From: DCHAS Membership Chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (8 articles)
Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2019 07:24:24 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: 4ECD95DB-5B56-4622-9378-4F28E136B008**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, January 2, 2019 at 7:24:03 AM

A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas

Table of Contents (8 articles)

GAS CYLINDER EXPLOSION IN INDIA‰??S PREMIER GOVERNMENT LAB KILLS 1 PERSON, WOUNDS 3 MORE
Tags: India, laboratory, follow-up, death, hydrogen, oxygen

AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATE TRAIN DERAILMENT; 11 CARS DERAILED, 7 CARS OVERTURNED, 4 OFF THE TRACKS
Tags: us_NC, transportation, release, response, sulphur

POURING DRUGS DOWN THE DRAIN IN HOSPITALS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, pharmaceutical

MEDICAL COLLEGE FIRE DAMAGES SAMPLES, FRIDGE
Tags: India, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

OROVILLE RESIDENTS DON‰??T WANT CAMP FIRE DEBRIS STORED NEAR THEM
Tags: us_CA, public, release, environmental, metals

CHEMICAL FIRE BREAKS OUT AT CAR WASH SUPPLY COMPANY IN ORANGE COUNTY
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

OFFICIAL, RESIDENT DISCUSS EARLY-MORNING PLUMSTEAD TOWNSHIP GAS LEAK
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, response, fluorine

CONTRACTOR SUES HUSKY REFINERY OVER BLAST INJURIES
Tags: us_WI, industrial, follow-up, injury, unknown_chemical


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

GAS CYLINDER EXPLOSION IN INDIA‰??S PREMIER GOVERNMENT LAB KILLS 1 PERSON, WOUNDS 3 MORE
http://cenblog.org/the-safety-zone/2018/12/gas-cylinder-explosion-in-indias-premier-government-lab-kills-1-person-wounds-3-more/
Tags: India, laboratory, follow-up, death, hydrogen, oxygen

A gas cylinder blast in a laboratory at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) on Dec. 5 killed one researcher and left three others grievously wounded.
The researchers were working in the Laboratory for Hypersonic and Shock Wave Research, which was established in the 1970s to study shock waves.
Vikram Jayaram, head of IISc‰??s internal investigation team, told C&EN on Dec. 31 that the explosion involved cylinders containing hydrogen-oxygen mixtures that are used to generate controlled shock waves in a protected, closed container to study granite fragmentation for purposes such as mining and oil recovery. ‰??At this stage of the inquiry, all indications are that adequate safety precautions were employed,‰?? Jayaram said.
Manoj Kumar, 32, died instantly. Naresh Kumar, Atulya Uday Kumar, and Karthik Shenoy were hospitalized. All were project engineers employed by start-up Super-Wave Technology, an IISc initiative managed by aerospace engineering professors K. P. J. Reddy and G. Jagadeesh. The company researches shock waves and their applications.
Police booked the two professors on Dec. 6 on charges of causing death due to negligence and for causing grievous injuries by acts endangering the lives and personal safety of others.

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

AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATE TRAIN DERAILMENT; 11 CARS DERAILED, 7 CARS OVERTURNED, 4 OFF THE TRACKS
https://www.wnct.com/news/local-news/authorities-investigate-train-derailment-11-cars-derailed-7-cars-overturned-4-off-the-tracks/1682308254
Tags: us_NC, transportation, release, response, sulphur

BLOUNTS CREEK, N.C. (WNCT) - An investigation is underway into a train derailment that left 11 cars derailed, seven cars overturned and four cars off the tracks in Blounts Creek.

Blounts Creek Fire Department Chief David Williams said that the call came in from Stilley Station Road off of Highway 33 around 1:36 a.m.

There was a small fire and some minor leaks, officials said.

All have been contained.

Chief Williams said the cars that leaked were carrying molten sulfur.

According to a Google search, molten sulfur is sulfur transported in a molten state that is used to make a variety of things including sulfuric acid, rubbers, and fertilizers.

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

POURING DRUGS DOWN THE DRAIN IN HOSPITALS
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/28/health/water-pharmaceutical-contaminants-epa/index.html
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, pharmaceutical

A 2017 study titled "Drugs down the drain: When nurses object" begins with an observation: "Many times during a typical workday, American hospital nurses routinely discard unused portions of narcotics and other controlled substances into municipal water supplies." The reason this practice is routine, the authors suggest, stems from inconsistencies in regulations and how they are interpreted by hospitals.
"There are agencies at the federal, state, and local levels that have issued conflicting rules" about pharmaceutical disposal methods for hospitals, the authors wrote.
The Environmental Protection Agency strongly discourages pouring or flushing pharmaceuticals down the drain in any setting, including at health care facilities, because they may enter and pass through water treatment systems and contaminate the water supply. As part of its rule for managing hazardous waste pharmaceuticals, the EPA has banned the "sewering" (or pouring down the drain or toilet) of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals at health care facilities.

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

MEDICAL COLLEGE FIRE DAMAGES SAMPLES, FRIDGE
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/medical-college-fire-damages-samples-fridge/articleshow/67331216.cms
Tags: India, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

KOLKATA: A fire broke out around 4.45am at a third-floor laboratory in Medical College Hospital Kolkata (MCHK) on Monday. Three fire engines rushed to the spot and doused the flames before it could spread to other rooms. None was hurt. On October 3, fire engulfed the same building and patients had to be evacuated.

On Monsday, a refrigerator was gutted by the fire. Fire officials suspect a fault in the refrigerator might have led to the fire.

The fire, however, created panic among patients and relatives as a portion of the third-floor has wards for patients.

The staff who was sent to store the chemicals in the fridge saw that there wasn't place to store two vessels so he emptied one container into the other and placed in the fridge. Being experienced, he...

‰??The fire was controlled within minutes. There was no major damage or injury apart from some samples stored in the refrigerator. In fact, there was no need to evacuate patients as their wards are located away from the fire site,‰?? said an official at MCHK.

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

OROVILLE RESIDENTS DON‰??T WANT CAMP FIRE DEBRIS STORED NEAR THEM
https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article223763895.html
Tags: us_CA, public, release, environmental, metals

Disaster officials say they need to start removing millions of tons of rubble from Paradise ‰?? and soon ‰?? so the town can begin recovering from the Camp Fire.

That much is certain. The question is where to put the rubble.

For the second time in two weeks, FEMA and state officials have run into local opposition over plans to open a large but temporary scrapyard to sort and process truckloads of concrete and metal rubble from burned-out Paradise.

First it was Chico, where townspeople and elected officials persuaded the government to abandon a 100-acre site next to a residential neighborhood.

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

CHEMICAL FIRE BREAKS OUT AT CAR WASH SUPPLY COMPANY IN ORANGE COUNTY
https://www.12newsnow.com/article/news/local/chemical-fire-breaks-out-at-car-wash-supply-company-in-orange-county/502-625556513
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical

ORANGE ‰?? Highway 62 was closed both north and southbound because of a chemical fire at a car wash supply in Orange County Monday afternoon.

Clark Chemicals is located in the 17000 block of Highway 62 in Orange, near TX 105.

Bridge City Fire Department, Pinehurst Fire Department, Orange County ESD #1, 2, 3 and 4 all responded to the scene.

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

OFFICIAL, RESIDENT DISCUSS EARLY-MORNING PLUMSTEAD TOWNSHIP GAS LEAK
http://www.wfmz.com/news/southeastern-pa/official-resident-discuss-early-morning-plumstead-township-gas-leak/959421268
Tags: us_PA, industrial, release, response, fluorine

PLUMSTEAD TWP., Pa. - There were some tense moments in an upper Bucks County community Monday when people had to shelter-in-place while emergency crews responded to a gas leak.

Hazmat teams from Bucks and Lehigh counties were called to a Plumstead Township Airgas building around 7 a.m. for a fluorine gas leak.

"Did have a small canister inside the building they put a new valve on it, the new valve actually failed," Plumstead Fire House Chief Brian DuBree said.

Airgas is a supplier of industrial, medical and specialty gases.

Emergency officials said the oxygen tank-sized canister was filled with fluorine, a toxic and corrosive chemical, which leaked inside the building.

About 50 employees in the building were evacuated and the person handling the faulty valve was taken to Doylestown Hospital for precautionary reasons after being decontaminated on site.

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

CONTRACTOR SUES HUSKY REFINERY OVER BLAST INJURIES
https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/business/energy-and-mining/4550501-contractor-sues-husky-refinery-over-blast-injuries
Tags: us_WI, industrial, follow-up, injury, unknown_chemical

A contractor working at the Husky Energy refinery in Superior said the April 26 explosion sent him 15 feet into the air, resulting in severe injuries when he hit the floor, according to a lawsuit filed against the refinery and its owners.

Contractor Taylor Mayr of Houston, Texas argues in a November complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Madison that Husky Energy, Inc. and Superior Refining Company LLC were negligent in operating the refinery, conducted "extra hazardous and/or ultrahazardous and abnormally dangerous activities" and are responsible for over $75,000 in damages to him because the blast left him with "permanent and severe injuries."

Mayr, employed by Evergreen North America Industrial Services and tasked with chemical cleanup as the refinery shut down for maintenance in late April, was working near the fluid catalytic cracking unit, where the explosion occurred as crews worked to shut it down for planned maintenance, according to the compliant.

When the blast occurred shortly after 10 a.m. on April 26, "The initial shock wave caused by the explosion launched (Mayr) fifteen ... plus feet in the air and hurled him to the floor," the complaint states. "As a result (Mayr) suffered severe injuries."

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

---
For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas

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.