From: DCHAS Membership Chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (10 articles)
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2020 07:25:24 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: 3DC83E95-992B-4C65-B753-EAAE81583CF3**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, August 19, 2020 at 7:25:10 AM

A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
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Table of Contents (10 articles)

OFFICIALS IN ASHLAND RESPOND TO INDUSTRIAL EXPLOSION, THREE NEARBY STREETS EVACUATED
Tags: us_MA, public, explosion, response, carbon_dioxide

HAZMAT CREWS CALLED TO HARWICH PORT FOR MERCURY SPILL FROM BROKEN THERMOMETER
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, mercury

PRAISE AFTER CHALLENGING WEEK AT NUCLEAR SITE
Tags: United_Kingdom, industrial, follow-up, environmental, peroxide

ORICA SAYS HUGE AMMONIUM NITRATE STOCKPILE NO THREAT TO NEWCASTLE AND NOTHING LIKE BEIRUT
Tags: Australia, industrial, discovery, environmental, ammonium_nitrate

ALLEGED WEST FOOTSCRAY TOXIC WASTE DUMPER GRAHAM LESLIE WHITE CHARGED WITH ENDANGERING FIREFIGHTERS
Tags: Australia, industrial, follow-up, environmental, illegal, waste

LACK OF PLANNING RISKS EPA‰??S ABILITY TO MEET TSCA DEADLINES
Tags: us_DC, public, follow-up, environmental, toxics

1 DEAD, 4 WOUNDED IN BLAST IN CHEMICAL FACTORY IN PALGHAR
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical

HAZMAT TEAM CALLED AFTER GASOLINE POURED INTO CATCH BASIN IN SPRINGFIELD
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, gasoline

5 PEOPLE, INCLUDING FIREFIGHTER, TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER GEORGETOWN HAZMAT INCIDENT
Tags: us_WA, industrial, release, injury, ammonia, gas_cylinders

POMONA DUMPSITE FIRE POSES HEALTH HAZARD
Tags: Zimbabwe, public, fire, response, unknown_chemical


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OFFICIALS IN ASHLAND RESPOND TO INDUSTRIAL EXPLOSION, THREE NEARBY STREETS EVACUATED
https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/officials-ashland-responding-industrial-explosion/5PXF5JNM5RBRFHWYYFJKU5NO2U/
Tags: us_MA, public, explosion, response, carbon_dioxide

ASHLAND, Mass. ‰?? The Ashland fire department was called to Kidde-Fenwal on Main Street Tuesday night for an explosion.

When they arrived just after 6 p.m., they found the carbon dioxide tank had exploded, sending pieces of concrete and debris into the adjacent neighborhood.

‰??There‰??s no reports of injuries miraculously,‰?? said Police Chief Vincent Alfano. ‰??Quite a bit of damage so we‰??re really pleased no one was injured, very fortunate.‰??

Homes nearby had to be evacuated for a few hours as the tank continued to leak chemicals into the air. By 11 P.M. the situation was under control and people could finally return back home.

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HAZMAT CREWS CALLED TO HARWICH PORT FOR MERCURY SPILL FROM BROKEN THERMOMETER
https://www.capecod.com/cape-wide-news/hazmat-crews-called-to-harwich-port-for-mercury-spill-from-broken-thermometer/
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, mercury

HARWICH PORT ‰?? Hazardous Materials technicians were called to Harwich Port around 9 PM Tuesday. According to reports, a mercury thermometer was broken causing a spill of the hazardous substance. The spill was contained to a sink at an apartment on Harold Street. No injuries were reported.

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PRAISE AFTER CHALLENGING WEEK AT NUCLEAR SITE
https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/18658799.praise-challenging-week-nuclear-site/
Tags: United_Kingdom, industrial, follow-up, environmental, peroxide

Staff at Sellafield have been praised after a difficult week battling storms and chemical concerns.

Staff at the site were faced with challenges when an electrical storm caused power problems early last week, and this was followed by a chemical needing safe disposal.

A bomb disposal squad was called in on Thursday after a chemical posing an explosion hazard was found on the Magnox site.

An Explosive Ordinance Disposal team attended the nuclear sit after a ‰??small amount‰?? of organic peroxide was found during a routine inspection.

Employees have also been praised for the way they handed power problems on Monday and Tuesday.

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ORICA SAYS HUGE AMMONIUM NITRATE STOCKPILE NO THREAT TO NEWCASTLE AND NOTHING LIKE BEIRUT
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-08-19/orica-ammonium-nitrate-facility-in-newcastle-not-beirut/12569624
Tags: Australia, industrial, discovery, environmental, ammonium_nitrate

Every day, dozens of trucks loaded with ammonium nitrate are making the one to two-hour journey from Newcastle's port up to the coal mines of the Hunter Valley.

About 85 per cent of the supply comes from Orica's Kooragang Island plant, the equivalent of 30 full semi-trailers leaving its gates a day.

Such is the coal mining industry's enormous appetite for explosives.

"They're a very hungry customer," Orica's general manager, Paul Hastie, said.

We are standing before an enormous pile of ammonium nitrate, somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 tonnes of the chemical ‰?? up to four times the amount that exploded in Beirut.

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ALLEGED WEST FOOTSCRAY TOXIC WASTE DUMPER GRAHAM LESLIE WHITE CHARGED WITH ENDANGERING FIREFIGHTERS
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/victoria/alleged-toxic-waste-dumper-charged-with-endangering-firefighters-20200819-p55n7v.html
Tags: Australia, industrial, follow-up, environmental, illegal, waste

The man allegedly behind the largest illegal toxic waste dumping operation in the state‰??s history has been charged with endangering the lives of firefighters who tackled the massive industrial blaze that erupted at a West Footscray warehouse in 2018.

Graham Leslie White is facing up to five years in jail for allegedly creating the hazardous circumstances that led to the chemical-fuelled blaze, which spread toxic smoke and debris across the western suburbs and contaminated nearby waterways.


The aftermath of the fire at the West Footscray factory.CREDIT:JOE ARMAO

More than 750 firefighters spent more than two weeks in August and September 2018 extinguishing the fire at the Somerville Road warehouse, which had been secretly packed with containers filled with millions of litres of highly flammable solvents and industrial chemicals and hundreds of asbestos-lined gas cylinders.

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LACK OF PLANNING RISKS EPA‰??S ABILITY TO MEET TSCA DEADLINES
https://www.natlawreview.com/article/oig-concludes-lack-planning-risks-epa-s-ability-to-meet-tsca-deadlines
Tags: us_DC, public, follow-up, environmental, toxics

On August 17, 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‰??s (EPA) Office of Inspector General (OIG) published a report entitled Lack of Planning Risks EPA‰??s Ability to Meet Toxic Substances Control Act Deadlines. OIG conducted the audit to determine whether EPA met the deadlines already imposed by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (Lautenberg Act) in 2016, which amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), and has the staff, resources, and management controls in place to meet future statutory deadlines. The Lautenberg Act required EPA to develop new rules for chemical prioritization for risk evaluation and risk evaluation for existing chemicals and to review all new chemical submissions and make a regulatory determination. OIG found that while EPA met several of its TSCA deadlines, it did not complete all ten required existing chemical risk evaluations by the June 19, 2020, deadline. OIG notes that because of statutory requiremen!
ts, the number of required existing chemical risk evaluations doubled at the end of 2019, ‰??risking the EPA‰??s ability to meet TSCA deadlines.‰??

OIG states that EPA‰??s ability to assess its TSCA workload -- and subsequently estimate the workforce levels necessary to achieve that workload -- ‰??is critically important.‰?? OIG notes that the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) has not publicly identified the additional staff and resources it needs to accomplish all mandated TSCA requirements. According to OIG, ‰??OPPT‰??s resource planning is hindered by not complying with the U.S. Office of Personnel Management regulations, which requires developing a workforce plan to manage current and future workforce needs.‰??

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1 DEAD, 4 WOUNDED IN BLAST IN CHEMICAL FACTORY IN PALGHAR
http://www.uniindia.com/~/1-dead-4-wounded-in-blast-in-chemical-factory-in-palghar/States/news/2125988.html
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, death, unknown_chemical

Palghar, Aug 17 (UNI) An industrial worker died and four others received severe burns in a blast in a chemical unit at Boisar MIDC in the district on Monday.
One of the workers at the chemical unit was missing and a frantic search was on for him, sources in the Fire Brigade said.
There was an explosion in the reactor in the evening when the Dio Chloride Benzamine Enzol was being prepared, affecting the workers, chief of the Disaster Cell of the Palghar district Vivekanand Kadam said.

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HAZMAT TEAM CALLED AFTER GASOLINE POURED INTO CATCH BASIN IN SPRINGFIELD
https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/hampden-county/hazmat-team-called-after-gasoline-poured-into-catch-basin-in-springfield/
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, gasoline

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) ‰?? A hazmat team was called to Annie‰??s Way in Springfield after gasoline was poured into a catch basin Monday afternoon.

According to the Springfield Fire Department, approximately one gallon of gasoline was poured into the catch basin.

Fire officials placed absorbent pads into the basin to ‰??mitigate the hazard.‰??

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5 PEOPLE, INCLUDING FIREFIGHTER, TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER GEORGETOWN HAZMAT INCIDENT
https://www.kiro7.com/entertainment/television/5-people-including-firefighter-taken-hospital-after-georgetown-hazmat-incident/PJPNJNNDWNHMJMVGQINHDPXI4M/
Tags: us_WA, industrial, release, injury, ammonia, gas_cylinders

SEATTLE ‰?? Five people, including a firefighter, were taken to the hospital after a hazmat response Monday afternoon near the Georgetown neighborhood.

Crews responded to a report of nauseating fumes near the 600 block of South Myrtle Street. It resulted in nearby businesses to be evacuated.

Fire officials said crews identified a ruptured cylinder located within an outdoor work site, and the substance inside was ammonia.

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POMONA DUMPSITE FIRE POSES HEALTH HAZARD
https://www.herald.co.zw/pomona-dumpsite-fire-poses-health-hazard/
Tags: Zimbabwe, public, fire, response, unknown_chemical

Pomona dumpsite in northern Harare is bellowing smoke and chemical gases across a swathe of northern suburbs since Friday when a faulty power cable ignited the blaze.

The Air Force of Zimbabwe has provided a fire tender to boost the fire fighting teams at the site and a group of residents are active in sourcing equipment, fuel and water to help the fire-fighting teams.

In an interview, chief fire officer Mr Lovemore Mafukidze said the fire started last Friday when an electrical transmission cable fell down and ignited the rubbish.

Mr Mafukidze said, ‰??We still need to improve on other things. We need to have water points around the dumping site so that when these fires start they are tackled at their infancy and also that it would be easier to deal with fires when they start. In this incident, the wind was our worst enemy,‰?? he said.

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