Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, September 5, 2022 at 7:16:59 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 (8 articles)
NEIGHBORS OF SWIFT CREEK DISPLACED BY ASBESTOS
Tags: us_WA, public, follow-up, environmental, asbestos
HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO CHLORINE LEAK AT WATER TREATMENT FACILITY
Tags: us_IL, public, release, response, chlorine, water_treatment
BREAKING: INK FACTORY UP IN FLAMES IN GUWAHATI'S PALASHBARI
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
DEVELOPMENT, VALIDATION, AND APPLICATION OF A CUSTOM-MADE MINI-REACTION CALORIMETER FOR THERMAL SAFETY SCREENING
Tags: Switzerland, laboratory, discovery, environmental
STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS FINALIZE HAZMAT RESPONSE IN NEW ALBANY CREEK
Tags: us_IN, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
TRIBAR GIVEN CONDITIONAL APPROVAL TO RESUME WASTEWATER DISCHARGE AT WIXOM PLANT AFTER HURON RIVER SPILL
Tags: us_MI, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
DEPUTY INVOLVED IN SOUTH FORT MYERS CRASH THAT CAUSED CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, resin
HOW DANGEROUS IS TOO DANGEROUS? A PERSPECTIVE ON AZIDE CHEMISTRY
Tags: laboratory, follow-up, environmental, metals, methylene_chloride, sodium_azide
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NEIGHBORS OF SWIFT CREEK DISPLACED BY ASBESTOS
https://www.cascadiadaily.com/news/2022/sep/04/neighbors-of-swift-creek-displaced-by-asbestos/
Tags: us_WA, public, follow-up, environmental, asbestos
When last year’s catastrophic floods hit Whatcom, floodwaters and sediment from the Sumas River, which winds through her backyard, filled Brown's home. After the waters subsided, she discovered several feet of asbestos-laden sediment in her recently-renovated basement.
“We rebuilt the whole basement in 2020 — new drywall, appliances, cupboards and everything, so everything is just a year and a half old,” she said. “Everything has to come out now. We’re just pounding holes in the drywall, packing stuff out in double bags and figuring it out.”
The Sumas River is fed by Swift Creek, a sediment-filled creek in East Whatcom that has been transporting naturally occurring asbestos deposits across the region for decades. When November’s floods hit, that asbestos was transported across the county, ending up in yards and homes around Nooksack and Everson.
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HAZMAT TEAM RESPONDS TO CHLORINE LEAK AT WATER TREATMENT FACILITY
https://www.wcia.com/news/hazmat-team-responds-to-chlorine-leak-at-water-treatment-facility/
Tags: us_IL, public, release, response, chlorine, water_treatment
WESTVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) – People in the village of Westville are now able to go back to their homes after having to evacuate becuase of a chemical leak.
Westville’s Assistant Fire Chief Mark Ames said Westville Gas & Water notified them of a chemical leak at their water treatment facility around 4:30 Sunday evening, and the fire department identified the leak as chlorine. They immediately worked to evacuate homes and vehicles around the area and advised anyone who didn’t want to leave to shelter in place.
That’s when they called in some help from the Danville Fire Department’s hazmat team and several other fire departments to help with evacuation and traffic control.
“There was a vapor cloud that was extending into the community based on the rain and the leak. Based on what the wind was doing, it was taking it south into the community and across Route 1. So we isolated those areas. It would be an inhalation issue,” Ames said.
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BREAKING: INK FACTORY UP IN FLAMES IN GUWAHATI'S PALASHBARI
https://www.pratidintime.com/guwahati-news-breaking-latest/breaking-ink-factory-up-in-flames-in-guwahatis-palashbari
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
A major fire broke out on Sunday at Hudumpur near Palashbari in the outskirts of Guwahati.
According to reports, the fire broke out at an ink manufacturing plant named Control Print.
As many as four fire tenders were rushed to the spot and after a long battle, they were able to bring the flames under control.
Meanwhile, the source of the fire has been identified as a chemical container. Flames erupted from the container and quickly spread to nearby areas, mentioned officials.
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DEVELOPMENT, VALIDATION, AND APPLICATION OF A CUSTOM-MADE MINI-REACTION CALORIMETER FOR THERMAL SAFETY SCREENING
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.oprd.2c00128
Tags: Switzerland, laboratory, discovery, environmental
Before scaling up to production, it is of high importance to evaluate the potential of a reaction to lead to an undesired thermal degradation event. The use of a large amount of compounds is usually required for a reliable calorimetry study. In this work, we report the development of a milliliter-scale reaction calorimeter for reaction screening applications. The setup was designed using laboratory equipment and characterized and validated with routine experiments. The results were sufficiently accurate enabling us to observe trends in the measured reaction enthalpies of a family of compounds reacting with strong bases as a function of the compounds' structures.. The use of the microscale tailor-made calorimeter is considered very valuable for potentially highly energetic reactions since reaction calorimetry studies can be performed accurately and safely with small amounts of valuable materials.
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STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS FINALIZE HAZMAT RESPONSE IN NEW ALBANY CREEK
https://news.yahoo.com/state-local-officials-finalize-hazmat-022400121.html
Tags: us_IN, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
Sep. 2—NEW ALBANY — State and local officials announced earlier this week that they have completed the hazmat response to a spill that turned a New Albany stream blue.
There are no long-term health or environmental complications anticipated and follow-up site visits have been completed.
The spill occurred in water between Grant Line Road and Charlestown Road in New Albany.
Authorities said employees with the local business Gotta Go Surplus washed containers on Aug. 11 that were obtained from out of state. Fluid from the cleaning drained into Fall Run Creek.
An unusual smell and water discoloration was reported to the Floyd County Health Department the next day. The New Albany Fire Department, New Albany Stormwater, Floyd County Health Department, Floyd County Emergency Management and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management responded.
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TRIBAR GIVEN CONDITIONAL APPROVAL TO RESUME WASTEWATER DISCHARGE AT WIXOM PLANT AFTER HURON RIVER SPILL
https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/tribar-given-approval-to-resume-wastewater-discharge-at-wixom-plant/
Tags: us_MI, industrial, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
WIXOM, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - One month after a chemical spill was reported in the Huron River, Wixom officials say the company responsible may resume wastewater discharge to the city's treatment plant.
The city issued a cease and desist order against Tribar Technologies in August, after the company notified the city and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) that it had released several thousand gallons of a liquid containing hexavalent chromium into the sewer system a few days prior.
Officials say the sewer feeds WWTP, which discharged to the Huron River.
"Fortunately, other processes at Tribar and the WWTP served to contain the hexavalent chromium prior to discharge from the WWTP as testing results, conducted at the time of the incident and after, indicated the WWTP discharge was compliant with regulatory guidelines," read a press release from the city manager's office.
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DEPUTY INVOLVED IN SOUTH FORT MYERS CRASH THAT CAUSED CHEMICAL SPILL
https://www.winknews.com/2022/09/02/deputy-involved-crash-in-south-fort-myers/
Tags: us_FL, transportation, release, response, resin
A Lee County Sheriff’s deputy hurt in a crash with a work utility trailer has been released from the hospital.
The crash happened Friday morning at the intersection of Michael G. Rippe Parkways and Briarcliff Road in south Fort Myers.
The deputy was transported to the hospital after the crash. The driver of the truck hauling the chemicals was not injured. The crash caused a chemical spill which lead to the road closure during the cleanup.
According to the South Trail Fire Protection & Rescue District, the trailer of the utility vehicle flipped on its side. The front of the LCSO cruiser hit the side of the truck.
The crash flipped the Koala Insulation trailer on its side and toppled barrels of chemicals onto the road. The trailer spilled isocyanide and resin, which is used to create SprayFoam insulation on the roads. Hazmat is cleaning up the chemicals.
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HOW DANGEROUS IS TOO DANGEROUS? A PERSPECTIVE ON AZIDE CHEMISTRY
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.joc.2c01402#
Tags: laboratory, follow-up, environmental, metals, methylene_chloride, sodium_azide
All chemists should be aware of the risks inherent to their work and should consider how to adequately protect themselves and their colleagues from such hazards. This begs the question: Can a reaction be so dangerous that, in a general purpose laboratory, even in the presence of such precautions, the residual risk is still too high? We contend that yes, certain reactions fall into this category: those that employ stoichiometric quantities of hydrazoic acid, those that form transition metal azides, and those that combine inorganic azide with dichloromethane.
A recent article in this journal authored by Gazvoda et al. describes a procedure for preparing triazoles from alkynes using stoichiometric sodium azide, stoichiometric acid, and catalytic copper, followed by a workup that may include dichloromethane. (1,2) As industrial chemists with decades of experience safely scaling up azide chemistry, we feel compelled to share with the research community our three major safety concerns with this procedure.
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