From: DCHAS Secretary <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (14 articles)
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 2016 07:51:32 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 5E6D6800-8517-4B56-A411-7F12132611D3**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, September 28, 2016 at 7:51:18 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 (14 articles)

STUDENTS SUFFERED BURNS, EYE INJURIES AT DONGHUA UNIVERSITY
Tags: China, laboratory, release, injury, potassium_permanganate

ONE OF COUNTY'S NEWER ELECTRIC TRANSIT BUSES CATCHES FIRE; CAUSE BEING INVESTIGATED
Tags: us_MD, transportation, fire, response, batteries

LOOK INSIDE å£23M UNIVERSITY CENTRE REBUILT AFTER HUGE FIRE
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, follow-up, environmental

STRUCTURE FIRE EXPLODES CAUSING MINOR INJURIES TO VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS
Tags: us_AL, public, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

FIREFIGHTER HURT IN MILLION-DOLLAR GARDEN GROVE BLAZE
Tags: us_CA, public, fire, injury, gasoline

A PERFORMANCE ART GROUP SATIRIZED THE FIRE MARSHAL'S ART GALLERY SHUTDOWNS WITH 'THE WORLD'S SAFEST ART SHOW'
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, response

SEVERAL SICKENED, BUT NO PUBLIC ALERT AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK IN HILO
Tags: us_HI, industrial, release, response, chlorine

UPDATE: POLICE INVESTIGATE SUSPECTED METH LAB AT PROVIDENCE HILT
Tags: us_RI, public, discovery, response, meth_lab

TANKER TRUCK CRASH PROMPTS HAZMAT RESPONSE IN GRANTS PASS ‰?? KOBI-TV NBC5 / KOTI-TV NBC2
Tags: us_OR, transportation, release, response, liquid_oxygen

MULTIPLE INJURED AFTER DRUG LAB EXPLODES, DEMOLISHES BRONX HOME
Tags: us_NY, public, explosion, death, drugs

HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO HYDROCHLORIC ACID SPILL
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, response, hydrochloric_acid

CHEMICAL SPILL IN WILLOW MARSH BAYOU DAMAGED NATURAL RESOURCES, KILLED WILDLIFE
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, environmental, gasoline, solvent

FIRE DEPT RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT LOCAL PLANT
Tags: us_IA, industrial, release, injury, acids, sulfuric_acid

HOUSE FIRE LEADS TO CHILD-ABUSE AND DRUGS CHARGES FOR NILES MAN
Tags: us_IN, laboratory, explosion, response, butane, drugs, illegal


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STUDENTS SUFFERED BURNS, EYE INJURIES AT DONGHUA UNIVERSITY
Tags: China, laboratory, release, injury, potassium_permanganate

Three Donghua University graduate students in the School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, & Bioengineering were injured in an incident involving potassium permanganate, according to the university and local news reports.
The university says in a Sept. 23 post on the microblogging site Weibo that the incident is still being investigated. Two of the students were taken to the hospital, where they were treated for facial burns and eye injuries, the Sept. 23 post says. One of the two hospitalized students required eye surgery and further treatment. The third injured student received abrasions and was not hospitalized, the University posted on Sept. 21.
The Sigma-Aldrich Safety Data Sheet for potassium permanganate notes that it is an oxidizer that can cause skin corrosion and serious eye damage. It is also toxic if consumed orally by humans.
I‰??ve e-mailed the dean of the Donghua School Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, & Bioengineering to find out more about the incident, but so far he has not responded to me. If anyone who reads Chinese would like to go through the 44 pages of comments of Weibo and let me know if there‰??s any more information there, I‰??d welcome it!

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ONE OF COUNTY'S NEWER ELECTRIC TRANSIT BUSES CATCHES FIRE; CAUSE BEING INVESTIGATED
Tags: us_MD, transportation, fire, response, batteries

The cause of a bus fire that closed U.S. 40 near the exit for U.S. 15 for several hours remained under investigation Tuesday afternoon, according to a county TransIT spokeswoman.

The bus, one of the TransIT system‰??s newer, fully electric models, was still under warranty and repairs were expected to be covered at no cost to the county, said Kendall Klosky Tiffany, a TransIT spokeswoman.

‰??The bus manufacturer has a team already in route ‰?? they will be on site later (Tuesday) and will spend tomorrow determining exactly what happened,‰?? Tiffany wrote in an email response to The Frederick News-Post‰??s questions.

The fire was first reported just after 9 a.m. on westbound U.S. 40 just east of U.S. 15, according to the state Transportation Department‰??s Coordinated Highways Action Response Team website. All lanes were reopened as of 11:23 a.m., said Michele Bowman, a spokeswoman for the Frederick Police Department.

The bus was not carrying any passengers at the time and the driver recognized the problem and got out of the vehicle safely, said Battalion Chief Kevin Fox, a spokesman for the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services.

‰??It took about an hour to extinguish. Some of the concerns they had with it was it was an electrical bus and it had some lithium ion batteries so we had a [hazardous materials] team out making sure there wasn‰??t a problem with the runoff from our extinguishing efforts,‰?? Fox said.

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LOOK INSIDE å£23M UNIVERSITY CENTRE REBUILT AFTER HUGE FIRE
Tags: United_Kingdom, laboratory, follow-up, environmental

The å£23m University of Nottingham building that burned down during construction is finally open ‰?? and could now become a centre for "life-changing" research.

The GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratory for Sustainable Chemistry, located on the university's Innovation Park in Triumph Road, will be used by PhD students and top researchers to help find therapies for asthma.

Built using a timber frame and with solar panels and grass turf on the roof, it is said to be the world's first chemistry lab to make no overall contribution to greenhouse gases or the acceleration of climate change.

Professor Peter Licence, director of the centre, said: "This is a unique building that is huge for Nottingham and our university.

"It's a project that defines a new way of approaching science and the environment that sits around it ‰?? we're teaching our scientists to work in a way that's more sensitive to their carbon footprint.

"This building has to inspire people to want to do things differently ‰?? personally, I think it's the most amazing building I've ever seen.

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STRUCTURE FIRE EXPLODES CAUSING MINOR INJURIES TO VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS
Tags: us_AL, public, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

At least three volunteer firefighters had to have medical treatment after a structure fire exploded in Colbert County on Monday night.

Officials say a little after six they arrived at a property on Pineywoods Road to find one building completely in flames.w

LaGrange Volunteer Fire Department.

"Once we started spraying water at the back left corner there we had some type of explosion. Unsure what it was. A couple of officers got hurt but they were treated here on scene," said LaGrange Volunteer Fire Chief, Richard Nabors.

As a safety precaution a hazmat team came to the scene and decontaminated all of the firefighters because they don't know what chemicals were possibly on site.

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

FIREFIGHTER HURT IN MILLION-DOLLAR GARDEN GROVE BLAZE
Tags: us_CA, public, fire, injury, gasoline

A three-alarm fire at a vehicle repair and maintenance business in Garden Grove did more than $1 million in damage, prompted a hazardous materials response for leaking fuel and sent a firefighter to a hospital for treatment of heat exhaustion.

The blaze was reported Monday afternoon at Pacific R.V. Body & Paint, which does maintenance and repair work on motor homes, recreational vehicles and the like, according to Capt. Thanh Nguyen of the Garden Grove Fire Department.

About 50 firefighters were dispatched to the business at 13731 Harbor Blvd., near Westminster Avenue, including an Orange County Fire Authority hazmat team summoned because of leaking gasoline from a ruptured tank, Nguyen said.

Arriving firefighters, who dealt with temperatures over 100 degrees, encountered two burning motor homes and the heat from the fire caused the flames to spread to two additional motor homes, according to Nguyen.

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A PERFORMANCE ART GROUP SATIRIZED THE FIRE MARSHAL'S ART GALLERY SHUTDOWNS WITH 'THE WORLD'S SAFEST ART SHOW'
Tags: us_TX, public, follow-up, response

Lately the fire marshal seems to have eased up a bit on arts spaces. The disbanding of art events this summer began with Dean Terry‰??s art-music-performance event Acoustic Nerves in May, which was shut down even though the event was funded with city money. It touched off a wave of crackdowns citywide that reached a boiling point in August at a community meeting at the Dallas Public Library.

‰??It was traumatic; it took us months to put together," says Terry of Acoustic Nerves. On Friday, Terry put together a second show with his performance group Therefore, which was intended to respond to that debacle. The World's Safest Art Show at Beefhaus in Exposition Park was inspired by the crackdowns and the concerns voiced by the fire marshal and representatives of his office at that public meeting in August.

The impromptu shutdowns, while in the name of safety, according to the fire marshal‰??s office, seemed to be directly targeting arts events. Reps from his office admitted to searching Facebook and online arts bulletins looking for events that they could investigate. And the shutdowns threatened artists‰?? livelihoods ‰?? in many cases their spaces were closed for days, weeks or even months while they worked to become compliant, which often required large, costly fixes.

There aren't reports of rampant shutdowns anymore, and many of the art spaces that were in a headlock with city offices over zoning and certificates of occupancy are quietly finding resolution within those offices. But there hasn‰??t been an across-the-board solution for the deficits in zoning laws that make it impossible for many of these art spaces to operate as they see fit and to still be in compliance with their certificates of occupancy issued by the city, which allows them to operate.

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

SEVERAL SICKENED, BUT NO PUBLIC ALERT AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK IN HILO
Tags: us_HI, industrial, release, response, chlorine

A chemical leak at a facility in Hilo is raising questions about public safety.

A Hilo resident contacted Action Line, wanting to know why the neighborhood around BEI Hawaii‰??s facility was not alerted.

The resident told us the smell from the facility was so bad he couldn‰??t breathe. He also says plants in his yard and his neighbors‰?? yards turned brown from the odor.

Two workers and a firefighter had to be treated.

According to the Hawaii Fire Department, BEI‰??s monitoring system alerted employees of a chlorine gas leak at around 7 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 22. Readings at that time showed up to 2 parts per million.

‰??What is considered a dangerous level where you would notify the public?‰?? KHON2 asked Jonathan Sullivan, BEI regulatory compliance officer.

‰??If it‰??s going over 2 parts per million,‰?? he replied.

Less than an hour later, BEI called the fire department. Fire officials say by the time crews arrived, employees were being evacuated.

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

UPDATE: POLICE INVESTIGATE SUSPECTED METH LAB AT PROVIDENCE HILT
Tags: us_RI, public, discovery, response, meth_lab

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The Providence Hilton Garden Inn was evacuated Tuesday evening after a security guard told hotel management to call police on four men, believed to be making meth in their hotel room.

Authorities said there were toxic fumes oozing from under the door of room 323 into the hallway, similar to that of a sauna. A security guard went to the room to investigate and had the door slammed in his face by the four men.

"Hazmat here, there must be about six ladder trucks, a lot of police cars," said witness Ken Sabagh as he stood next to the active scene.

According to Public Safety Commissioner, Steven Pare, officers, and the DEA are now investigating a possible meth lab on the 3rd floor.

When fire officials first went inside the room, toxic gas sensors went off and they found a chemical suit on the ground. Windows were broken for ventilation, and eventually the entire hotel was evacuated.

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

TANKER TRUCK CRASH PROMPTS HAZMAT RESPONSE IN GRANTS PASS ‰?? KOBI-TV NBC5 / KOTI-TV NBC2
Tags: us_OR, transportation, release, response, liquid_oxygen

Grants Pass, Ore. ‰?? Emergency crews responded Tuesday afternoon to a report of a tanker truck that rolled over near Applebee‰??s restaurant on Highway 199 in Grants Pass.

According to ODOT, the tanker truck was said to be hauling liquid oxygen. Hazmat crews were dispatched to the location after it was reported to be leaking.

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

MULTIPLE INJURED AFTER DRUG LAB EXPLODES, DEMOLISHES BRONX HOME
Tags: us_NY, public, explosion, death, drugs

The Bronx explosion pic.twitter.com/afffObJhVb ‰?? Gerardo Toyloy (**At_Symbol_Here**gtoyloy) September 27, 2016 Several people were injured ‰?? including at least one firefighter ‰?? when a drug lab inside a Bronx house exploded early Tuesday, officials and sources said. Firefighters responded to what they thought was a report of a gas leak at 300 W. 234th Street near the corner of Tibbett Avenue in Kingsbridge around 6:20 a.m. But when they entered the home, they found what appeared to be a homemade drug laboratory and immediately called police. The home then exploded around 7:30 a.m. as cops and firefighters were on scene. Several people were injured. The patients were taken to local hospitals. The FDNY did not immediately have information on their conditions. A neighbor described the moments after the blast. ‰??It was a big explosion, big explosion,‰?? Jay Soto, 57, told The Post. ‰??Everyone came out and asked, ‰??What was that?‰?? I could see that it was serious. There are many ambulan!
ces and firetrucks. I saw black smoke.‰?? The incident is still under investigation. Explosion near 234th and Irwin Ave Bronx NYC. **At_Symbol_Here**NBCNewYork pic.twitter.com/qjqOqkDwN3 ‰?? Dylan Ryder (**At_Symbol_Here**DylanMRyder) September 27, 2016

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HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO HYDROCHLORIC ACID SPILL
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, response, hydrochloric_acid

ERIE, Pa. ‰?? Erie firefighters and the hazmat team responded to a chemical spill in the city Monday afternoon.

According to the fire deputy chief, a package containing hydrochloric acid spilled onto the ground inside of Rog's Inc. at 327 E. 18th St.

A chemical reaction was caused after the hydrochloric acid mixed with the concrete and created a large vapor cloud.

The fire chef said the vapor cloud dissipated on its own after 30 minutes.

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

CHEMICAL SPILL IN WILLOW MARSH BAYOU DAMAGED NATURAL RESOURCES, KILLED WILDLIFE
Tags: us_TX, industrial, release, environmental, gasoline, solvent

Texas environmental investigators might take days to determine the severity of a chemical spill into the Willow Marsh Bayou west of Beaumont that damaged natural resources and killed wildlife, according to local and state officials.
A solvent spill into the bayou by General Electric: Betz Water and Process Technologies, an industrial water processing facility, on Thursday night killed creatures that call the bayou home and prompted Jefferson County emergency management officials to order a shelter in place for nearly 100 nearby homes Friday morning.
Monica Gonzalez, who lives near the facility, said she was awakened Thursday night by a strong smell of gasoline.
Gonzalez initially thought someone was outside of her trailer stealing fuel.
"You can still smell it inside of my trailer," Gonzalez said Friday from her front porch. "We weren't able to get much sleep last night."

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

FIRE DEPT RESPONDS TO CHEMICAL SPILL AT LOCAL PLANT
Tags: us_IA, industrial, release, injury, acids, sulfuric_acid

SIOUX CITY, Iowa

Several people were taken to the hospital with burns after a sulfuric acid spill at a Sioux City plant on Monday.

Firefighters responded to the chemical spill around noon. It happened at the Feed Energy facility in the 800 block of Cunningham Drive.

Feed energy makes animal feed products and uses acid in its production process. Sulfuric acid is a colorless and odorless liquid that is highly toxic. In addition to burning skin upon contact, the chemical can also cause permanent blindness if it gets into the eyes.

While fire crews said several workers at the plant were taken to the hospital, there was no immediate word on the extent of their injuries.

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

HOUSE FIRE LEADS TO CHILD-ABUSE AND DRUGS CHARGES FOR NILES MAN
Tags: us_IN, laboratory, explosion, response, butane, drugs, illegal

NILES ‰?? Firefighters were battling a blaze at a residence at 1119 Stateline Road, Niles Township on Sept. 20 when they saw something that led to a search warrant for the address.

The investigation led to criminal charges for Luther Dale Borders, 34, of Niles Township, the Berrien County Prosectuor's Office announced Monday. Borders has been charged with operating or maintaining a drug laboratory, manufacturing marijuana, maintaining a drug house and two counts of child abuse.

Police found what they believe were the remnants of a THC-extraction lab including empty butane fuel cans, a hot plate and vacuum pump. Marijuana was found in that vicinity and elsewhere in the home, according to a press release from the Berrien County Prosecutor's Office.

"Marijuana extraction, also called 'dabbing,' is a process by which THC, the active hallucinogenic ingredient in marijuana, is extracted using liquid butane. This process is extremely dangerous and has resulted in numerous explosions and fires nationally," the release said.

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