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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, July 1, 2013 7:57:34 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 (15 articles)
JCHAS: ACADEMIC LEADERS CREATE STRONG SAFETY CULTURES IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
IMPACT OF TSCA REFORM ON CHEMICAL LAWSUITS
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
AREA EVACUATED DUE TO CHEMICAL SPILL; CREWS ON SCENE
Tags: us_UT, industrial, fire, response, peroxide
CHEMICAL LEAK INJURES DOZENS IN CHANDLER
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, release, injury, nitrogen
BOXER GIVES EPA ULTIMATIUM ON CHEMICAL SAFETY AFTER BLAST
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, death, ag_chems, ammonium_nitrate
MAN HOSPITALISED AFTER CHLORINE LEAK ON LEITH SHIP
Tags: United_Kingdom, transportation, release, injury, chlorine
CREWS RESPOND TO HAZMAT SITUATION IN WILLIAMSVILLE
Tags: us_NY, transportation, release, injury, pool_chemicals
HAVE A FIREWORKS-SAFE FOURTH OF JULY
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, fireworks
PART OF U.S. 22 IN WEIRTON CLOSED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_WV, transportation, release, response, other_chemical
EXPLOSION HITS PLANT IN E CHINA
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, response, chlorine
SENATOR DEMANDS EPA ACTION ON FERTILIZER THAT CAUSED WEST BLAST
Tags: public, follow-up, environmental, ammonium_nitrate
11 FIRE BRIGADES TO CONTROL FIRE AT A CHEMICAL PLANT
Tags: Austria, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
FIRE AT LEVIN SCHOOL SCIENCE BLOCK
Tags: New_Zealand, laboratory, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
MAIN ROAD CLOSED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: Australia, transportation, release, response, unknown_chemical
EXPLOSION, CHEMICAL FIRE AT VOLTAIX IN UPPER MOUNT BETHEL TOWNSHIP, EMERGENCY REPORTS SAY
Tags: us_PA, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
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JCHAS: ACADEMIC LEADERS CREATE STRONG SAFETY CULTURES IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871553213005562
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
Leadership is the key to creating strong safety cultures and is one of the seven critical elements found in strong safety cultures. The safety vision of the president drives the direction and strength of the college or university's safety culture. Deans, provosts, and department chairs are essential in carrying out the steps to achieve the president's vision. Faculty and teaching assistants are the front-line leaders who teach students laboratory safety and develop students' positive attitudes toward safety. These leaders influence the behavior of followers through personal example and by addressing other key elements of strong safety cultures.
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IMPACT OF TSCA REFORM ON CHEMICAL LAWSUITS
http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i26/Chemical-Lawsuits.html
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
....Trial attorneys, law professors, and lawyers from public interest groups say legislation pending in the Senate would set up a major barrier to this kind of lawsuit. But lawyers who represent chemical companies counter that the pending legislation would make it easier to supply evidence for courts to consider. This debate involves a 13-line provision tucked into a 127-page bill, S. 1009, that would reform the federal law governing commercial chemicals, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).
The language is linked to another part of the bill that would, for the first time, require the Environmental Protection Agency to determine whether commercial chemicals are safe when used as the manufacturer intended. The provision says such safety determinations would be admissible as evidence, without challenge, in civil suits alleging harm from chemical exposure and seeking compensation for damages.
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AREA EVACUATED DUE TO CHEMICAL SPILL; CREWS ON SCENE
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=25822246&nid=148
Tags: us_UT, industrial, fire, response, peroxide
SALT LAKE CITY Ñ Salt Lake City fire and haz-mat crews were involved in a tense situation Sunday night with an unstable chemical that had the potential to explode.
As of 10 p.m., a team was being assembled to go inside the building where the chemical was leaking and take pictures before officials figured out their next move of how to dispose of the dangerous items.
The incident began just after 9:30 a.m., when Salt Lake City fire crews were called to a small fire at Quality Distribution Inc., 421 N. John Glenn Road (6070 West). The fire was extinguished quickly, but as an investigator was going through the building a few hours later, he found that Trigonox was leaking.
By 6 p.m., a full assignment was recalled to the warehouse as well as additional help from other agencies including the U.S. Army and the Salt Lake International Airport.
Salt Lake City fire spokesman Jasen Asay said Trigonox is an organic peroxide that can become unstable at 68 degrees, and when the temperature reaches 77 degree the process cannot be reversed at all and the chemical cannot be stabilized. Because of the earlier fire, the refrigeration in the building was not working, he said. Asay said by Sunday night, the temperature of the chemical had surpassed 77 degrees.
For the chemical to explode, it needs to be triggered by a "shock," Asay said. That could be just static electricity or even a piece of metal falling to the floor and creating a small spark.
Approximately 2,400 gallons of Trigonox are believed to be stored in the building in five gallon drums. Asay said five of those drums were believed to be leaking Sunday.
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CHEMICAL LEAK INJURES DOZENS IN CHANDLER
http://politics.kfyi.com/cc-common/mainheadlines3.html?feed=118695&article=11443095
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, release, injury, nitrogen
(KFYI News) - Intel is investigating the cause of a nitrogen leak at one of its facilities in Chandler that led to dozens of people complaining of breathing difficulties as well as eye and skin irritations.
The leak was reported at about 7:00 am Saturday at the semiconductor manufacturing plant known as Fab 32 at the Ocotillo facility on Intel's Chandler campus.
Chandler Fire Dept. battalion chief Tom Dwiggins says 43 people were treated following the leak. Twelve of them were transported to a hospital. He says all of the exposures appear to have been minor.
Dwiggins says the leak was under control by 8:15 am.
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BOXER GIVES EPA ULTIMATIUM ON CHEMICAL SAFETY AFTER BLAST
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-27/boxer-gives-epa-ultimatium-on-chemical-safety-after-blast.html
Tags: us_TX, industrial, follow-up, death, ag_chems, ammonium_nitrate
A Senate committee chairman demanded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency act within two weeks to adopt a decade-old safety recommendation tied to the explosive agents blamed for a fatal Texas fertilizer blast.
Senator Barbara Boxer, in a clash today with the EPA official overseeing the safety of chemical plants, said she would demand the agency adopt the 2002 proposal issued by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board and respond to her within two weeks.
"We are going to work with you and, if we have to, against you, to make sure this happens," Boxer, a California Democrat and head of the Environment and Public Works Committee, told EPA deputy assistant administrator Barry Breen after he testified. "I am unsympathetic to the attitude I hear, which is a lack of urgency."
Ammonium nitrate, which caused the fatal April explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant, is now regulated by local, state and federal agencies in a "patchwork that has many large holes," U.S. Chemical Safety Board Chairman Rafael Moure-Eraso said at the hearing. Those separate rules let companies store the explosive fertilizer in wooden buildings and near homes and schools, he said.
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MAN HOSPITALISED AFTER CHLORINE LEAK ON LEITH SHIP
http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/man-hospitalised-after-chlorine-leak-on-leith-ship-1-2983065
Tags: United_Kingdom, transportation, release, injury, chlorine
AN ENGINEER has been taken to hospital after inhaling chlorine on board a ship.
Emergency services were called to the MPV Hirta, a fishery protection vessel docked near Ocean Terminal in Leith, after the man in his mid-30s inhaled a mixture of chemicals yesterday afternoon.
Ambulance crews, police, firefighters and coastguard workers were sent to the scene.
The man was helped from the ship by fire crews and taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after he inhaled the chlorine in the engine room while he was mixing chemicals to clean sewage pipes.
The ship's crew are investigating how a cap on a chemical drum was removed, causing substances to leak. Cordons were placed around the area as to allow an investigation and a clean-up to take place.
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CREWS RESPOND TO HAZMAT SITUATION IN WILLIAMSVILLE
http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/Crews-Respond-to-Hazmat-Situation-in-Williamsville-213592081.html
Tags: us_NY, transportation, release, injury, pool_chemicals
WILLIAMSVILLE, NY (WKBW)- Some residents in Willamsville had an unexpected wake up call Friday morning as firefighters, police and hazmat crews decontaminated an area exposed to toxic chemicals. According to the Main Transit Fire Department, the hazmat situation was all caused by someone improperly disposing of pool chemicals on trash day. It happened around 9:30 a.m. on Teakwood Terrace when 3 waste collectors started to have difficulty breathing. It was later discovered that pool chemicals, chlorine and bleach were left at the trash and placed in the garbage truck. The mixed chemicals caused a serious reaction and created a huge cloud of smoke in the air.
"The reverse 911 system was put into place to notify the residents," said Main Transit Fire Chief James Lawida. "The doors surrounding the area were knocked on by our firefighters to notify residents to stay indoors and turn off ac units and remain there until the situation was mitigated."
Teakwood remained closed for more than an hour, residents were asked to close their doors and windows, and special teams decontaminated the site. All three workers were sent to area hospitals for treatment. Fire officials say one of the workers is recovering from severe breathing issues. Investigators do not suspect foul play, just a case of careless disposal by a homeowner.
"There would be a minimal chance of finding out who did this," added Chief Lawida. "With a hundred residents living on the street and the garbage truck going up and down the street, who knows where it came from and when it was crushed."
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HAVE A FIREWORKS-SAFE FOURTH OF JULY
http://cenblog.org/the-safety-zone/2013/06/have-a-fireworks-safe-fourth-of-july/
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, fireworks
If your area is similar to mine, the fireworks vendors will be out this weekend. "Between June 22, 2012 and July 22, 2012, more than 5,000 consumers were treated in hospital emergency rooms due to fireworks-related injuries," the Consumer Product Safety Commission says. "More than half of these reported injuries involved burns to the hands, head and face. About 1,000 reported injuries involved sparklers and bottle rockets, fireworks that are frequently and incorrectly considered safe for young children."
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PART OF U.S. 22 IN WEIRTON CLOSED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
http://www.wtov9.com/news/news/spill-causes-closure-part-us-22-weirton/nYXxj/
Tags: us_WV, transportation, release, response, other_chemical
One lane of U.S. Route 22 in Weirton remains closed after a chemical spill.
As of 5 p.m., one lane of U.S. 22 westbound between Three Springs Drive and Harmon Creek is closed. The Harmon Creek exit is also closed.
Dispatchers received a report just after 3 p.m. that a 300-gallon container filled with the chemical HVG1 fell from a truck. The chemical is a water-gelling material used for fracking.
The driver for FTS International told investigators he swerved to avoid another crash. Officials verified that there was a crash in that area.
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EXPLOSION HITS PLANT IN E CHINA
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/8302772.html
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, response, chlorine
HANGZHOU, June 27 (Xinhua) -- An explosion occurred at a chemical plant in east China's Zhejiang Province on Thursday, local firefighters said.
Authorities received a report about a liquid chlorine tank explosion at 5 p.m. from the plant, which is located in the city of Dongyang.
Five fire trucks and 30 firefighters have been sent to the scene of the explosion. A rescue headquarters has been set up.
The explosion is believed to have caused a liquid chlorine leak, which may harm nearby residents and the environment, according to the headquarters.
Firefighters have evacuated nearby residents. No casualties have been reported thus far.
An investigation into the cause of the incident is under way.
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SENATOR DEMANDS EPA ACTION ON FERTILIZER THAT CAUSED WEST BLAST
http://www.wacotrib.com/news/politics/updated-sen-boxer-demands-epa-action-on-fertilizer-that-caused/article_021fd73a-8e2f-5d1d-9a44-11c43d1f54de.html
Tags: public, follow-up, environmental, ammonium_nitrate
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency doesn't need to wait on new legislation to clamp down on chemical dangers such as the ammonium nitrate stockpile that blew up in West, the top U.S. Senate environmental official said in a hearing Thursday.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said the EPA needs to add ammonium nitrate and other highly reactive chemicals to its list of "extremely hazardous chemicals" that can only be stored with an approved remediation plan.
Boxer, chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, blasted the EPA for failing to adopt recommendations in 2002 from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board Ñ which has no regulatory authority Ñ to address reactive hazards from chemicals such as ammonium nitrate. She said the EPA should add the fertilizer to the list.
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11 FIRE BRIGADES TO CONTROL FIRE AT A CHEMICAL PLANT
http://austrianindependent.com/news/General_News/2013-06-27/14212/11_fire_brigades_to_control_fire_at_a_chemical_plant
Tags: Austria, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
Eleven fire brigades were necessary to control a fire at a chemical plant in Ried im Traunskreis (Upper-Austria) last night.
A witness alerted the fire brigade in Gossendorf just before midnight yesterday (Wednesday). The second level of alarm was raised as soon as the fire fighters got to the scene of the fire.
Thick smoke was coming out of the roof of the office complex. The firemen were able to save the fire from reaching the chemicals through their quick action.
The fire had started on the top floor but was rapidly spreading to an intermediate ceiling.
The 11 fire brigades involved in the operation had to open the roof to put out the fire.
The chemical firm manufactured cosmetic products, paint emulsions and medicine.
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FIRE AT LEVIN SCHOOL SCIENCE BLOCK
http://www.3news.co.nz/Fire-at-Levin-school-science-block/tabid/423/articleID/302963/Default.aspx
Tags: New_Zealand, laboratory, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
The Fire Service has extinguished a fire during which chemicals were also spilled in a science block at Horowhenua College, in Levin.
Members of the Fire Service and others affected by the smoke and chemical fumes are going through a decontamination tent as a routine measure, a fire service spokesman says.
They are still trying to identify the substance. A second alarm was raised to get a hazardous material team to the scene, the spokesman says.
A number of students were reportedly overcome by the fumes.
An ambulance has been dispatched to the college.
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MAIN ROAD CLOSED AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
http://www.parkeschampionpost.com.au/story/1603491/main-road-closed-after-chemical-spill/?cs=1496
Tags: Australia, transportation, release, response, unknown_chemical
The Orange Road was closed to traffic for almost eight hours following a chemical spill on Wednesday afternoon.
Emergency services including police, Fire and Rescue NSW, Rural Fire Service (RFS), the HAZMAT 280 unit from Dubbo, ambulance and RMS personnel attended the incident, four kilometres from Parkes.
A second spill was later detected in Dalton Street.
Police report that at approximately 4.20pm the driver of a pan-tech truck was travelling east when several 200 litre drums of chemicals including Creosote fell from the rear of the vehicle.
The driver of the truck was attempting to clean the spill as Police arrived on the scene.
When approaching the truck, the two officers detected a strong chemical smell and accompanied the driver from the immediate area.
The Henry Parkes Way was closed between Parkes and Manildra with traffic control crews diverting traffic via Eugowra.
Another Creosote chemical spill was detected about 5.45pm in Dalton Street and it is believed the same truck was responsible prior to the Orange Road incident.
Forbes Fire Brigade attended to this spill.
Approximately 30 litres of chemical were lost - the majority of which occurred during the second spill.
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EXPLOSION, CHEMICAL FIRE AT VOLTAIX IN UPPER MOUNT BETHEL TOWNSHIP, EMERGENCY REPORTS SAY
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/slate-belt/index.ssf/2013/06/explosion_and_chemical_fire_at.html
Tags: us_PA, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
Emergency crews are responding to an explosion and chemical fire at Voltaix in Upper Mount Bethel Township, according to emergency radio reports.
Calls for the reported explosion at 103 Demi Road in the Portland Industrial Park started at 10:05 p.m.
The scene was chaotic at the chemical plant and smoke was rising in the area. Dispatchers requested a "full response" and less than an hour later called for more firefighters.
There were no immediate reports of injuries. A Warren County Hazardous Materials truck was driving to the site at 11:50 p.m.
Portland Borough Councilman Steven Knott said borough and township firefighters were initially on standby while Voltaix personnel fought the fire inside the facility.
Voltaix, which opened last year, is mostly self-contained and there were no immediate reports of the fire spreading to another property, Portland Mayor Lance Prator said.
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