Thursday morning, March 12, according to Fire Department of Montgomery Township Fire Chief Bill Wiegman.

The spill was confined to a laboratory, Wiegman said, and while he called the Montgomery County Hazardous Materials Response Team (MCHMRT), it was determined that the team didn‰??t need to respond to the scene. Instead, a cleanup company contracted with TCI America was called to handle the spill.

Wiegman said that EMS was refused at the scene. About 20 people who were evacuated were waiting outside the building, located at 121 Domorah Drive, until the spill was cleaned up.

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

CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD PREVAILS IN DEEPWATER HORIZON CASE
Tags: us_LA, public, follow-up, environmental

WASHINGTON ‰?? A federal appeals court on Thursday affirmed the authority of government investigators to probe Transocean‰??s involvement in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

By a vote of 9-6, the New Orleans-based Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Transocean‰??s petition for a rehearing of its challenge to government subpoenas tied to the explosion of its drilling rig nearly five years ago.

The move kept in place a lower court ruling affirming the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board‰??s power to investigate the incident, despite warnings from drilling contractors that decades of case law and precedents governing the offshore drilling sector hang in the balance.

A federal district court ordered Transocean to comply with those subpoenas from the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board in April 2013.

Although Transocean has since produced the documents, the drilling contractor continued fighting the ruling in federal court. Last September, a three-judge panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court‰??s ruling that the board could investigate.

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

POLICE IDENTIFY MAN KILLED IN EXPLOSIONS AT BRENT INDUSTRIAL PLANT, INVESTIGATORS HOPE TO ENTER SITE FRIDAY
Tags: us_AL, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical

Parts of an industrial plant in Bibb County were still burning Thursday morning after a series of explosions Wednesday afternoon killed one man and injured several more, according to the chief of police in Brent, Ala.

Chief Terry Nichols said the remaining fires are preventing the police department and Alabama State Fire Marshals from entering Brent Industries to investigate the cause of the blast. He said investigators are hopeful they'll be able to begin their work Friday, but added that it may be early next week before they're able to do so.

Police have identified the man killed in the blasts as Keith Leverette, who Nichols said was 35 years old.

Up to a half-dozen other workers received chemical burns and were taken to nearby hospitals after the explosions, The Tuscaloosa News reported.
Though it is still unknown what caused the explosions at the plant on South Scottsville Road, Nichols said none of the chemicals burning there post a threat to the community.

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

UPDATE: 55-GALLON DRUM HAD OIL-TYPE CHEMICAL IN IT
Tags: us_WI, industrial, explosion, injury, metals

Chippewa County (WQOW) - An explosion at an auto shop in Cadott has a left a man in the hospital with serious injuries.

The explosion happened just after 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon at Greener Acres Transmission in Cadott. Authorities say a 24-year-old man was trying to cut open a metal drum when it exploded.

Cadott Police Ofc. Daryl Pries said, "The male was attempting to utilize a blow torch to cut open a 55-gallon drum that appeared to have an oil type chemical in it."

Cadott police said the man was airlifted with life-threatening injuries.

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

SEN. DAVID VITTER'S CHEMICAL SAFETY BILL HAS NEW COMPETITION
Tags: other, release, environmental, toxics

WASHINGTON -- Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has competition for the legislation he and Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., introduced this week to overhaul the nation's nearly 40-year-old chemical safety law that is considered outdated by both industry and environmentalists.

On Thursday (March 12), Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Ed Markey, D-Mass., introduced legislation that Boxer says is tougher in terms of moving to a ban on asbestos, dealing with "children's cancer clusters," and allowing states to impose their own tougher regulations.

"The Boxer-Markey bill protects the health and safety of our families from dangerous toxic chemicals in our communities," Boxer said. "This bill addresses asbestos, children's cancer, and other threats that toxic chemicals pose to our families, including cardiovascular disease, developmental disorders, respiratory disorders, neurological disorders, endocrine disruption, and many others. Our citizens deserve nothing less than a bill that protects them - not chemical companies."

Vitter and Udall maintain that their bill represents a solid compromise between the chemical industry and environmentalists, enabling EPA to take action against potentially dangerous chemicals without having to factor in costs to their regulatory actions --a major impediment to enforcement.

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

2 TREATED AFTER SAMSUNG CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, injury, peroxide, sulfuric_acid

AUSTIN -- Two people are being treated after a reported hazmat situation at Samsung Austin Semiconductor on Thursday morning.

According to Austin-Travis County EMS, medics received reports of people possibly exposed to sulfuric acid and peroxide at the Samsung building at 12100 Samsung Blvd.

A Samsung spokesperson said two employees of Gruene Environmental, a company contracted by Samsung, are being treated for exposure to a chemical mix believed to contain sulfuric acid at University Medical Center Brackenridge. Their injuries are not believed to be serious.

Samsung spokesperson Catherine Q. Morse said between 10:30 and 10:45 a.m. Thursday, the contractor's truck was trying to hook up to Samsung's tank to deliver the chemicals when there was a malfunction in the line, causing pressure to build up and the chemical to spill.

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

SMALL CHEMICAL SPILL NEAR THE PORT OF LONGVIEW
Tags: us_WA, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical

Longview Fire was responding to a chemical spill at the Wilcox & Flegel fuel depot on Panel Way near the Port of Longview late Thursday morning.

A gallon of an unknown chemical leaked, the Cowlitz Department of Emergency Management said. The nature of the spill was not immediately known.

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

CHEMICAL LEAK FORCES STAFF, GUESTS TO EVACUATE HOTEL IN OAK CREEK
Tags: us_WI, public, release, response, chlorine

OAK CREEK -- The Oak Creek Fire Department is investigating a chemical leak that forced staff and guests to evacuate a Comfort Suites in Oak Creek Thursday morning.

Officials said the hazmat situation started with a chemical reaction involving pool chlorine at the South 13th Street location.

There were no injuries.

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

ADAPTING ADVANCED INORGANIC CHEMISTRY LECTURE AND LABORATORY INSTRUCTION FOR A LEGALLY BLIND STUDENT
Tags: us_CT, laboratory, discovery, response

In this article, the strategies and techniques used to successfully teach advanced inorganic chemistry, in the lecture and laboratory, to a legally blind student are described.

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

RISK SCIENCE CENTER DUNKIN' DONUTS DITCHES TITANIUM DIOXIDE ‰?? BUT IS IT ACTUALLY HARMFUL?
Tags: public, discovery, response, nanotech, titanium

In response to pressure from the advocacy group As You Sow, Dunkin‰?? Brands has announced that it will be removing allegedly ‰??nano‰?? titanium dioxide from Dunkin‰?? Donuts‰?? powdered sugar donuts. As You Sow claims there are safety concerns around the use of the material, while Dunkin‰?? Brands cites concerns over investor confidence. It‰??s a move that further confirms the food sector‰??s conservatism over adopting new technologies in the face of public uncertainty. But how justified is it based on what we know about the safety of nanoparticles?

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

HAZMAT UNITS RESPOND TO SMALL ACID SPILL IN SE HOUSTON
Tags: us_TX, transportation, release, response, hydrochloric_acid

HOUSTON -
An intersection in southeast Houston was closed off for over an hour Wednesday night as hazmat crews contained a small acid spill.

According to the Houston Fire Department, a 911 caller reported an acid spill after seeing a cloud in the roadway on Fuqua near Monroe. When crews arrived, HFD said they found muriatic acid on the roadway.

Muriatic acid is a chemical commonly used in swimming pools.

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

HAZMAT INCIDENT AT MOUNT ST. MARY'S
Tags: us_MD, laboratory, release, response, solvent

EMMITSBURG, Md. (AP) - Hazardous material crews are looking for the source of an odor that prompted evacuation of the science building at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg.

School spokesman Christian Kendzierski (ken-ZER'-skee) says the smell of a solvent was noticed on several floors of the Coad Science Building at about 3:50 p.m. Tuesday.

The three-story building was evacuated late Tuesday afternoon. He says he's not aware of any injuries.

He says the building houses lecture halls, classrooms and laboratories.

Public safety workers are ventilating the building.

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

CHEMICAL SPILL LEADS TO CHLORINE GAS FORMATION IN MCCAYSVILLE GA
Tags: us_GA, industrial, release, response, chlorine, water_treatment

Environmental cleanup crews responded to the McCaysville water treatment plant Wednesday morning after a chemical spill led to the formation of some chlorine gas inside the building. No one was injured in the incident.

According to Fannin County Fire Chief Larry Thomas, the incident occurred when a tank containing liquid sodium hypochlorite (bleach) overflowed and came into contact with alum, another chemical used in the water treatment process. This mixing caused the formation of chlorine gas, he said.

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

FIRE BREAKS OUT AT CHEMICAL GODOWN
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

Property valued at several lakhs of rupees was gutted when fire broke out at a chemical godown in Fatehnagar on Wednesday. Four fire tenders from different fire stations were deployed to douse the flames.

According to M A Shareef, Fire Officer Sanathnagar Fire Station, the fire control received a call at around 10 a.m. about a fire accident at Jyothi Chemicals in Fatehnagar. Two fire tenders from Sanathnagar which were rushed to the spot took up fire fighting operation immediately.

As the fire began to spread rapidly owing to the presence of chemicals and other combustible material, two more fire tenders from Jeedimetla and Kukatpally fire stations joined the operation. ‰??The fire fighting operation is still going on. Explosions of chemical barrels kept inside the godown are hampering the work,‰?? said Mr. Shareef.

Meanwhile, the police are making efforts to trace the owners of the godown as they went absconding following the accident. As a precautionary measure an ambulance was also kept as a stand-by arrangement.

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

THREE HURT AFTER EXPLOSION AT GRANDVIEW FLOUR PROCESSING PLANT
Tags: us_MO, industrial, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

GRANDVIEW, MO (KCTV) -
Three employees at a Grandview flour processing plant were hurt after a fire and explosion.

Grandview firefighters responded about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday to the blast at Corbion Caravan.

The explosion happened in a spray room where employees dump mass amounts of flour.

There were six people working in the area of the packaging floor when the blast occurred. Three employees suffered minor injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital. Two have been released from the hospital.

The plant is at located at 14120 Botts Rd. and produces dry blended ingredients that are sold to bakeries and food industries. Fifteen employees were working the overnight shift at the time of the blast.

Firefighters say those in the plant followed proper evacuation protocol, and they are lucky nobody was more seriously hurt.

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

1 DEAD AFTER EXPLOSIONS ROCK BRENT MANUFACTURING PLANT IN BIBB COUNTY
Tags: us_AL, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical

worker was killed and several others were injured after multiple explosions at Brent Industries in Bibb County Wednesday afternoon.

Police and relatives of the dead worker identified him as Keith Leverette.

Five or six other workers received chemical burns and were transported to nearby hospitals. One worker was transported by a medical helicopter.

None of the burning chemicals posed a danger to the community, Brent Police Chief Terry Nichols said. The cause of the blast was still undetermined Wednesday night, as flames consumed the manufacturing and recycling plant that primarily reconditions work gloves.

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

FAILURE TO SEGREGATE WASTE STREAMS MIXES NITRIC ACID AND ORGANIC SOLVENT, CAUSES WASTE BOTTLE TO EXPLODE FROM PRESSURE BUILDUP; WRITTEN PROCEDURES DID NOT REFLECT CURRENT PROCEDURES
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, follow-up, injury, waste

On February 2, 2015 in a chemistry teaching lab three undergraduate students and a graduate teaching assistant (TA) were injured and required medical attention when a glass waste bottle exploded. The bottle exploded while a student tried opening the container to add waste during the course of the planned experiment. The lab was evacuated and the Texas Tech Police Department and the Lubbock Fire Department responded to secure the lab and transport the injured to the hospital.

All students and personnel were wearing appropriate personal protective equipment including lab coats, safety goggles and gloves.

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


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

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