From: DCHAS Membership Chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (10 articles)
Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2019 07:53:06 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Message-ID: F8EB4B88-ADAE-40CC-B97F-3684B2488542**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, January 16, 2019 at 7:52:39 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 (10 articles)

EVACUATIONS AFTER 8 SUFFER CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING AT BELL GARDENS HOME ‰?? CBS LOS ANGELES
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

THE DAILY BAROMETER: OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT NEWSPAPER, OSU BREAKING NEWS AND BEAVER SPORTS
Tags: us_OR, laboratory, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical

"WE DODGED A BULLET"
Tags: us_IL, transportation, discovery, response, flammables

PUBLIC SAFETY BULLETIN: CHEMICAL TANKS BEING RESOLD AS WATER STORAGE CONTAINERS
Tags: us_WV, public, discovery, environmental, unknown_chemical

US LAWMAKERS‰?? BILL WOULD TRIGGER CLEANUP OF PFAS
Tags: us_mi, public, discovery, enviromental, other_chemical

RECENT DATA ON THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN FIREFIGHTING AND THE PREVALENCE OF CANCER PROVIDE LITTLE CERTAINTY
Tags: Canada, industrial, discovery, environmental, asbestos

5 INJURED IN HYDROFLUORIC ACID SPILL IN MILFORD ‰?? CBS BOSTON
Tags: us_MA, industrial, release, injury, hydrofluoric_acid

CHEMISTRY LAB INCIDENT SENDS 6 PEABODY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO HOSPITAL ‰?? CBS BOSTON
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical

3 HOSPITALIZED AFTER HIGH LEVELS OF CARBON MONOXIDE FOUND IN LOGAN SQUARE FACTORY
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

TANKER TRUCK CARRYING JET FUEL CRASHES OFF I-80 NEAR DUTCH FLAT, DRIVER KILLED ‰?? CBS SACRAMENTO
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, death, jet, fuel


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EVACUATIONS AFTER 8 SUFFER CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING AT BELL GARDENS HOME ‰?? CBS LOS ANGELES
https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2019/01/15/evacuations-8-carbon-monoxide-poisoning-bell-gardens/
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

BELL GARDENS (CBSLA) ‰?? Eight people, including three children, suffered carbon monoxide poisoning at a home in Bell Gardens Tuesday morning, prompting a hazmat callout which forced surrounding homes to be evacuated.

At around 9:15 a.m., Bell Gardens police and Los Angeles County Fire crews were called to the 5500 block of Clara Street, where they found several people suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.

The eight patients were rushed to local hospitals. Two children were in critical but stable condition, the fire department said. The other seven were in fair condition.

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THE DAILY BAROMETER: OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY STUDENT NEWSPAPER, OSU BREAKING NEWS AND BEAVER SPORTS
http://www.orangemedianetwork.com/daily_barometer/burt-hall-fire-causes-lasting-damage-sets-back-research-efforts/article_9f7b1964-1765-11e9-9bbe-c7fbab687c80.html
Tags: us_OR, laboratory, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical

The College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science is still reeling from the damage caused by a fire in Burt Hall that took place at the end of fall term, and subsequent efforts to evaluate and repair the damaged portion of the building reach far and wide across the university.

The fire started in a scientific microwave, in a laboratory on the second floor of Burt 2, on Friday, Nov. 30. The ‰??2‰?? indicates the specific section of Burt Hall, of which there are four.

According to Jim Patton, fire prevention officer at Oregon State University, Burt Hall,as well as a number of other older buildings around campus, are not equipped with fire sprinklers, which could have helped mitigate the damage done by the fire. Fire codes and other safety regulations in place at the time of these buildings‰?? construction did not mandate the inclusion of fire sprinklers and they have not since been updated. Current regulations allow these buildings to be grandfathered in because of these differences, making the buildings technically in compliance with the current rules.

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"WE DODGED A BULLET"
http://www.mcdonoughvoice.com/news/20190115/we-dodged-bullet
Tags: us_IL, transportation, discovery, response, flammables

ADAIR ‰?? The village of Adair narrowly missed being the scene of a hazardous material spill of explosive gas late Sunday afternoon.
On Sunday, a freight train carrying three low-pressure tankers of isobutylene, a colorless and explosive flammable gas that goes under placard ID# 1055, derailed next to US 136 between Table Grove in Fulton County and Adair in McDonough County.
According to Edgar Rodriguez, Director of the McDonough County Emergency Services and Disaster Agency (ESDA), ESDA got a call through dispatch emergency services at 4:57 p.m. that a train derailment had taken place near the village of Adair. Nine cars were affected by the derailment, including the three tankers containing isobutylene.
As of Monday morning, one of the tankers remained on the tracks.
‰??Two actually overturned: one was on its side, one was on (its) top. So overturned, totally,‰?? he said. ‰??Fortunately, none of them spilled. I think the snow helped us out.‰??

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PUBLIC SAFETY BULLETIN: CHEMICAL TANKS BEING RESOLD AS WATER STORAGE CONTAINERS
https://www.mybuckhannon.com/public-safety-bulletin-chemical-tanks-being-resold-as-water-storage-containers/
Tags: us_WV, public, discovery, environmental, unknown_chemical

BUCKHANNON ‰?? The Buckhannon Police Department is advising the public to beware of stolen chemical storage tanks that are reportedly being advertised and resold as water storage tanks.

The BPD released a public health bulletin Tuesday afternoon advising that on Monday, Jan. 14, the department took a complaint of stolen chemical storage tanks ‰??that are being sold and advertised as water storage tanks.‰??

‰??These tanks contained very harsh chemicals,‰?? the release states. ‰??They should not be used to store water for human or animal consumption. If you are using one of these tanks for water storage, please discontinue use immediately.‰??

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US LAWMAKERS‰?? BILL WOULD TRIGGER CLEANUP OF PFAS
https://cen.acs.org/policy/legislation-/US-lawmakersbill-trigger-cleanup-PFAS/97/i3
Tags: us_mi, public, discovery, enviromental, other_chemical

new US congressional bill that would deem all per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as hazardous substances will pave the way for federal cleanup of PFAS-polluted sites, proponents say. But makers and formulators of these chemicals say lumping them together for regulation isn‰??t scientifically valid.

‰??Our bipartisan legislation will list all PFAS as the hazardous chemicals we know they are and give the [Environmental Protection Agency] the tools it needs to clean up contaminated sites,‰?? says Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), who introduced the bill Jan. 14 with fellow Michigan lawmakers Reps. Dan Kildee (D) and Fred Upton (R). The districts they represent, as well as others in the state, are contending with contamination of drinking water with PFAS leaching from industrial landfills or washed into groundwater from the use of fire-fighting foams that contain the chemicals.

The bill, which has not yet been assigned a number, would require the EPA to designate all PFAS as hazardous substances under the US federal Superfund law, which addresses cleanup of toxic waste sites. This designation, in turn, would require companies or others to report releases of PFAS into the environment and make them liable for cleanup. In addition, it would allow the federal government to clean up PFAS-polluted sites and recoup the costs from polluters.

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

RECENT DATA ON THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN FIREFIGHTING AND THE PREVALENCE OF CANCER PROVIDE LITTLE CERTAINTY
https://www.irsst.qc.ca/en/headlines/id/739/recent-data-on-the-association-between-firefighting-and-the-prevalence-of-cancer-provide-little-certainty
Tags: Canada, industrial, discovery, environmental, asbestos

While associations have been found between firefighting and the development of some forms of cancer, the epidemiological data are insufficient to prove or disprove an association with other cancers.

This is the conclusion of a review of the epidemiological literature published by the IRSST that follows on from one conducted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) released in 2010. The IRSST authors combed through over 600 publications produced between 2007‰??the last year covered by the IARC review‰??and 2017. They deemed 25 of the 600 to be relevant.

The strongest evidence of association concerns an excess number of cases of mesothelioma attributable to asbestos among firefighters active over 30 years ago. Lung cancer has not been entirely ruled out, but the association is not as strong as for mesothelioma in the papers reviewed. The quality of the evidence of an association between the occupation of firefighter and other forms of cancer was not sufficiently strong, but studies have reported more frequent cases of non-Hodgkin‰??s lymphoma and prostate cancer in this occupational group.

All evidence of a link between firefighting and the development of cancers must also take into account the conclusions of other, earlier reviews of the literature.

Download the Report

All Headlines

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5 INJURED IN HYDROFLUORIC ACID SPILL IN MILFORD ‰?? CBS BOSTON
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2019/01/14/hazmat-team-response-milford-fortune-boulevard-pei-hydrofluoric-acid-spill/
Tags: us_MA, industrial, release, injury, hydrofluoric_acid

MILFORD (CBS) ‰?? Five people were injured by a hydrofluoric acid spill in Milford, according to the State Fire Marshal. A hazmat team responded to PEI, a metal etching company, at 500 Fortune Boulevard midday Monday.

First responders and a hazmat team were called to PEI in Milford Monday (WBZ-TV)
‰??We got a call for an industrial accident that involved a potential acid spill in an employee‰??s face,‰?? said Milford Police Chief William Touhey Jr.

Milford‰??s fire chief says it happened around noontime when a worker on a hand truck lost control of a 55-gallon drum of hydrofluoric acid.

‰??Upon arrival we found out that we potentially had upwards of four victims, ended up with five victims, one self-presented at the hospital,‰?? said Touhey.

The victim with injuries to their face was taken UMass Medical Center in Worcester. Four others were treated for inhalation at a local hospital.

Authorities say this type of accident is rare and say employee training helped avoid serious injury. ‰??The employees were fast to react to neutralizing agents and all of the patients were decontaminated prior to being put in ambulances,‰?? Touhey said.

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CHEMISTRY LAB INCIDENT SENDS 6 PEABODY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TO HOSPITAL ‰?? CBS BOSTON
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2019/01/14/peabody-veterans-memorial-high-school-chemistry-lab-6-students-transported-hazmat-response/
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, release, injury, unknown_chemical

PEABODY (CBS) ‰?? Six students in Peabody were transported to local hospitals after an incident that can be traced back to a chemistry lab at Veterans Memorial High School, the Peabody fire chief confirmed.

The students reported feeling ill to the school nurse shortly after 8 a.m. Monday.

A hazmat team from the State Fire Marshal‰??s office responded to the school.

The State Fire Marshal believes a chemical was left in the hood of the chemistry lab over the weekend. The hood failed and students smelled an odor as they arrived at school.


Six students were transported to local hospitals after they reported feeling ill at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School (WBZ-TV)
The students were transported as a precaution and none of them showed any symptoms, the State Fire Marshall said.

According to the fire chief, there were no hazardous materials or readings found.

The area of the high school involved was isolated and ventilated. The school did not need to be evacuated.

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3 HOSPITALIZED AFTER HIGH LEVELS OF CARBON MONOXIDE FOUND IN LOGAN SQUARE FACTORY
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-met-logan-square-hazmat-transports-20190114-story.html
Tags: us_IL, industrial, release, injury, carbon_monoxide

Three people were hospitalized early Monday after high levels of carbon monoxide were found at a factory in the city‰??s Logan Square neighborhood, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

About 8:30 a.m., firefighters responded to 3935 W. Shakespeare Ave. for a report of high levels of the gas, said Larry Merritt, a spokesman for the department. Three people were transported to hospitals, but information about their conditions was not immediately available.

Emergency responders had the hazmat call under control within an hour, he said.

The factory where the incident occurred specializes in die casting, according to the company‰??s website.

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TANKER TRUCK CARRYING JET FUEL CRASHES OFF I-80 NEAR DUTCH FLAT, DRIVER KILLED ‰?? CBS SACRAMENTO
https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2019/01/14/dutch-flat-gold-run-fatal-tanker-crash/
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, death, jet, fuel

DUTCH FLAT (CBS13) ‰?? Authorities are investigating a deadly tanker truck crash off Interstate 80 in the high country Monday morning.

The crash was first reported just before 6 a.m. A tanker truck, for an unknown reason, went over the curve along eastbound I-80 near Dutch Flat Road and 300 feet down a cliff.


Scene of the crash near Dutch Flat Monday morning.
California Highway Patrol confirms the tanker driver was killed in the crash.

The tanker, which authorities said was carrying 7,000 gallons of aviation jet fuel, has spilled its contents and a Hazmat crew is now at the scene. Crews are concerned about a creek down below from the crash; California Department of Fish and Wildlife has been notified.

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Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org

Membership chair
American Chemical Society
Division of Chemical Health and Safety

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