From: Ralph Stuart <rstuartcih**At_Symbol_Here**me.com>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (10 articles)
Date: Mon, 27 Jun 2016 07:59:20 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, June 27, 2016 at 7:58:58 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=DQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=GnMVqAeiXTyDXHfLEIuwrdQMKNp-J8GC_FMRPKTZ2hU&s=jkHabEDrWnEGXQGgbqCj9Z9OZ4ENeVgJXt1HmytPT4w&e=

Table of Contents (10 articles)

INTENSE FLAMES RIP THROUGH RESEARCH LABORATORY IN ORANGE
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

CHEMICAL LEAK, FIRE PROMPTS EVACUATIONS IN MONT BELVIEU
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical

COUNTRY CLUB WORKER SICKENED BY POOL CHEMICALS
Tags: us_MA, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

COUNTRY CLUB WORKER SICKENED BY POOL CHEMICALS
Tags: us_MA, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

HAZMAT CREW CLEANS UP SPILL AFTER PICKUP WRECKS ON SECKMAN ROAD IN IMPERIAL
Tags: us_MO, transportation, release, injury, pool_chemicals

SAMFORD UNIVERSITY EVACUATES BUILDINGS DUE TO VANDALISM, THEFT FROM CHEMICAL LAB
Tags: us_AL, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

JFRD HAZ MAT RESPONDING TO CHEMICAL LEAK IN LACKAWANNA
Tags: us_FL, industrial, discovery, response, acetylene

TWO IN CUSTODY AFTER POLICE FIND "CHEMICAL COMPONENTS" AT PASADENA APARTMENTS
Tags: us_TX, public, discovery, response, bomb, illegal

ANSBACH DRINKING WATER SAFE, BUT CHEMICAL CLEANUP CONTINUES
Tags: Germany, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

TENNESSEE RIVERKEEPER SUES 3M, OTHERS OVER CHEMICAL CONTAMINANTS IN THE RIVER
Tags: us_AL, industrial, discovery, environmental, waste


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INTENSE FLAMES RIP THROUGH RESEARCH LABORATORY IN ORANGE
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

ORANGE (CBSLA.com) " An early morning fire burned a research laboratory in the city of Orange Sunday.

Firefighters rushed to the building on N. Batavia Street and W. Barkley Avenue just after 1 a.m.

When they arrive, flames were about 20 feet above the roof. The fire was so intense that firefighters had to be pulled from the building and battled the blaze with long hoses.

It took 60 firefighters from more than four agencies more than two hours to douse the flames. The roof was destroyed and windows were blown up by the fire.

Hazmat also responded to the scene as the lab tests oil and water.

The cause of the fire was not known.

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

CHEMICAL LEAK, FIRE PROMPTS EVACUATIONS IN MONT BELVIEU
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical

MONT BELVIEU, Texas - Dozens of people were evacuated from their homes on Sunday after two chemical mishaps were reported at plants along Highway 146.

A KHOU 11 viewer sent in video of flames and what appeared to be a black chemical shooting out from the ground near Winfree road.

"It looked like someone struck oil in the early 1800"s," said Ken Perry, a witness, who lives three blocks away.

Authorities said there were two separate incidents: The first involved a mix of salt water and hydrocarbon chemicals that leaked from LyondellBasell's pipeline storage plant. The second involved a fire next to the plant at Lone Star NGL.

LyondellBasell issued a statement on Sunday saying there was a pressure build-up in a wellhead at their pipeline storage facility.

The company said all employees were accounted for and no injuries were reported. The evacuation order lasted for six hours on Sunday.

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

COUNTRY CLUB WORKER SICKENED BY POOL CHEMICALS
Tags: us_MA, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

ANDOVER " A 40-year-old woman was taken by ambulance from the Andover Country Club to Lawrence General Hospital Saturday morning after poorly mixed pool chemicals released a harmful asphyxiant into the air.

Deputy Chief Albert DelDotto of the Andover Fire Rescue Department said the unnamed woman, who is a club employee, had trouble breathing and was experiencing respiratory irritation after a pump designed to add cleansing chemicals into the pool apparently malfunctioned, spilling five-to-six gallons of harmful liquid on the pump house floor.

The symptoms are typical when an acidic chemical is incorrectly mixed with sodium hypochlorite, DelDotto said. "You don't mix acids and bases," he said.

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

COUNTRY CLUB WORKER SICKENED BY POOL CHEMICALS
Tags: us_MA, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

ANDOVER " A 40-year-old woman was taken by ambulance from the Andover Country Club to Lawrence General Hospital Saturday morning after poorly mixed pool chemicals released a harmful asphyxiant into the air.
Deputy Chief Albert DelDotto of the Andover Fire Rescue Department said the unnamed woman, who is a club employee, had trouble breathing and was experiencing respiratory irritation after a pump designed to add cleansing chemicals into the pool apparently malfunctioned, spilling five-to-six gallons of harmful liquid on the pump house floor.
The symptoms are typical when an acidic chemical is incorrectly mixed with sodium hypochlorite, DelDotto said. "You don't mix acids and bases," he said.
"In small, diluted amounts it's no big deal," he explained. "It's what's used to clean pool (water). But when they're mixed (improperly), they can create an asphyxiant."
The first ambulance crew arrived at the club shortly after the initial 10:24 a.m. call for help and immediately asked for backup support.

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

HAZMAT CREW CLEANS UP SPILL AFTER PICKUP WRECKS ON SECKMAN ROAD IN IMPERIAL
Tags: us_MO, transportation, release, injury, pool_chemicals

A section of Seckman Road in Imperial was closed for several hours Thursday afternoon (June 23) while a Jefferson County Hazmat crew cleaned up chemicals spilled during a one-vehicle wreck, says Ron Harder of the Rock Community Fire Protection District.
At 2:12 p.m., Stuart L. Willman, 31, of St. Ann was driving a 2006 Ford F150 east on Seckman Road near Summer Circle, and the pickup ran off the right side of the road, where it struck a utility pole and then a tree, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reports.
Willman sustained minor injuries and was taken by Rock Township Ambulance to St. Anthony"s Medical Center in south St. Louis County, where he was treated and released, a hospital spokesman said today (June 24).
The pickup is a work truck for a swimming pool business and was hauling containers of chlorine, hydrochloric acid and other chemicals, Harder said. A small amount of the chemicals spilled on the road, so Rock Fire and the Hazmat crew was called to the scene, officials reported.

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SAMFORD UNIVERSITY EVACUATES BUILDINGS DUE TO VANDALISM, THEFT FROM CHEMICAL LAB
Tags: us_AL, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) " According to Philip Poole of Samford University, there has been vandalism and reported theft from the chemical lab in Propst Hall. The Homewood Fire Department has evacuated Propst Hall, Burns/Chapman/Reid complex and Brooks Hall according to hazardous materials protocols.

Russell Hall was originally evacuated, but Homewood Fire Department has cleared the building to resume normal activities. The pedestrian bridge to Beeson Woods is closed, but the residence halls are accessible from the roadway and sidewalks along Hodges Drive.

Poole reports that everyone was safely evacuated and alternate plans are being made for activities that had been scheduled in those buildings today.

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

JFRD HAZ MAT RESPONDING TO CHEMICAL LEAK IN LACKAWANNA
Tags: us_FL, industrial, discovery, response, acetylene

Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department HazMat crews worked Friday afternoon to cool an overheated gas tank in the parking lot of WhiteWave Foods.

A crew brought in a cylinder of acetylene, a highly flammable gas, and they were going to use it for welding. There was too much pressure in the tank and it was overheating, so crews working with that tank decided to call 911.

HazMat crews were spraying the tanks with water to try and cool them down. At one point, they cleared out the area because the tank was not cooling down.

Streets around White Wave Foods, located on West Beaver Street, were closed, but reopened shortly after 6 p.m., when crews deemed the area safe and secure.

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

TWO IN CUSTODY AFTER POLICE FIND "CHEMICAL COMPONENTS" AT PASADENA APARTMENTS
Tags: us_TX, public, discovery, response, bomb, illegal

Two suspects are in custody and being questioned by fire marshal authorities after police found possible explosive materials at an apartment complex in Pasadena early Friday morning.
"Basically we have determined that there was some material we had concern with that a patrol officer found on a call this morning that might have referenced the construction of an explosive device," said Pasadena Fire Marshal David Brannon.
During the ensuing investigation, officials found materials in the apartment that could be utilized to manufacture some type of a explosive device, however, said Brannon, it was determined that it was more of a case where subjects were possibly manufacturing drug paraphernalia.
Two arrests were made on subjects being in possession of materials of concern as far as the manufacture of a prohibited weapon or the manufacture of some type of narcotic, according to Brannon.
"They were not "cooking"," Brannon added. "We found all of the materials which would suggest that they were building some type of explosive device or "cooking" some type of drug, but we did not catch them cooking any type of drugs."

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

ANSBACH DRINKING WATER SAFE, BUT CHEMICAL CLEANUP CONTINUES
Tags: Germany, public, discovery, environmental, other_chemical

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany " Cleanup is underway after a high level of a discontinued chemical compound was found in the soil and groundwater near the Ansbach military community.

The chemical, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, or PFOS, was widely used in firefighting foam until it was phased out about a decade ago. PFOS is in the perfluorochemical, or PFC, family of chemicals. They do not break down in the environment, and their effect on human health is not fully known, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Prompted in part by high-profile contamination cases near Nuremberg and Dusseldorf, the Ansbach city government requested a sampling of soil and water near the American military air field at Katterbach Kaserne.

Base officials then commissioned independent, non-U.S.-military testing of the base groundwater and soil from an off-site laboratory certified by the German government.

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TENNESSEE RIVERKEEPER SUES 3M, OTHERS OVER CHEMICAL CONTAMINANTS IN THE RIVER
Tags: us_AL, industrial, discovery, environmental, waste

Environmental group Tennessee Riverkeeper has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to force 3M and several other entities to take steps to clean up chemical contamination of the river and Wheeler Reservoir with man-made substances PFOS and PFOA, claiming that the chemicals were an "imminent and substantial endangerment to health and the environment."

The lawsuit, filed under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, does not seek monetary damages for the pollution but seeks to compel 3M to remediate landfills and onsite disposal facilities which they say are still leaching the chemicals into the Tennessee River.

"We don't mind 3M making profitable products " but, we cannot tolerate the defendants putting profit ahead of the health of people, the environment and the River," David Whiteside, Tennessee Riverkeeper's founder and executive director, said in a news release.

Attorney William A. Brewer III, counsel for 3M, said the lawsuit was without merit and that 3M operated in compliance with environmental laws.

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