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, 20 Dec 2017 07:43:54 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 3A1A1607-7DDC-44FB-8541-0B1912AF41C0**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, December 20, 2017 at 7:43:42 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 (12 articles)

UPDATE: STATE ROUTE 201 AT REDWOOD ROAD REOPENS AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_UT, transportation, release, response, corrosives

GAS LEAK AT VACANT HOME HIT BY VANDALS
Tags: us_NE, public, release, response, natural_gas

METH LAB EXPLODES IN PETERHEAD HOUSE
Tags: Australia, public, explosion, response, clandestine_lab

6 PEOPLE SICKENED BY POOL CHEMICAL FUMES AT MESSIAH LIFEWAYS IN UPPER ALLEN
Tags: us_PA, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ROLLS BACK EPA PLAN TO RESTRICT DANGEROUS HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, toxics

BUILDING CLEARED SWEENEY HALL CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_IA, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

WATCH FDNY HAZMAT RESPONSE MANHATTAN CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_NY, public, release, response, unknown_chemical

CLAN LAB UNCOVERED AFTER FIRE AT PETERHEAD, SA
Tags: Australia, public, fire, response, clandestine_lab

SPRINKLER SYSTEM EXTINGUISHES FIRE
Tags: us_MO, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO MYSTERIOUS ILLNESSES AT HIGH SCHOOL IN CORONA
Tags: us_CA, education, release, injury, unknown_chemical

HYDERABAD: TANKER EXPLODES, LORRY CLEANER HURT
Tags: India, transportation, explosion, injury, cleaners, waste

BARREL BOMBS TEST POSITIVE FOR CHEMICALS
Tags: Cambodia, public, discovery, response, bomb


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UPDATE: STATE ROUTE 201 AT REDWOOD ROAD REOPENS AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_UT, transportation, release, response, corrosives

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 19, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) ‰?? Officials have reopened State Route 201 at Redwood Road following a HazMat situation Tuesday morning.

SR-201 was closed eastbound and westbound after a container containing formic acid fell from a UPS truck just after 11 a.m., Lt. Todd Royce, spokesman for the Utah Highway Patrol, told Gephardt Daily.

Royce said a small delivery truck was headed eastbound on SR-201, and it appears the back latch was not fastened on the truck and the door opened. A package fell out of the back containing five liters of formic acid, which in its concentrated form is corrosive to the skin.

‰??It‰??s a very corrosive acid, it‰??s very, very acidic,‰?? Royce said. ‰??West Valley City HazMat came out to neutralize that acid on the roadway, they tested that to make sure it was all neutral and we were able to open up traffic and traffic is flowing as normal.‰??

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

GAS LEAK AT VACANT HOME HIT BY VANDALS
Tags: us_NE, public, release, response, natural_gas

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Lincoln Fire and Rescue responded to a home early Wednesday morning to assist in a gas leak.

The vacant home is located at 922 N. 29th. That's near 27th and Vine.

LFR Battalion Chief Leo Benes said a neighbor smelled a strong natural gas odor when arriving home and contacted Black Hills Energy.

They responded to the home and found high levels of gas inside.

Black Hills Energy called out Lincoln Fire and Rescue around 1:30 a.m.

Battalion Chief Benes said the house had been hit by vandals.

He said they are going under the assumption that they were trying to steal copper.

Crews worked to control the gas to the home and were able to shut it off. They were able to ventilate the home and remove the buildup inside.

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

METH LAB EXPLODES IN PETERHEAD HOUSE
Tags: Australia, public, explosion, response, clandestine_lab

A YOUNG child was living in a house damaged by fire on Monday evening after an explosion in a clandestine laboratory producing crystal methamphetamine.

Emergency services were called to the property on Mead St in Peterhead just after 8pm on Monday.

After the fire had been extinguished, police located the remains of a clandestine laboratory in the shed and arrested two people for their role in the operation of the lab.

The fire caused $40,000 damage to the house.

A man and woman with a 10-year-old child were safely evacuated from the house,

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

6 PEOPLE SICKENED BY POOL CHEMICAL FUMES AT MESSIAH LIFEWAYS IN UPPER ALLEN
Tags: us_PA, public, release, injury, pool_chemicals

Six people were taken to area hospitals Tuesday morning after a chemical spill at Messiah Lifeways in Upper Allen Township.

Around 8:30 a.m. hazmat crews and fire departments were called to Messiah Lifeways after pool chemicals were spilled in the retirement community‰??s fitness area, according to spokeswoman Karin Bisbee.

Officials told ABC27 News the chemicals involved were chlorine and muriatic acid, which produces chlorine gas. The chemicals were accidentally mixed in a bucket on the swimming pool deck. Muriatic acid, used to lower the pH level of pool water, produces dangerous chlorine gas when mixed with chlorine.

‰??This happened in the existing pool,‰?? Bisbee said. ‰??The new pool, which was just built, is not open yet. ... This is not related to construction or anything like that.‰??

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

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ROLLS BACK EPA PLAN TO RESTRICT DANGEROUS HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, toxics

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION has quietly delayed action on dangerous solvents that the Environmental Protection Agency had previously planned to ban. Under former President Barack Obama, the agency had been in the process of restricting the use of the three commonly available chemicals, but the Trump administration‰??s latest update on its effort to roll back regulation puts the proposed Obama rules on the back burner.

The three chemicals ‰?? TCE, NMP, and methylene chloride ‰?? are used to strip furniture, remove grease, and dry clean clothes. All three are clearly dangerous: The EPA has deemed TCE a carcinogen ‰??by all routes of exposure,‰?? NMP is a developmental toxin, and methylene chloride has killed at least 56 people since 1980, many of whom were stripping bathtubs.

But the Trump administration has dimmed the possibility of quick action on these ‰?? and perhaps all ‰?? dangerous chemicals. The new regulatory plan, which the White House released last week, showed that the chemicals were moved from the proposed rule category to ‰??long term action.‰?? In all, 469 Obama-era regulations were withdrawn and 860 put on hold.

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

BUILDING CLEARED SWEENEY HALL CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_IA, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

Sweeney Hall is no longer evacuated due to a chemical spill after the Ames Fire Department neutralized the situation Tuesday.

Chief Michael Newton of the ISU Police Department said the spill happened while people were working on an experiment. He said there were no injuries and those working on the experiment took the right precautions by pulling the chemical spill alarm and evacuating.

The Environmental Health and Safety Department will now review whether the proper protocol was followed to avoid a chemical spill, but Newton said it appears all protocol was followed at this time.

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

WATCH FDNY HAZMAT RESPONSE MANHATTAN CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_NY, public, release, response, unknown_chemical

The doorman for a building at 63rd St. and Madison Ave. in Manhattan mixed water with a chemical trying to melt snow, but when the liquid started to boil the man threw the can onto the sidewalk next to a trash can.

More chemicals spilled onto the sidewalk and caused a smoky reaction, which is when a passerby finally called the incident into 911.

Engine 44 arrived on scene and found that the sidewalk was registering heat over 220 degrees and that the can was over 360 degrees, prompting a hazmat response that lasted over three hours.

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

CLAN LAB UNCOVERED AFTER FIRE AT PETERHEAD, SA
Tags: Australia, public, fire, response, clandestine_lab

Police have arrested a man and reported a woman following a fire overnight at Peterhead, according to SA Police.

Just after 8pm on Monday 18 December, police and fire crews were called to Mead Street where a fire had started in a shed before spreading to the adjoining house.

Investigations by police revealed a clandestine laboratory inside the shed.

A 40-year-old man from Greenways was arrested and has been charged with manufacture a controlled drug for sale and possess prescribed equipment. He has been refused bail and will appear in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court today.

A 35-year-old woman from Peterhead was also reported for the same offences and will be summonsed to appear in the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court at a later date.

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

SPRINKLER SYSTEM EXTINGUISHES FIRE
Tags: us_MO, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

A fire at the Gates Rubber Corporation was put out by an automatic sprinkler system.

Units of the Columbia Fire Department were dispatched after an automatic fire alarm sounded at 12 a.m. today at 3015 Lemone Industrial Blvd.

An employee told fire marshals the fire began in a chemical room.

By the time additional units arrived, the the sprinkler system had extinguished the fire.

One employee suffered minor burns but left the scene in a private vehicle before officials had arrived.

Officials determined the fire started in the area of a chemical distiller, but a specific reason is yet unknown and the investigation continues.

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

HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO MYSTERIOUS ILLNESSES AT HIGH SCHOOL IN CORONA
Tags: us_CA, education, release, injury, unknown_chemical

A two-story building on the campus of Centennial High School in Corona was evacuated Monday when several students fell ill from exposure to an unknown substance ‰?? possibly pepper spray ‰?? released into the air.
School officials reported the chemical release about 1:40 p.m. in building No. 800 at the school, located in the 1800 block of Rimpau Avenue, just off of Old Temescal Road.
According to the Corona Fire Department, the exposure threat prompted officials to immediately evacuate both floors of the building, though only students and staff in a single classroom on the second-floor reported respiratory distress.

Thirty students were evacuated to a safe location outdoors, where multiple youths complained of chest pain and irritation from the substance. Two students were treated by paramedics and were expected to be transported to Corona Regional Medical Center for further assessment, according to reports from the scene.

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

HYDERABAD: TANKER EXPLODES, LORRY CLEANER HURT
Tags: India, transportation, explosion, injury, cleaners, waste

Hyderabad: A lorry cleaner sustained injuries when he tried to open the lid of a chemical tanker carrying hazardous chemical waste in Bachupally on Monday. Police said the cleaner, identified as Baba, 40, suffered burns to his face and fractured his legs as he scampered down the tanker. The condition of Baba, hailing from Vijayawada, is said to be critical.

The truck (AP 16TB 7819) was usually contracted to transport hazardous chemical waste from chemical and pharma companies to agencies that neutralise it. The vehicle, lying idle for the last few days, had been brought to a workshop at Bachupally for some repairs and welding work. After the work was done, Baba climbed onto the tanker. When he tried to open the lid of the container, it burst open with loud noise. The impact of the blow flung him some metres away from the truck. He was rushed to a hospital.

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

BARREL BOMBS TEST POSITIVE FOR CHEMICALS
Tags: Cambodia, public, discovery, response, bomb

Preliminary tests carried out by the experts from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirmed suspicions that the barrel bombs discovered in three provinces could indeed turn out to be chemical weapons.

This initial confirmation was made yesterday after the OPCW ended an operation to inspect the bombs sites in Mondulkiri, Tbong Khmum and Svay Rieng provinces.

It was learned that the experts, in their preliminary findings, have confirmed that the barrel bombs could be chemical weapons.

However, an official from Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) said that since these were preliminary findings, they could not confirm the exact chemical substance within the barrel bombs.

‰??We will bring this issue to discuss with those that dropped the bombs,‰?? the official said, familiar with the investigations said, referring to the United States, which dropped the bombs on Cambodia during the Vietnam War.

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