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: Mon, 22 Feb 2016 07:29:12 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 4CA51B4B-26D5-420D-83A5-2C9EB30F11E4**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, February 22, 2016 at 7:28:58 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=wHERqO9dq-3I5oVhhGldljqFafY4E80tISQiMRnVxeQ&s=QHjy_Fizh3iC9LydRPzEuN9F_mm2G3GVoyg-4nEqzKM&e=

Table of Contents (12 articles)

LEVEL 0 CHEMICAL SPILL REPORTED AT KODAK SUNDAY MORNING
Tags: us_ny, industrial, release, response, corrosive

HAZMAT CALLED TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT PITT SCIENCE BUILDING
Tags: us_PA, laboratory, release, response, benzene

CHEMISTS ACHIEVE HYDROCYANATION WITHOUT USING TOXIC HYDROGEN CYANIDE
Tags: Germany, laboratory, discovery, environmental, cyanide

PLANS CALL FOR EPA TO COVER COSTS OF CHEMICAL CLEANUP IN DERRY BUILDING
Tags: us_NH, public, discovery, response, flammables, solvent

TEEN SUFFERS CHEMICAL BURNS FROM METH ACCIDENT; 2 MUNCIE WOMEN ARRESTED
Tags: us_IN, public, release, injury, meth_lab

HOVERBOARDS CAN NOW BE SEIZED OVER EXPLOSION RISK, US GOVT WARNS
Tags: public, follow-up, environmental, batteries

DAILY DIGEST: HOSPITAL DISCHARGES PATIENT IN HAZMAT CALL
Tags: us_IL, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

HAZMAT CREWS CLEANING MERCURY SPILL ON EYE STREET
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, mercury

CHLORINE LEAK CAUSES EVACUATION OF HOMES AROUND ISLAND LAKE WELL HOUSE
Tags: us_IL, public, release, response, chlorine

HAZMAT CREWS, EPA CALLED TO VANDALIA FUEL SPILL
Tags: us_OH, transportation, release, response, diesel

CHEMICAL EXPLOSION IN CLINTON NOW TARGETED BY WORKPLACE HEALTH
Tags: Australia, laboratory, follow-up, response, acids

GASOLINE LEAK IN RENSSELAER, NY
Tags: us_NY, transportation, release, response, gasoline


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

LEVEL 0 CHEMICAL SPILL REPORTED AT KODAK SUNDAY MORNING
Tags: us_ny, industrial, release, response, corrosive

Ridge Road Fire Department responded to a five-gallon spill of Thermal Plate Developer at Kodak Sunday morning, according to reports by the Monroe County Fire Wire. The Commander has declared a "Ridge Rd Level 0 haz mat" situation and more equipment was called in to clear the spill.

According to Monroe County's hazardous materials response plan, a level 0 event "is not likely to adversely impact or threaten life, health, property or the environment."

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

HAZMAT CALLED TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT PITT SCIENCE BUILDING
Tags: us_PA, laboratory, release, response, benzene

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) " A hazmat team was called to a University of Pittsburgh Department of Chemistry building for a chemical spill Saturday afternoon.

Hazmat responded to the report of a benzene chloride spill at the Chevron Science Center on Parkman Avenue around 1 p.m.

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

CHEMISTS ACHIEVE HYDROCYANATION WITHOUT USING TOXIC HYDROGEN CYANIDE
Tags: Germany, laboratory, discovery, environmental, cyanide

Hydrocyanation is a go-to reaction for converting an alkene to a nitrile, which is one of the most versatile functional groups available to chemists. The process is used industrially to produce adiponitrile, an intermediate for making nylon. However, it is rarely used in the lab or for fine chemicals production because the hydrogen cyanide required as a reagent is extremely toxic, volatile, and potentially explosive.
Researchers in Germany have now designed an approach to hydrocyanation that not only avoids HCN"s pitfalls but is controllably reversible, which could make the reaction even more valuable (Science 2016, DOI: 10.1126/science.aae0427).
Xianjie Fang, Peng Yu, and Bill Morandi of the Max Planck Institute for Coal Research use a nickel catalyst as a shuttle to pluck hydrogen and a cyano group from a donor nitrile and transfer them to an alkene to form a nitrile. The team shows the reaction is useful to make aryl nitriles and for functionalizing biomolecules such as tyrosine and estrone.

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

PLANS CALL FOR EPA TO COVER COSTS OF CHEMICAL CLEANUP IN DERRY BUILDING
Tags: us_NH, public, discovery, response, flammables, solvent

DERRY " Plans call for the Environmental Protection Agency to cover the costs of removing numerous solvents and other flammable chemicals from a vacant building at 19 Elm St., town officials said Friday.

In a phone call Thursday from the EPA, town officials learned that the agency will cover the estimated $15,000 to $25,000 cost of removing the chemicals, said Public Works Director Michael Fowler.

Calling it a disaster waiting to happen, town councilors voted last month to demolish the building after an inspection found it filled with containers of flammable chemicals. The councilors also voted unanimously to appropriate $150,000 from the capital reserve fund for demolition.

Fowler said officials are taking a careful approach in addressing the chemicals.

"Before we can proceed, obviously, with a demolition, we have to get that removed," Fowler said. "We want to do this properly, and we"ve brought the EPA in."

The chemicals consist mainly of solvents used to clean marble-top fixtures, Fowler said. Officials believe the chemicals were left at the site by former owners and tenants.

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

TEEN SUFFERS CHEMICAL BURNS FROM METH ACCIDENT; 2 MUNCIE WOMEN ARRESTED
Tags: us_IN, public, release, injury, meth_lab

MUNCIE, Ind. (Feb. 19, 2016) " After a teenager suffered burns on her legs, police arrested two Muncie women and said the teen"s burns were related to a methamphetamine accident.

On Wednesday, officers from the Muncie Police Department were dispatched to a home in the 2100 block of South Jefferson Street around 9:15 p.m. after a 16-year-old had chemical burns.

The girl went to IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital before being transferred to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis to get treatment for the third degree burns.

A search of the home turned up several materials used to make meth, including HCl generators, coffee filters, lithium batteries and propane tanks in addition to a "one-pot" meth lab. Residue tested positive for methamphetamine, police said.

Investigators also found a "chopped-up aloe plant" that had been used in an attempt to treat the teen"s burns.

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

HOVERBOARDS CAN NOW BE SEIZED OVER EXPLOSION RISK, US GOVT WARNS
Tags: public, follow-up, environmental, batteries

Get your hoverboards while they"re hot. The U.S. government has called on retailers and manufacturers to stop selling versions of the self-balancing, two-wheel electric toys that don"t meet safety standards.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, known as the CPSC, issued a notice to stores and importers asking them to voluntarily take hoverboards off the shelves unless they meet government standards.

YouTube, Twitter and other internet channels are full of images and video of hoverboards that have exploded or erupted in flames. The advisory stops short of demanding a recall but does warn that hoverboards that have not passed safety tests will be subject to seizure.

None of the popular models on the market currently meet the necessary standard as laid out by the Underwriters Laboratory (UL), the government said. Underwriters Laboratory, an independent safety consulting company, announced in January it would begin accepting self-balancing scooters for "construction evaluation, testing and/or UL certification." That came after Swagway, the maker of a popular hoverboard, allegedly put counterfeit UL safety marks on its hoverboards.

"From December 1, 2015 through February 17, 2016, CPSC received reports, from consumers in 24 states, of 52 self-balancing scooter fires resulting in over $2 million in property damage, including the destruction of two homes and an automobile," the government said in a letter dated February 18. We believe that many of the reported incidents, and the related unreasonable risk of injuries and deaths associated with fires in these products, would be prevented if all such products were manufactured in compliance with the reference voluntary safety standards."

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

DAILY DIGEST: HOSPITAL DISCHARGES PATIENT IN HAZMAT CALL
Tags: us_IL, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

BLOOMINGTON " The patient admitted to OSF St. Joseph Medical Center on Wednesday afternoon after showing symptoms following exposure to an unknown substance was discharged Thursday, OSF spokeswoman Shelli Dankoff said.

Emergency department staff members who exhibited similar symptoms but later recovered and remained on the job were doing fine on Thursday, she said.

Bloomington Fire Department, whose hazardous-materials team was at the hospital for about five hours for the incident, determined that the glucose-based substance isn't hazardous.

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

HAZMAT CREWS CLEANING MERCURY SPILL ON EYE STREET
Tags: us_CA, public, release, response, mercury

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) " Around 1 a.m. on Friday morning, Bakersfield Fire Department responded to a reported mercury spill at 2900 Eye Street.

First responders found between eight to ten ounces of liquid mercury spilled in an alley behind the Kern Adult Program.

Of the two buildings affected, 117 occupants were screened for traces of mercury. Unfortunately, 21 people were found to have walked through it and tracked it into the buildings.

Authorities say the 21 people have been through a decontamination process and released from the scene.

It is unknown at this time whether the spill was intentional or accidentally dumped. A private contractor is currently at the scene cleaning it up. The BFD will work with them to ensure no further contaminations.

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

CHLORINE LEAK CAUSES EVACUATION OF HOMES AROUND ISLAND LAKE WELL HOUSE
Tags: us_IL, public, release, response, chlorine

Several homes were evacuated after a chlorine leak was discovered at a northwest suburban water facility Thursday morning.

Wauconda firefighters responded just after 10:30 a.m. to a call of a strange odor at a building at 3299 Waterford Way in Island Lake, according to the Wauconda Fire District. That address is a well house for the Village of Island Lake Public Works department.


The ILPW said an alarm had gone off at the facility, and when workers went to check, they found a strong chlorine odor and an audible alarm indicating a reading of 13 parts per million in the room. Normal is 0 ppm.

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

HAZMAT CREWS, EPA CALLED TO VANDALIA FUEL SPILL
Tags: us_OH, transportation, release, response, diesel

VANDALIA, Ohio (WDTN) " Hazmat crews and the EPA were called to the Flying J truck stop on Northwoods Boulevard just after 12:30 Friday morning.

Police say a truck backed into a parked tanker that was off-loading diesel fuel at that station.

The station was closed for several hours while crews worked to clean up the mess.

The clean-up operation wrapped up just after 5:00 Friday morning and crews left the scene. The truck stop was closed while clean up crews did their work. The store is now open again.

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

CHEMICAL EXPLOSION IN CLINTON NOW TARGETED BY WORKPLACE HEALTH
Tags: Australia, laboratory, follow-up, response, acids

ACID is thought to have set off the explosion inside a laboratory cupboard at Clinton, which is used by a chemical testing company.

And Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) yesterday launched an investigation into the cause of the explosion - and if safety procedures were followed - in the early hours of Thursday morning at Intertek, a company providing gas quality testing services to the region's major LNG producers.

The explosion occurred in a laboratory described by Gladstone fire station officer Graham Smith as a "room within a room" which is believed to have contained the inital blast.

But firefighters still rushed staff - who had just arrived at work to find the explosion - out of the "the immediate area" to the building's office section "until we investigated".

He said when the "owner" of the building wasn't able to decipher what chemical was behind the explosion, fire fighters worked to "isolate which one had failed".

"To do that, we had two fire fighters in chemical suits take a photograph of the cabinet and after a process of elimination it was determined it was an acid spill," he said.

"It's still unknown what caused the initial explosion.

"Everyone's bemused or confused about why it's occurred."

But WHSQ has sent in its own inspectors.

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

GASOLINE LEAK IN RENSSELAER, NY
Tags: us_NY, transportation, release, response, gasoline

UPDATE: The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation says about 200 gallons of gasoline spilled at the Buckeye Partners Facility at the Port of Rensselaer.

They responded to the scene around 5:30 on Thursday evening and say the spill was within the containment system and was contained on site. Authorities have determined there is no danger of the fuel entering the Hudson River, but spill responders remained on site to oversee the clean-up.

According to the DEC, the spill was the result of a tank overfill.

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

UPDATE: Officials say the situation is under control and is currently being handled by an independently contracted HAZMAT team. The road has also reopened following a gas spill at Buckeye Terminal. According to authorities about 600-800 gallons of gas spilled. They say this sort of spill is routine.

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

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.