From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (11 articles)
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2016 07:35:26 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 7:35:13 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=e9gjCQ9yBEZXkpBazK7-rVvcxoEpP9x8BO00S6OAkdw&s=I23FuFmYetl0w8-9bUHnhmE3j8aaO9XMZgTr0ShkBjg&e=

Table of Contents (11 articles)

BURLINGTON FIRE AND HAZMAT RESPOND TO MONDAY'S AMMONIA LEAK
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, ammonia

RUSHVILLE GOODWILL EMPLOYEES TAKEN TO HOSPITAL FOR BURNS, REACTIONS TO BEAR REPELLENT
Tags: us_IN, public, release, injury, repellent

FIRE DESTROYS PEABODY FOAM MANUFACTURER
Tags: us_MA, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

2 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL IN HAZMAT INCIDENT IN PORTLAND
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, injury, dust, waste

6 CHILDREN HOSPITALIZED AFTER POSSIBLE CHEMICAL EXPOSURE AT CONNECTICUT POOL
Tags: us_CT, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

FEDERAL STUDY OF MCHM CONCLUDES
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical

WORKERS AT HANFORD TANKS STOP IN DISPUTE OVER CHEMICAL VAPORS
Tags: us_WA, industrial, discovery, environmental, metals, radiation, wastes

RECKLESS DRUG DEALER CAUSED HUGE BLAZE AT TOLLCROSS FLATS AFTER TURNING GIRLFRIEND'S HOME INTO HASH LAB
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, fire, response, drugs

TEXAS WORKER DIES IN HAZMAT INCIDENT
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, death, water_treatment

SMOKE FROM WIXOM BUILDING THAT PROMPTED HAZMAT RESPONSE WAS...
Tags: us_MI, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical

LAB TECH INJURED IN CHEMICAL ACCIDENT AT NEW HAVEN‰??S SCIENCE PARK
Tags: us_CT, laboratory, explosion, injury, pharmaceutical


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BURLINGTON FIRE AND HAZMAT RESPOND TO MONDAY'S AMMONIA LEAK
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, ammonia

At 6:21 p.m. Monday, the Burlington Fire Department received a call for a possible chemical leak at the Burlington Ice Palace on Ray Avenue. Upon arrival, crews found people were already being evacuated from the Ice Palace the the fitness center in the building.

Firefighters assisted with the evacuation, leading employees and guests to a safe location.
An ammonia leak was quickly identified inside, as a refrigerant company was working on site. Due to the potential danger, the Burlington Fire Department activated the Massachusetts Hazardous Materials Response Team, which brought a multitude of resources to town for assistance.

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RUSHVILLE GOODWILL EMPLOYEES TAKEN TO HOSPITAL FOR BURNS, REACTIONS TO BEAR REPELLENT
Tags: us_IN, public, release, injury, repellent

RUSHVILLE, Ind. (WISH) ‰?? Six employees from a Rushville Goodwill were taken to the hospital for burns from and reactions to bear repellent.

According to Rushville Police Department, authorities responded to the Goodwill store located in the 1500 block of North Main Street in Rushville for reports of an unknown chemical spill around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

After arriving on scene, officers reported a number of employees experiencing medical emergencies due to the spill. The Goodwill store and the surrounding business were evacuated as a result of the spill.

Upon further investigation by a HAZMAT team, it was discovered that the substance was bear repellent. The bear repellent was expelled when a Goodwill unknowingly opened a box with the substance in it, spraying that employee in the face. That individual did incur chemical burns to around his mouth and nose.

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FIRE DESTROYS PEABODY FOAM MANUFACTURER
Tags: us_MA, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

PEABODY ‰?? Black smoke was still pouring out of the one-story commercial building, filling the air, around 8 p.m. on Tuesday, nearly five hours after the fire was first reported inside the foam manufacturing business at Peabody's Centennial Business Park.

For most of the afternoon and evening, firefighters and apparatus from all over the North Shore surrounded the building at 2 Fifth St. ‰?? the headquarters for Lifoam Industries ‰?? pouring water and foam into the conflagration inside. Interior sprinklers were still operating into the evening, even as the building continued collapsing in on itself.

All available Peabody firefighters and equipment were called to the scene shortly after the fire was reported at approximately 3:24 p.m.

Thick, black smoke, could be seen billowing from all sides of the structure, as a third alarm was struck at approximately 3:54 p.m.

At one point, according to scanner reports, flames were showing from the rear of the structure and spreading up through the roof.

Fire officials at the scene Tuesday evening confirmed that all employees inside the building had been evacuated, without injury, as well as people from the surrounding businesses in the park.

Some employees, however, were apparently still inside the building around 4:18 p.m., according to scanner reports. They told firefighters they had to stay inside to monitor an ongoing mixing process. Lifoam makes foam products such as coolers and pool noodles, according to its website.

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2 TAKEN TO HOSPITAL IN HAZMAT INCIDENT IN PORTLAND
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, injury, dust, waste

PORTLAND, Pa. -
A hazmat team was called to a Northampton County business, when two people were injured by a hazardous material.

It happened in the 100 block of Demi Road in Portland around 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The Ultra-Poly Corporation is listed at the address. The business is a plastic recycling facility.


Officials said there was some mica dust in the bottom a polypropylene box that spread out in a plume.

Two workers breathed in the material and had to be taken to the hospital.

Crews evacuated all of the employees from the building. They also checked the workers to see if the material was on them and if they needed to go through the decontamination process.

12 employees needed complete decontamination and 21 needed it on their hands and feet.

A hazmat team cleaned up the building.

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

6 CHILDREN HOSPITALIZED AFTER POSSIBLE CHEMICAL EXPOSURE AT CONNECTICUT POOL
Tags: us_CT, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical

At least six children were hospitalized today after possibly being exposed to a chemicals at a Connecticut pool, according to fire department officials.

Nine people, including eight children, had symptoms of a scratchy throat, difficulty breathing, stomach pain and vomiting after going to a pool in Old Mystic, Connecticut, according to the Old Mystic Fire Department Chief Ken Richards.

All of those sickened were visiting the Seaport RV Resort in Old Mystic while on vacation and started to exhibit symptoms around 1:30 p.m. today, according to Richards.

Six of the children were hospitalized and officials are investigating the cause of the symptoms. Richards told ABC News that preliminary water and air testing did not reveal abnormal readings and the pool company was scheduled to come tomorrow to help investigators further.

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

FEDERAL STUDY OF MCHM CONCLUDES
Tags: us_WV, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical

A just-released federal study of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) concluded that exposure to the chemical after it spilled into the Elk River in Charleston, W. Va., in January 2014 is ‰??not likely to be associated with any adverse health effects.‰??
MCHM was the largest component of a mixture of chemicals that leaked from a corroded commercial storage tank upstream of the water supply for some 300,000 people. At the time of the spill, little was known about MCHM, an alicyclic alcohol used to process coal.
City officials issued a ban on the use of tap water for drinking and washing that lasted more than a week for some of the affected residents. Some reported skin irritation and stomach upset from exposure to contaminated water.
Lack of information about MCHM and other components of the spilled liquid led the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to request further study from the National Toxicology Program (NTP), a federal program that investigates chemicals of concern to public health.
‰??Alicyclic alcohols and other chemicals of this sort are likely to have similar toxicological properties,‰?? says Scott S. Auerbach, a molecular toxicologist who worked on the study. Still, the toxicology of many chemicals in the class, including MCHM, was unknown prior to the year-long study, he says.

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WORKERS AT HANFORD TANKS STOP IN DISPUTE OVER CHEMICAL VAPORS
Tags: us_WA, industrial, discovery, environmental, metals, radiation, wastes

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) ‰?? Some workers on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation have decided to stop working in some of the radioactive waste tank farms because of safety concerns over chemical vapors.

Hanford for decades made plutonium for nuclear weapons, and now contains millions of gallons of radioactive waste stored in 177 underground tanks in southeastern Washington. The government is spending $2 billion a year to clean up the site.

The Hanford Atomic Metal Trades Council on Monday issued a ‰??stop work‰?? order at the double-walled tanks that contain dangerous wastes from the past production of plutonium for nuclear weapons.

Council President Dave Molnaa says workers are demanding they be supplied with bottled air when they work at any of the tank farms. Currently, bottled air is required only when working among the older, single-walled underground tanks.

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RECKLESS DRUG DEALER CAUSED HUGE BLAZE AT TOLLCROSS FLATS AFTER TURNING GIRLFRIEND'S HOME INTO HASH LAB
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, fire, response, drugs

A CARELESS drug-dealer caused a huge explosion after transforming his girlfriend's flat into a hash lab.

A bid by Scott Peden to make a super-strength form of cannabis called "shatter" turned catastrophic in March this year.

He wrecked the tenement in Glasgow's Tollcross leaving a å£1m repair bill.

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TEXAS WORKER DIES IN HAZMAT INCIDENT
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, death, water_treatment

Wichita Falls, TX ‰?? A wastewater treatment employee has died, a week after he and a colleague were overcome by unknown gases while they were doing repairs in the basement at the River Road Wastewater Treatment Plant.

According to Todd Mudd, WFFD Battalion Chief, the two were found semi-responsive and evacuated by air to the hospital.

The victim was identified as Daniel Arredondo who worked for the wastewater treatment divisions for a year and a half.

Officials said there was no threat to the public because the situation was contained at the facility. However, road access was closed for a period of time to make sure the injured workers could be rushed to the hospital.

Mudd said unknown gases are likely to blame for the incident, but the investigation is ongoing.

Two other employees went back into the area to finish the repairs, and put the plant back online.

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

SMOKE FROM WIXOM BUILDING THAT PROMPTED HAZMAT RESPONSE WAS...
Tags: us_MI, industrial, release, response, unknown_chemical

WIXOM, Mich. - A large plume of smoke coming from a Wixom business that sparked the response of a hazmat team early Monday morning turned out not to be toxic, police said.

Crews shut down Pontiac Trail at Wixom Road for the investigation at Korex Corporation after the smoke was seen coming from a building just after 2 a.m.

"Firefighters and technicians were able to obtain preliminary air quality reports and were able to verify that the smoke plume was not toxic in nature," the city said in a statement. "At approximately 8:30 a.m., Wixom firefighters and Hazmat technicians were able to locate the source of the plume and determine, definitively, that there was no danger to the public."

According to Korex's website, the company packages a wide variety of consumer, industrial and institutional products.

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

LAB TECH INJURED IN CHEMICAL ACCIDENT AT NEW HAVEN‰??S SCIENCE PARK
Tags: us_CT, laboratory, explosion, injury, pharmaceutical

NEW HAVEN >> A technician was hurt and exposed to chemicals in a lab at New Haven‰??s Science Park late Monday morning after a chemical reaction went wrong, officials said.

The male technician suffered a laceration after a flask burst inside a lab at Building 4 of the Science Park, which is off Winchester Avenue.

The technician was also exposed to the chemicals inside the vessel and investigators were trying to determine what the chemicals were, Fire Battalion Chief William Gould said at the scene.

City firefighters responded to the lab shortly before 10 a.m. on a report there had been some kind of explosion. When they arrived, they found no explosion had damaged the building, but a chemical reaction in a vessel that became over-pressurized.

Gould said the technician tried to decontaminate himself before rescue crews arrived, but had to be further decontaminated before he was taken by ambulance to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he would enter through the hazmat entrance.

The technician‰??s name and condition were not immediately available. The technician was the only person in the lab, which has its own ventilation system, Gould said. The rest of Building 4 remained open as did Winchester Avenue.

‰??The ventilation hood system is connected to its own separate ventilation duct so it doesn‰??t get into the other air transferred through the building,‰?? he said. ‰??It wasn‰??t a large-scale exposure issue. We‰??re confident that whatever product was released was contained inside that lab.‰??

Gould said the substance that was released could irritate the skin and eyes but firefighters were able to protect themselves with their regular gear. More equipment was available, if necessary, on a department hazmat unit that also responded to the scene.

Experts from Yale also responded to the scene to help identify the chemicals involved, though the lab involved is owned by a private company.

‰??They‰??re such a great resource to us,‰?? Gould said.

The lab accident remained under investigation Monday afternoon by the city fire marshal and Police Department, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and occupational health investigators.

DEEP spokeswoman Cyndy Chanaca said the lab where the accident occurred is owned by Revegen Laboratories, which primarily does experiments for pharmaceutical companies.

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