Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, October 24, 2022 at 6:15:09 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 (11 articles)
BFD RESPONDS TO LEVEL 1 HAZMAT – LIVE BOSTON
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, gasoline
3 RANCHO MISSION VIEJO STARBUCKS EMPLOYEES TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AS HAZMAT TEAM INVESTIGATES – ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
OTAGO DAILY TIMES ONLINE NEWS
Tags: New_Zealand, transportation, release, response, hydrochloric_acid
CHEMICAL TEST OF FIRECRACKERS IN MUMBAI FINDS TOXIC SUBSTANCES
Tags: India, public, discovery, environmental, fireworks, toxics
LAB MANIPULATIONS OF COVID VIRUS FALL UNDER MURKY GOVERNMENT RULES
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, discovery, environmental
INDUSTRY STANDARDS NOT FOLLOWED BY YMCA ON DAY OF CHEMICAL EXPOSURE
Tags: us_MA, public, follow-up, environmental, pool_chemicals
SAFETY ADVOCATES SAY EPA PROPOSAL NOT ENOUGH TO PROTECT VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES LIKE KANAWHA VALLEY FROM CHEMICAL DISASTER
Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, environmental, toxics
WEDNESDAY'S STRUCTURE AND VEGETATION FIRE BEGAN WITH EXPLOSION
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, response, butane, drugs, illegal
SOUTH CAROLINA: FIRE AT MANUFACTURING PLANT IN EASLEY
Tags: us_SC, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
DUMP TRUCK HAULING HOT ASPHALT IN 4-VEHICLE I-80 CRASH
Tags: us_UT, transportation, release, injury, asphalt, ethylene_glycol
EMERGENCY EVACUATIONS ORDERED IN CADDO PARISH DUE TO CHEMICAL GAS
Tags: us_LA, industrial, fire, response, chlorine, waste, water_treatment
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BFD RESPONDS TO LEVEL 1 HAZMAT – LIVE BOSTON
https://liveboston617.org/2022/10/23/bfd-responds-to-level-1-hazmat/
Tags: us_MA, public, release, response, gasoline
On Saturday, October 22nd 2022, at approximately 21:00 hours the Boston Fire Department responded to the Sunoco fuel station at 2022 Commonwealth Avenue in Brighton.
Upon arriving on scene, companies found a fuel pump that was unable to turn off causing gasoline to be spilt on the ground. Due to the large volume of gasoline, a Level 1 Hazmat response was requested to bring additional resources to the scene.
Crews were able to isolate the stuck fuel pump and mitigate the spill using various resources, including speedy dry to contain the gasoline.
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3 RANCHO MISSION VIEJO STARBUCKS EMPLOYEES TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AS HAZMAT TEAM INVESTIGATES – ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
https://www.ocregister.com/2022/10/23/3-rancho-mission-viejo-starbucks-employees-taken-to-hospital-as-hazmat-team-investigates/
Tags: us_CA, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
Paramedics treated four Starbucks employees who complained of shortness of breath while at work in Rancho Mission Viejo on Sunday, Orange County fire officials said, later taking three to a hospital.
The employees left the Starbucks at the Sendero Marketplace near Gateway Place and Antonio Parkway after 2 p.m. on Sunday after they said they began experiencing symptoms.
When fire paramedics arrived, they treated the employees, who by then were not showing any more symptoms of shortness of breath, said Capt. Thanh Nguyen of the Orange County Fire Authority.
However, the three employees later were taken to a hospital to be evaluated.
A hazardous materials team later determined that there was no chemical leak inside the store but crews were continuing to check nearby businesses for a possible cause for the employees’ symptoms, Nguyen said.
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OTAGO DAILY TIMES ONLINE NEWS
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/chemical-clean-commences
Tags: New_Zealand, transportation, release, response, hydrochloric_acid
Emergency services attend the site of a chemical spill at Port Otago’s log facility in Port Chalmers on Saturday evening.
Fire engines from across Dunedin raced to Port Chalmers after acid spilled on a vessel berthed at the wharf.
Emergency services were alerted about 5.30pm, after a log fell on two drums of hydrochloric acid, a Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokeswoman said.
The drums had then burst and their contents were spilt on the ship’s deck.
Firefighters used an absorbent to clean up the spill and left the scene about 11.34pm.
No-one was believed to have been injured during the incident.
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CHEMICAL TEST OF FIRECRACKERS IN MUMBAI FINDS TOXIC SUBSTANCES
https://www.deccanherald.com/national/west/chemical-test-of-firecrackers-in-mumbai-finds-toxic-substances-1156141.html
Tags: India, public, discovery, environmental, fireworks, toxics
Mumbai-based Awaaz Foundation has written to the police and Maharashtra government after a chemical test revealed the presence of highly toxic substances in firecrackers.
The NGO had on Thursday conducted separate tests to assess noise levels and presence of chemicals in firecrackers. The organisation along with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) had tested noise levels of firecrackers and found that they all fell within the permissible decibel limit of 120, the foundation's convener Sumaira Abdulali said.
However, a test that the organisation conducted independently revealed the presence of toxic chemicals such as arsenic, sulphur, barium and chlorine in firecrackers, she said. "For the first time since we started testing in 2008 all crackers have fallen within permissible decibel limit of 120.
The maximum was 114 from a series of 10,000 crackers," Abdulali said. Awaaz Foundation analysed the chemical contents of commonly available firecrackers and found substances banned by the Supreme Court, including barium in several of them, she said. In 2021, the presence of barium was openly displayed on the packaging of firecrackers. However, this year, none of the boxes mentioned the presence of barium, she said.
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LAB MANIPULATIONS OF COVID VIRUS FALL UNDER MURKY GOVERNMENT RULES
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/22/science/covid-virus-laboratory-experiments.html
Tags: us_MA, laboratory, discovery, environmental
Scientists at Boston University came under fire this week for an experiment in which they tinkered with the Covid virus. Breathless headlines claimed they had created a deadly new strain, and the National Institutes of Health rebuked the university for not seeking the government’s permission.
As it turned out, the experiments, performed on mice, were not what the inflammatory media coverage suggested. The manipulated virus strain was actually less lethal than the original.
But the uproar highlighted shortcomings in how the U.S. government regulates research on pathogens that pose a risk, however small, of setting off a pandemic. It revealed loopholes that allow experiments to go unnoticed, a lack of transparency about how the risk of experiments is judged and a seemingly haphazard pattern in the federal government’s oversight policy, known as the P3CO framework.
Even as the government publicly reprimanded Boston University, it raised no red flags publicly about several other experiments it funded in which researchers manipulated coronaviruses in similar ways. One of them was carried out by the government’s own scientists.
The Boston episode “certainly tells us the P3CO framework needs to be overhauled pretty dramatically,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada. “The whole process is kind of a black box that makes it really difficult for researchers.”
The N.I.H. said that every study it considers for funding is vetted for safety concerns by agency experts, who decide whether to escalate it to a higher-level dangerous pathogen committee.
Some experiments, though, either because they are conceived later on or because they do not rely directly on federal funds, end up falling outside the scope of that process, leading to confusion, biosafety experts said. And the rules could be overhauled soon. After months of meetings, a committee of government advisers is expected to deliver updated recommendations for such research by December or January, the agency said.
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INDUSTRY STANDARDS NOT FOLLOWED BY YMCA ON DAY OF CHEMICAL EXPOSURE
https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2022/10/22/cape-cod-ymca-chemical-exposure-industry-standards-not-followed/10575975002/
Tags: us_MA, public, follow-up, environmental, pool_chemicals
An independent investigation found that the YMCA Cape Cod did not follow industry standards when treating its pool earlier this month before children swimming in the pool became ill.
A combination of chemicals became toxic and sent seven children to the hospital during the Oct. 7 incident in West Barnstable, according to a statement posted on the YMCA's website.
“It has just been awful, we have been devastated by this whole accident that occurred, it’s the last thing that we want to happen when running YMCA programs,” the YMCA's CEO, Stacey Peugh, said in a phone interview with the Times.
The children have since returned to an after-school program at the YMCA, although their health status was not disclosed by the YMCA out of respect for their families.
The YMCA Cape Cod dosed its pool manually on Oct. 7 because its automated chemical feeder system had failed.
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SAFETY ADVOCATES SAY EPA PROPOSAL NOT ENOUGH TO PROTECT VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES LIKE KANAWHA VALLEY FROM CHEMICAL DISASTER
https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/safety-advocates-say-epa-proposal-not-enough-to-protect-vulnerable-communities-like-kanawha-valley-from/article_62fd358b-b195-553e-a693-f9384d8db172.html
Tags: us_WV, public, follow-up, environmental, toxics
Bayer CropScience bought the Institute plant in 2002, and it became the only facility in the nation that made and stored large quantities of methyl isocyanate, which can damage human organs by inhalation and skin contact in quantities as low as 0.4 parts per million.
Nye was sitting in her living room on Aug. 28, 2008, when she felt another boom.
A 4,500-gallon pressure vessel had exploded in a methomyl unit at the Institute plant. Two employees died, six volunteer firefighters and two contractors working at the facility were treated for potential toxic chemical exposure, and a shelter-in-place order lasting over three hours was issued for more than 40,000 residents, including students at West Virginia State University next to the facility.
Improper methomyl unit control system interlock changes were involved in the blast — just as they had been in the 1993 explosion, according to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board’s incident report.
Former Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., noted during a congressional hearing that the explosion propelled the 2.5-ton vessel in a northeasterly direction. Had the projectile been launched south and struck a methyl isocyanate tank onsite, Stupak observed, the incident might have rivaled the Bhopal disaster.
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WEDNESDAY'S STRUCTURE AND VEGETATION FIRE BEGAN WITH EXPLOSION
https://www.mymotherlode.com/news/local/2801022/wednesdays-structure-and-vegetation-fire-began-with-explosion.html
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, response, butane, drugs, illegal
Burson, CA – Wednesday’s Meadow Fire in Burson is now being blamed on an illegal butane honey oil lab.
According to investigators, the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office began getting a flood of calls around 1:15 p.m. reporting an explosion, which was heard and felt throughout the Burson area. As earlier reported here, once on the scene, Columbia air and ground resources began battling an outbuilding, house, and vegetation fire. The grass fire grew to nine acres before crews were able to extinguish it, and both structures were heavily damaged.
“It was observed that materials within the outbuilding continued to burn despite fire suppression efforts,” detailed Lt. Stark.
The Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Enforcement Team (MET) also responded to the area and conducted a preliminary investigation of the scene. Lt. Stark added, “Sheriff’s MET investigators observed objects and material within the burning structures consistent with equipment and material used for an illegal butane honey oil lab (BHO).”
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SOUTH CAROLINA: FIRE AT MANUFACTURING PLANT IN EASLEY
https://www.wyff4.com/article/easley-incident-hazmat/41739276
Tags: us_SC, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
EASLEY, S.C. —
A fire broke out inside a custom chemical manufacturing and research company Friday afternoon, according to Chief Matthew Littleton, with the Easley Fire Department.
Chief Littleton said the fire broke out just before 4 p.m., at Ortec Inc., located on Gentry Memorial Highway.
According to Littleton, the fire was contained in a 40 x 40 foot area inside the process facility and there was no release of any chemicals.
Littleton also said that there was no threat to the environment.
Ortec, a custom chemical maker, was founded in 1980 and has 100 employees.
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DUMP TRUCK HAULING HOT ASPHALT IN 4-VEHICLE I-80 CRASH
https://www.abc4.com/news/northern-utah/dump-truck-hauling-hot-asphalt-crashes-through-i-80-barrier-glycol-spill-4-vehicles-1-atv-involved/
Tags: us_UT, transportation, release, injury, asphalt, ethylene_glycol
PARK CITY, Utah (ABC4) – A total of four vehicles and an ATV were involved in a crash on I-80 Friday morning that caused a glycol spill, according to the Park City Fire District (PCFD).
At approximately 8:10 a.m. Friday, several agencies responded to a multi-vehicle crash on I-80 at mile marker 146.
Authorities say a dump truck hauling hot asphalt went through the cable barrier.
The accident reportedly caused a glycol spill, a chemical used on fire suppression systems, that the Park City Hazmat Team was able to contain.
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EMERGENCY EVACUATIONS ORDERED IN CADDO PARISH DUE TO CHEMICAL GAS
https://k945.com/emergency-evacuations-ordered-in-caddo-parish-due-to-chemical-leak/
Tags: us_LA, industrial, fire, response, chlorine, waste, water_treatment
A fire west of Shreveport has forced emergency evacuations in Caddo Parish. Authorities say a fire at a water treatment plant in Greenwood has caused the release of a chlorine gas cloud. With the toxic gas in the air, officials with the Caddo Parish Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness office have issue emergency evacuations.
The Caddo Parish Sheriff's Office has put out the following emergency statement:
"The Caddo Parish Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness office has issued an evacuation of several streets at the request of Greenwood Police following a fire and hazmat leak on Friday, said Sheriff Steve Prator.
Residents of Woodstock Drive, Philip Street, Blake Street, Tanya Drive, Beebee Drive, Bea Lane and the south end of Waterwood Drive are asked to evacuate until the cloud of chlorine released into the atmosphere from the Greenwood Waste Water Treatment Plant located at the intersection of East and West Starwood Lane.
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