From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (12 articles)
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2015 07:40:15 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, September 2, 2015 at 7:39:33 AM

A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__pinboard.in_u-3Adchas&d=BQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=MnarI2GZqmZ6prrE7mujtI_G4QJtlsqucziK6D8M_Tg&s=NyJ7H0PXSlipOsVFcK1YzdddNhltl0NkjREtzbKJ8T4&e=

Table of Contents (12 articles)

AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATING HAZARDOUS SPILL AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY LAB
Tags: us_NJ, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

ONE KILLED IN SHELL EXPLOSION AT SCRAP SHOP
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, explosives, metals, waste

1 KILLED AND 8 INJURED AFTER TWO BLAZES IN EGYPT
Tags: Egypt, industrial, fire, death, plastics

CHEMICAL REACTION AT NORTH CANTON WATER PLANT SENDS 4 TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_OH, transportation, release, injury, chlorine, water_treatment

FAMILY LEFT SHAKEN BY PUMP HOUSE EXPLOSION
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, environmental, methane, natural_gas

CHEMICAL FACTORY EXPLODES IN EASTERN CHINA, KILLING 1
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, death, adhesives

1 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER CHEMICAL MIX MISHAP
Tags: us_MO, public, release, injury, chlorine, cleaners

RADIOACTIVE CHEMICAL SPILL OCCURRED LAST FALL AT UNIVERSITY OF TULSA, OFFICIALS ANNOUNCE
Tags: us_OK, laboratory, discovery, response, radiation

HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK SUNDAY MORNING IN CANYON COUNTRY
Tags: us_ca, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

BEHIND DEADLY TIANJIN BLAST, SHORTCUTS AND LAX RULES
Tags: china, industrial, follow-up

WORKERS AT LAVERTON WORKPLACE EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: australia, industrial, discovery, response, other_chemical

CHINA TO RELOCATE ALMOST 1,000 CHEMICAL PLANTS IN WAKE OF TIANJIN BLASTS
Tags: china, industrial, follow-up


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AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATING HAZARDOUS SPILL AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY LAB
Tags: us_NJ, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

PRINCETON - A chemistry building at Princeton University was evacuated Tuesday evening when a small amount of hazardous material spilled inside a laboratory, officials said.

At 8:30 p.m, firefighters and hazardous materials specialists from the Trenton Fire Department were on scene, assisting the Princeton Fire Department and university officers.

The spill occurred inside a third-floor lab in the Frick Chemistry building off Washington Road at about 7:20 p.m., the university said in a statement.

No one was injured, and no details on how the spill happened were available from the university, the statement said.

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ONE KILLED IN SHELL EXPLOSION AT SCRAP SHOP
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, explosives, metals, waste

Pune: A rounded metal bar with explosives that seemed like artillery shells exploded in a scrap shop in Kondhawa area of Pune city on Monday at around 10.30 am, killing a youth and injured two others. The police has sent the parts of exploded shell to the laboratory for forensic tests.
....
The police said that, the deceased has been running a scrap shop for the past five years. On Monday morning, he was removing the cover of an artillery shell in his shop at Khadi Machine Chowk on Katraj-Kondhawa road when the shell suddenly exploded. The upper part of Nijamuddin‰??s body was seriously injured and he soon succumbed to the injuries. The intensity of the explosion also injured his uncle and another individual. Both of the injured were rushed to the hospital.

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1 KILLED AND 8 INJURED AFTER TWO BLAZES IN EGYPT
Tags: Egypt, industrial, fire, death, plastics

CAIRO: A worker was killed and eight others were injured after fire broke out in a chemical factory in Damietta Monday, while another factory for plastic products caught on fire in Shubra al-Kheima district of Egypt‰??s Delta governorate Qalyobia.

Abudllah Metwali was killed due to severe burns in his body while the other eight workers suffered from smoke inhalation.

The fire may have been caused when Metwali discarded a cigarette on chemical substances, the Civil Protection Authority experts said.

In Shubra al-Kheima, fire fighters put out a blaze that started in the ground floor of a plastics factory Monday, Youm7 reported.

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CHEMICAL REACTION AT NORTH CANTON WATER PLANT SENDS 4 TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_OH, transportation, release, injury, chlorine, water_treatment

Four people were taken to the hospital Monday morning after a chemical reaction at the North Canton Water Treatment Plant at 7300 Freedom Ave. NW.
According to township Fire Chief Tracy Hogue, some chlorine was inadvertently mixed with fluoride in a container at the plant.
There was no spill; the chemicals were mixed in a container, Hogue said. The mixture caused a chemical reaction that created an inhalation hazard, meaning it was dangerous to breathe.
A truck had delivered the wrong liquid chemical to a plant container, according to a news release from the city of North Canton. The plant was evacuated, and four people ‰?? three plant employees and the truck driver ‰?? were taken to area hospitals.
The incident occurred around 8:12 a.m. Members of the Stark County Hazardous Materials Team arrived around 9:20 a.m. to assist Jackson Township firefighters. Jackson police, Ohio EPA, a delivery trucking company official and North Canton officials also responded to the scene.

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FAMILY LEFT SHAKEN BY PUMP HOUSE EXPLOSION
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, environmental, methane, natural_gas

Over the past couple of years, the Barnett Shale has become the epicenter of the national debate over fracking.

Starting in 2012, WFAA began investigating gas flames flowing out of a water well in Parker County.

Now there's a new case ‰?? another water well ‰?? so full of natural gas it exploded, nearly killing a Jack County man and some of his family.

Are these cases related? Could it happen again?

These two cases involve water wells in the Barnett Shale located near active natural gas wells. Both water wells are so polluted they had to be shut down.

And both are allegedly contaminated with Barnett Shale gas.

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CHEMICAL FACTORY EXPLODES IN EASTERN CHINA, KILLING 1
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, death, adhesives

A chemical factory exploded in eastern China, killing one person, a state-run local news website reported Tuesday, nearly three weeks after massive chemical warehouse explosions in the country exposed lax enforcement of safety regulations.

The Dongying News website ‰?? run by the Dongying city government ‰?? said the factory in Lijin county in Shandong province exploded at 11:22 p.m. Monday and the fire was brought under control about five hours later.

Dongying News said that six executives of the company that runs the factory, Shandong Binyuan Chemical Co. Ltd., have been detained and that the explosion is under investigation.

The company, located in the Lijin Binhai Economic and Technological Development Zone, says on its website that it has the capacity to produce 20,000 tons of adhesive materials annually. No one was available to comment at the company.

Calls to the Lijin county propaganda department were hung up. People answering calls to the police and fire offices said they had no information.

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1 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER CHEMICAL MIX MISHAP
Tags: us_MO, public, release, injury, chlorine, cleaners

BUTLER TWP., Montgomery County ‰?? One person was taken to the hospital after he and another man caused a hazardous vapor cloud from mixing household cleaners.
Crews responded to the report of someone having trouble breathing at a home in the 7900 block of Guilford Drive in Butler Twp.
Two occupants had mixed chemicals from household cleaners and caused a chlorine vapor cloud, according to Butler Twp. Fire Lt. Adam Marshall.
One man who was in a wheelchair was evaluated at the scene by medics. The second male was taken to the hospital to be evaluated, Marshall said.
Marshall said the chemicals that were mixed come from ordinary products available to the public in stores. He said it‰??s important to read the warning labels on such products.

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RADIOACTIVE CHEMICAL SPILL OCCURRED LAST FALL AT UNIVERSITY OF TULSA, OFFICIALS ANNOUNCE
Tags: us_OK, laboratory, discovery, response, radiation

Authorities are working to clean up a year-old radioactive chemical spill on the University of Tulsa‰??s north research campus that was just brought to university officials‰?? attention last week.
Tracerco, a company contracted through TU, spilled a small amount of the radioactive isotope cesium-137 in the Process Building on TU‰??s North Campus in the fall 2014 semester, but university officials just learned of the spill Aug. 25, university spokeswoman Mona Chamberlin said.
After university officials learned of the spill, they restricted access to the building and notified the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, which has since been investigating. University officials sent a campus-wide email about the spill on Monday.
‰??We were really blindsided,‰?? Chamberlin said.
Calls and emails to Tracerco representatives were not returned before press time.
At least 21 people will be evaluated for potential exposure to the chemical, said Dr. Gerard Clancy, vice president of health affairs for TU.
Those individuals will go through an initial assessment and undergo a medical examination. After that, a clinician will continue to monitor their conditions, Clancy said.
‰??No matter what, we‰??re going to follow these people carefully and make sure nothing falls through the cracks,‰?? he said.
In this case, university officials aren‰??t worried about the immediate effects of radiation, such as radiation sickness and burns. Instead, they are worried about the long-term effects, which include an increased risk of cancer, Clancy said.
Individuals can be at risk depending on the amount of time exposed and proximity to the radiation.
While some risk is involved for people who worked around the spill, the risk for those who didn‰??t is ‰??exceedingly low,‰?? said Scott Holmstrom, associate professor of physics and campus radiation safety officer.
The North Campus, at 2450 E. Marshall St., east of Lewis Avenue between Independence and Pine streets, is restricted to certain people, and its individual buildings are restricted to those who work there, university officials said.

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HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO CARBON MONOXIDE LEAK SUNDAY MORNING IN CANYON COUNTRY
Tags: us_ca, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

A carbon monoxide leak at an apartment sent one person to the hospital Sunday morning, according to an official with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The leak occurred near the 27000 block of Fahren Court, said Supervising Fire Dispatcher Bernard Peters.

The Fire Department‰??s Health Hazardous Materials Division got the call of the leak when emergency responders reported that a person sent to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital was exposed to carbon monoxide early Sunday morning, Peters said.

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BEHIND DEADLY TIANJIN BLAST, SHORTCUTS AND LAX RULES
Tags: china, industrial, follow-up

TIANJIN, China ‰?? One partner was the son of a local police chief, the other an executive at a state-run chemicals firm. After meeting at a dinner party, they started a company here to handle the export of the most dangerous chemicals made in China, promising ‰??outstanding service‰?? and ‰??good results.‰??

Within two years, Rui Hai International Logistics had built a reputation as the go-to place for businesses looking to ship hazardous materials to customers abroad, a niche market that had been dominated by sluggish state enterprises.

Rui Hai offered lower prices, a no-hassle approach to paperwork and quick government approvals. Business was brisk. It seemed like another success story for the Binhai New Area, a thriving economic development zone established here by the ruling Communist Party around one of China‰??s busiest seaports.

Now, more than two weeks after explosions at its warehouses leveled a section of that district, killing 150 people, injuring more than 700 and leaving millions here fearful of toxic fallout, Rui Hai has become a symbol of something else for many Chinese: the high cost of rapid industrialization in a closed political system rife with corruption.

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WORKERS AT LAVERTON WORKPLACE EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: australia, industrial, discovery, response, other_chemical

ABOUT 80 people had to be evacuated from a Laverton factory following a chemical leak today.

It took firefighters 90 minutes to bring the situation under control, after Nitrocellulose was discovered leaking from a drum.

MFB officers collected the drum with an intrinsically safe forklift while a fine spray of water minimised the risk of any sparks. The drum was then put into a recovery drum where it could be made safe.

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CHINA TO RELOCATE ALMOST 1,000 CHEMICAL PLANTS IN WAKE OF TIANJIN BLASTS
Tags: china, industrial, follow-up

Local governments in China have submitted plans to relocate or upgrade almost 1,000 chemical plants in the wake of the massive explosions in Tianjin earlier this month that killed 147 people.

The blast at a warehouse storing toxic chemicals was China‰??s worst industrial accident in recent years. There has been criticism it was located too close to densely populated residential areas.

China‰??s industry minister, Miao Wei, said local governments were finally moving ahead to implement plans to relocate and upgrade chemical plants.

‰??We started to work with State Administration of Work Safety last year to make arrangements for the relocation and revamping of chemical plants in densely populated urban areas. Frankly, our work is not actively supported locally in the past year,‰?? Miao was quoted by the Communist party-run People‰??s Daily newspaper.

According to the department‰??s summary, about 1,000 chemical plants need to be relocated or upgraded at a total cost of around 400bn yuan (å£40.6bn).

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