From: Ralph Stuart <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (10 articles)
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2022 06:39:19 -0400
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: 75FD1413-1A38-4D2D-8F38-77590D4CC803**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org


Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, March 23, 2022 at 6:39:08 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)

WHITEVILLE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ON HERR FIRE DEATH AND SITE SAFETY
Tags: us_NC, industrial, follow-up, death, gasoline, petroleum

FIRE AT MANUFACTURING UNIT IN PUNE; NO CASUALTIES
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, flammables, paints

MERCURY-LEAKING MIRROR PROMPTS HAZMAT CALL
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, mercury, waste

I-10 WB SHUT DOWN AFTER SEMI OVERTURNS, CAUSING FUEL SPILL NEAR CHAFFEE ROAD
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, gasoline

LIBERIA: FIRE GUTS ESSENTIAL BUILDING AT NATIONAL REFERENCE LABORATORY IN CHARLESVILLE, BURNS ROOF AND EVERYTHING WITHIN TO ASHES
Tags: Liberia, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

FIRESTONE LAB LEAK CAUSED DEADLY BLAST IN 1962
Tags: us_OH, laboratory, follow-up, environmental, flammables, gas_cylinders

CEMENT FACILITY EXPLOSION LEAVES 3 WORKERS DEAD
Tags: Nigeria, industrial, explosion, death, diesel

CHEMICAL LEAK ON HIGHLAND PARK AVE. LEADS TO POLICE INVESTIGATION
Tags: us_TN, public, release, response, waste

UPDATE: TWO PEOPLE HURT IN FIRE AT HAZMAT REMEDIATION FACILITY
Tags: us_NC, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical

MEASURING METHANE EMISSIONS IS CRUCIAL TO CUTTING THEM
Tags: Europe, public, discovery, environmental, carbon_dioxide, methane


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WHITEVILLE EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ON HERR FIRE DEATH AND SITE SAFETY
https://www.wwaytv3.com/whiteville-emergency-management-on-herr-fire-death-and-site-safety/
Tags: us_NC, industrial, follow-up, death, gasoline, petroleum

WHITEVILLE, NC (WWAY) ' After fighting for his life in Chapel Hill's burn unit, one man is dead following an explosion and fire at Hazmat Emergency Response and Remediation (HERR).

The Whiteville explosion Monday sent one employee to the hospital with minor injuries. Another employee, identified by friends as Tim Hardee, was rushed to Chapel Hill with severe burns. By early Tuesday afternoon, Hardee died from his injuries.

'Our victim did succumb to his injuries this morning. This is still under investigation,' said Whiteville Emergency Management Director, Hal Lowder, Jr. 'We're praying for the families there.'

According to Lowder, the explosion happened just before 4:40 Monday afternoon. Whiteville Fire, along with other area fire departments were called to control the flames.

'The scene was contained pretty rapidly,' Lowder remembered. 'The guys really hit it aggressively, hit it hard. And it was confined to one area.'

Though some worried the plant could have released toxic fumes into the air during the fire, Lowder says the only chemicals onsite were petroleum and gasoline.

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FIRE AT MANUFACTURING UNIT IN PUNE; NO CASUALTIES
https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/pune-news/fire-at-manufacturing-unit-in-pune-no-casualties-101647938961665.html
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, flammables, paints

PUNE A major fire broke out at a painting chemical manufacturing factory located near Kasurdi village , some 10 kms from Pune-Satara road in Bhor taluka of the district around 3.30 pm on Saturday.
According to Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) fire brigade officials, The blaze erupted in the afternoon at Elaser Soltech Private Limited. However, no casualty was reported while the reason behind the fire could not be ascertained.
PMRDA officer Sujit Patil said, 'The unit is known for usage of highly inflammable chemical material for manufacturing paints. Some stocked LPG cylinders also caught fire leading to spread of rapid fire across the factory.'
Six water tankers were deployed to contain the fire. As many as 21 fire brigade officials attached to the PMRDA fire brigade department were pressed into action. It took around an hour to bring down the fire, said officials

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MERCURY-LEAKING MIRROR PROMPTS HAZMAT CALL
https://www.gloucestertimes.com/news/mercury-leaking-mirror-prompts-hazmat-call/article_f245bca4-a956-11ec-a30e-835378af4715.html
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, mercury, waste

ROCKPORT ' A Google search about what looked like a blob of liquid silver on the floor lead a resident to call 911 to request a hazardous material crew.

A HAZMAT team was called to a Phillips Avenue home Sunday evening to tend to a mercury spill.

The spill came from an antique mirror that the homeowner's son, John Heinzmann Jr., said was moved in the home on Saturday. The next day, he noticed a strange blob of liquid where the mirror once stood. After a quick Google search, Heinzmann learned the liquid was mercury and he needed to call 911.

'I didn't even know they used mercury to make mirrors back in the day,' he said. 'The mirror is around 110 years old.'

Most 16th century mirrors were produced using a liquid mercury amalgam, according to the Northeast Waste Management Officials' Association. 'The mercury is actually contained in the reflective layer behind the glass portion of the mirror,' the association says on its website. 'Mirror makers stopped using mercury in the 1840s, instead switching to silver nitrate, which is still used today.'

Besides antique mirrors , some other household items that may contain mercury are thermometers, barometers, clock pendulums, organs and 'mercury glass' vases.

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I-10 WB SHUT DOWN AFTER SEMI OVERTURNS, CAUSING FUEL SPILL NEAR CHAFFEE ROAD
https://www.news4jax.com/traffic/2022/03/22/i-10-wb-shut-down-after-semi-overturns-causing-fuel-spill-near-chaffee-road/
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, gasoline

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ' A semi overturned on I-10 westbound just before Chaffee Road, causing a fuel leak that shut down the interstate as the Hazmat team was called to clean up the spill and crews worked to get the semi back upright Tuesday morning.
The crash was first reported by Jacksonville Fire and Rescue about 5:45 a.m.

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LIBERIA: FIRE GUTS ESSENTIAL BUILDING AT NATIONAL REFERENCE LABORATORY IN CHARLESVILLE, BURNS ROOF AND EVERYTHING WITHIN TO ASHES
https://allafrica.com/stories/202203210129.html
Tags: Liberia, laboratory, fire, response, unknown_chemical

Charlesville ' The National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), laments that one of the buildings on the compound of the National Reference Laboratory in Charlesville, Margibi County, was gutted by fire in the early afternoon hours of Thursday, March 17, 2022.

NPHIL says that though the Fire Department of the Roberts International Airport rushed to the rescue of NPHIL and made frantic efforts to extinguish the fire, the fire relentlessly persisted for many hours up to 9:00PM, thereby consuming the roof, floor, windows, doors, and every item in the building, leaving only the concrete structure standing, though affecting its integrity.

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FIRESTONE LAB LEAK CAUSED DEADLY BLAST IN 1962
https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2022/03/21/firestone-research-center-lab-leak-explosion-1962-akron-bridgestone/7088418001/
Tags: us_OH, laboratory, follow-up, environmental, flammables, gas_cylinders

Before the building exploded, it was a typical Monday morning. Employees arrived for work, exchanged greetings and chatted about their weekends.

A hissing sound interrupted the pleasantries.

It was March 26, 1962, at the Firestone Research Center at Wilbeth Road and South Main Street in Akron. More than 140 people worked at the Firestone complex, including chemists, physicists and technicians involved with research and development of new products.

A whooshing noise began about 9:25 a.m. in a plastics laboratory on the second floor of the three-story brick building. It sounded like a steam line, but it turned out to be a leaking cylinder of propylene gas.

Christian E. Best, 46, a chemist, was walking down a hallway when he heard the commotion and saw two technicians emerge from a room. Knowing the lab contained flammable materials, he asked Everett Tackett, 23, and Gerald Morneweck, 25, if there were any open flames.

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CEMENT FACILITY EXPLOSION LEAVES 3 WORKERS DEAD
https://www.powderbulksolids.com/industrial-fires-explosions/cement-facility-explosion-leaves-3-workers-dead
Tags: Nigeria, industrial, explosion, death, diesel

Three workers died as a result of an explosion at the BUA Cement Co. in Sokoto State, Nigeria Friday.

The company wasn't certian of the cause of the explosion, issuing this statement:

'We wish to use this medium to inform the public of an isolated fire incident which occurred at a diesel storage tank farm situated in the vicinity of one of our factories in Sokoto. This incident occurred whilst routine maintenance work was ongoing on one of the storage tanks by a third-party contractor.

'Immediately the incident occurred, our emergency management and mitigation services were alerted, and a swift response activated, which prevented any escalation of the incident or damage to our main plant and equipment.

'We are however able to confirm the regrettable loss of three workers of the third-party contractor, who were in the immediate area of the incident.'

Production and all plant operations had been halted, but were resumed at the factory that was not affected.

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CHEMICAL LEAK ON HIGHLAND PARK AVE. LEADS TO POLICE INVESTIGATION
https://www.wdef.com/chemical-leak-on-highland-park-ave-leads-to-police-investigation/
Tags: us_TN, public, release, response, waste

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) ' A quiet Friday night was rudely interrupted as police, fire and even the EPA had to come out to inspect these dumpsters that were filled with nineteen 55-gallon drums leaking an unknown fluid.

It all happened in the 1400 block of Highland Park Avenue. According to the neighbor across the street who didn't want us to show his face on-camera, he says two men started coming to the house a week ago, storing the drums in the dumpsters, but something wasn't right.

One neighbor that lives across the street from the house says, 'From what I understood, there was a foamy chemical in them. I did see it leaked or something. That's what prompted fire trucks, police cars, and then the EPA. They're the ones doing the cleanup, and they told me it's going to be very expensive to clean that up.'

Police and fire investigators didn't believe the leak warranted an evacuation of residents, but neighbors weren't so sure.

'The barrels were emitting an odor ' I want to say like an almond-type smell but stronger ' and the neighbor behind there had called cops because they smelled the odor.'

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UPDATE: TWO PEOPLE HURT IN FIRE AT HAZMAT REMEDIATION FACILITY
https://www.wect.com/2022/03/21/emergency-crews-are-scene-fire-hazmat-remediation-property/
Tags: us_NC, industrial, fire, injury, unknown_chemical

WHITEVILLE, N.C. (WECT) - Two people were hurt in a fire at the Hazmat Emergency Response and Remediation (HERR) facility on Maultsby Street in Whiteville Monday afternoon.

Fire Chief David Yergeau said one of the injured was airlifted to hospital with burn injuries.

Director of Emergency Services Hal Lowder confirmed Whiteville Fire Department attended the scene of a structure fire that began at 4:39 p.m.

Smoke was seen billowing out of the property in a Facebook live by the News & Reporter.

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MEASURING METHANE EMISSIONS IS CRUCIAL TO CUTTING THEM
https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/measuring-methane-emissions-is-crucial-to-cutting-them/4015376.article
Tags: Europe, public, discovery, environmental, carbon_dioxide, methane

Atmospheric monitoring highlights large under-estimates in reported methane emissions

At last year's Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow more than 100 countries signed up to the 'Global Methane Pledge', a promise to reduce worldwide emissions of methane by 30% by 2030, relative to 2020 levels.

It is a goal that is undeniably important. Methane, which has a global warming potential more than 80 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, is estimated to be responsible for a quarter of the temperature increases we experience today.

But there's a big problem that authorities have to grapple with when setting targets for reducing methane emissions: most countries don't really know how much methane they are releasing into the atmosphere to begin with.

Signatories to the 2015 Paris Agreement have to regularly report a national inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, to the United Nationals Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). But these inventories vary in terms of rigour and in most cases don't require estimates to be verified by quantitative measurements.

Over the last few years, numerous independent methane monitoring studies have highlighted large discrepancies between measured quantities of natural gas being released into the atmosphere and what is recorded in national inventories. In particular, leaks from oil and gas infrastructure seem to account for alarming quantities of unreported methane emissions.

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