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From: "Secretary, ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety" <secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines from Google (15 articles)
Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2015 07:25:52 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 9D27CBB7-CCD9-4261-A2C6-140432D6E024**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, March 2, 2015 at 7:25:34 AM
A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (15 articles)
CARPET-CLEANING PRODUCT BLAMED FOR KILLING CAT, BIRD IN LAKEWOOD HOME
Tags: us_WA, public, release, death, cleaners, dust
DEADLY BACTERIA RELEASE SPARKS CONCERN AT LOUISIANA LAB
Tags: us_LA, laboratory, discovery, environmental
CAUSTIC ODOR BRINGS HAZMAT CREW TO DAYTON APT.
Tags: us_OH, public, release, injury, pepper_spray
ANALYZE AND RESPOND TO HAZARDS AT THE TASK LEVEL FOR ALL TASKS BEING PERFORMED
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, discovery, injury, other_chemical
FOUR TOXIC STORAGE BUILDINGS CAUGHT FIRE
Tags: Malaysia, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
DUKE ENERGY TO PAY $102M FOR 2014 COAL ASH SPILL
Tags: us_NC, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
EXPLOSION DURING SCIENCE EXPERIMENT AT BILLINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOO
Tags: us_MT, laboratory, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical
FIRE IN PARK RIDGE HOME STARTED BY CHEMICAL-SOAKED RAGS
Tags: us_IL, public, fire, response, petroleum
COLORADO SPRINGS HASH OIL EXTRACTION FIRE LEADS TO 2 ARRESTS
Tags: us_CO, public, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
'HOMEMADE CHEMICAL BOMB' LEFT AT CAZENOVIA TEACHER'S HOME; STUDENTS DISCIPLINED
Tags: us_NY, public, discovery, response, bomb
WYOMING WORKPLACE SAFETY INVESTIGATORS PROBE CHEYENNE CHEMICAL PLANT FIRE THAT BURNED 3 MEN
Tags: us_WY, industrial, follow-up, injury, ammonia, explosives
THE CHEMICAL INSTITUTE OF CANADA
Tags: Canada, public, discovery, environmental
POWERED BY JET 24 AND FOX 66 ERIE PA
Tags: us_PA, industrial, fire, response, other_chemical
FOUR FIREFIGHTERS TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER EXPOSURE TO CHEMICAL
Tags: New_Zealand, public, fire, injury, repellent
MINER DIES OF POISON CHEMICAL INHALATION INSIDE PIT IN CAMNORTE TOWN
Tags: Philippines, industrial, release, death, unknown_chemical
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CARPET-CLEANING PRODUCT BLAMED FOR KILLING CAT, BIRD IN LAKEWOOD HOME
Tags: us_WA, public, release, death, cleaners, dust
Investigators blame a carpet-cleaning product for the deaths of two pets in Lakewood after a man reported a suspicious odor coming from his home Saturday.
He told firefighters just before 11 a.m. that he returned to his house in the 8600 block of Moreland Avenue Southwest and found his cat and bird dead. He also said he smelled a strange odor, according to a West Pierce Fire & Rescue news release.
After initial tests were unable to pinpoint the cause, Pierce County and Joint Base Lewis-McChord hazardous material teams were brought in along with a support team from Camp Murray and the state Department of Ecology.
West Pierce spokeswoman Hallie McCurdy said they determined a powdered carpet cleaner the homeowner purchased was the cause. The small size of the home might have been a factor, she said.
Until the Pierce County Health Department investigates further, which McCurdy expected to be Monday, she said the owner would not be able to safely return to the home.
---------------------------------------------
DEADLY BACTERIA RELEASE SPARKS CONCERN AT LOUISIANA LAB
Tags: us_LA, laboratory, discovery, environmental
A dangerous, often deadly, type of bacteria that lives in soil and water has been released from a high-security laboratory at the Tulane National Primate Research Center in Louisiana. Officials say there is no risk to the public. Yet despite weeks of investigation by multiple federal and state agencies, the cause of the release and the extent of the contamination remain unknown, according to interviews and records obtained by USA TODAY.
The incident has raised concerns that bacteria from the lab may have contaminated the facility's grounds and though initial, limited tests didn't detect it, some officials are pressing behind the scenes for more action, records show. The safety breach at Tulane's massive lab complex 35 miles north of New Orleans is the latest in a recent series of significant biosafety accidents at some of the most prestigious laboratories in the country where research is performed on bacteria and viruses that are classified as potential bioterror agents.
"The fact that they can't identify how this release occurred is very concerning," said Richard Ebright, a biosafety expert from Rutgers University in New Jersey, who testified before Congress last summer in the wake of lab incidents at federal agencies involving anthrax, smallpox and a deadly strain of avian influenza.
---------------------------------------------
CAUSTIC ODOR BRINGS HAZMAT CREW TO DAYTON APT.
Tags: us_OH, public, release, injury, pepper_spray
A strange, caustic odor evacuated an apartment building tonight, but it turned out not to be anything hazardous.
A hazmat team was called around 9:15 p.m. to the 3700 block of Kings Highway to investigate the odor.
‰??It was pretty caustic,‰?? said District Chief James Rose of the Dayton Fire Department.
A couple dozen people were temporarily forced out of their apartments, but were allowed back inside around 10:15 p.m.
Rose said there was some sort of chemical, similar to pepper spray, that had been emitted in the building, but that he wasn‰??t able to confirm the exact substance.
Separately, a resident in poor health slipped on the ice and suffered a medical issue outside after crews were called to the apartment building. She is the only person taken to a local hospital by the fire department, Rose said.
---------------------------------------------
ANALYZE AND RESPOND TO HAZARDS AT THE TASK LEVEL FOR ALL TASKS BEING PERFORMED
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, discovery, injury, other_chemical
Statement: Jobs and processes are completed by performing different tasks at the right time and in the right way. Analyzing and responding to the hazards for each task helps maintain safety for the task being performed. This also can help identify when multi-tasking is acceptable and when it should be avoided.
Discussion: A worker fabricating a glass fixture was listening to the sound made by a glass-cutting saw to monitor the progress of the work. Consistent with glass worker fabrication practices for inspection and sawing operations, the worker was not wearing cut-resistant gloves.
At the same time, he was inspecting a thin-walled glass tube approximately 2.5-inches in diameter by 32-inches long in the small workspace near the saw. The tube was retrieved from a scrap glass tube storage area and broken edges at the tube‰??s end indicated that some portion of this tube was damaged. The worker was seeking a location on the tube where sound glass was likely to be found.
Upon hearing an unusual noise from the saw, the worker turned toward it to check that operation. As he turned, the glass tube he was inspecting tapped the workbench and the tube‰??s end shattered, cutting the lower portion of the fifth (little) finger on the worker‰??s right hand.
A work supervisor in a nearby lab heard the glass break, immediately assisted the worker, summoned appropriate medical response, preserved the scene, and implemented other actions.
Analysis: Two different tasks, sawing and inspecting, were being performed and the operational and safety practices applicable to one were not entirely compatible with those applicable to the other. A thorough hazards analysis for each might have identified the appropriate controls.
---------------------------------------------
FOUR TOXIC STORAGE BUILDINGS CAUGHT FIRE
Tags: Malaysia, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
SEREMBAN: Four toxic storage buildings owned by Kualiti Alam Sdn Bhd in Sendayan caught fire at about 1.30pm here.
A spokesman from the Seremban 2 Fire and Rescue Department said five fire engines with a total of 22 officers including the Hazardous Materials Unit (Hazmat) team were rushed to the site upon receiving the call.
"We are currently trying to control the fire from spreading," he said.
He added that no causalities were reported.
The public were also advised to stay away from the area within two-kilometre radius.
---------------------------------------------
DUKE ENERGY TO PAY $102M FOR 2014 COAL ASH SPILL
Tags: us_NC, public, follow-up, environmental, other_chemical
Duke Energy Corp. has agreed to pay $102.2 million to settle violations stemming from its 2014 coal ash spill, which leaked 35 million gallons of toxic coal-ash slurry into North Carolina‰??s Dan River.
Under the plea agreement with the Justice Department, subject to court approval, the North Carolina energy company has agreed to pay $68.2 million in fines and $34 million for community service and mitigation to settle four misdemeanor Clean Water Act violations. The penalties, the company said, ‰??will be borne by shareholders, not customers.‰??
‰??We are accountable for what happened at Dan River and have learned from this event,‰?? Duke chief executive Lynn Good said in a statement Friday.
The coal ash poured through a rupture in a 48-inch concrete storm pipe that ran underground. It took six days to plug the leak, and an entire day for the company to properly notify the city‰??s manager of contamination.
In late June 2014, cleanup crews excavated 258 tons of material from the site of the retired Dan River Steam Station near Eden. Some 70 miles of the river was covered in gray sludge.
---------------------------------------------
EXPLOSION DURING SCIENCE EXPERIMENT AT BILLINGS ELEMENTARY SCHOO
Tags: us_MT, laboratory, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical
BILLINGS -
Two Sandstone Elementary students and others were injured Friday afternoon when a glass container used in an science experiment demonstration exploded.
According to school officials, a Rocky Mountain College instructor and two graduate students were showing a group of elementary students the experiment on the playground around 2:15 pm when the explosion occurred. The instructor and one grad student also were injured.
The instructor and grad students "were showing an experiment that they have done countless times but this time something went wrong with the experiment causing a glass container to explode," Superintendent Terry Bouck said in an email to school board members sent at 3:15 p.m.
School officials said none of the injuries were life-threatening.
"There were no harmful chemicals, but the glass shards did injure the RMC instructor, one RMC graduate student, and two elementary students," Bouck said in the email. "The students were injured from the glass flying to where they were located watching the experiment."
---------------------------------------------
FIRE IN PARK RIDGE HOME STARTED BY CHEMICAL-SOAKED RAGS
Tags: us_IL, public, fire, response, petroleum
case of spontaneous combustion is believed to have sparked a fire that extensively damaged the interior of a Park Ridge home.
Firefighters responding to a call of an odor of smoke detected on the 100 block of North Delphia Avenue shortly before 6 a.m., Feb. 27 discovered the fire in a vacant two-story brick home just one block west at 104 N. Lincoln Ave., said Park Ridge Fire Chief Jeff Sorensen.
Sorensen said a pile of rags used to apply a staining chemical as part of renovation work in the home likely started on fire, burning a hole in the dining room floor and falling into the basement below.
"What happened is they used a bunch of rags for staining and when you pile those rags up you can potentially have spontaneous combustion," Sorensen said.
Through the exterior of the home did not appear to have sustained damage apart from windows that were broken by firefighters to ventilate the structure, Sorensen described the damage inside as "pretty extensive," and estimated it at approximately $150,000.
Matt Laske, who identified himself as the brother of one of the home's owners, said the house had just been purchased about one week earlier and some minor renovations had been taking place inside. No one was living in the house at the time of the fire, he said.
---------------------------------------------
COLORADO SPRINGS HASH OIL EXTRACTION FIRE LEADS TO 2 ARRESTS
Tags: us_CO, public, fire, injury, unknown_chemical
Two people, including a juvenile, were arrested in connection with a Colorado Springs hash oil extraction fire Thursday that left one person injured.
Officers were called out to the 300 block of Locust Drive to assist fire crews in an investigation into a suspicion fire at a home there.
‰??Upon arrival, the officers learned the fire was a result of an individual attempting to produce hash oil,‰?? police said.
Lente is being held on several charges at the El Paso County jail in lieu of a total of $40,000 bond. Lente is accused of arson and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, among other offenses.
---------------------------------------------
'HOMEMADE CHEMICAL BOMB' LEFT AT CAZENOVIA TEACHER'S HOME; STUDENTS DISCIPLINED
Tags: us_NY, public, discovery, response, bomb
A Cazenovia High School science teacher called police earlier this month after she found a "homemade chemical bomb" thrown onto her balcony near her bedroom.
Kristin Reichert, the teacher, reported the Feb. 1 incident to New York State Police, who said this week they are investigating the matter.
A Gatorade bottle with liquid inside was discovered on the home's balcony, and the bomb disposal unit responded, said State Police Trooper Jack Keller. He said it was not clear from the incident report if the bottle was or was not a "handmade chemical bomb."
Cazenovia School Superintendent Matthew Reilly said Friday he is aware of the investigation. He said the student or students involved in the incident have been disciplined. He declined to say how many students are involved, or what disciplinary measures are being taken.
"Appropriate consequences have been meted out,'' he said. "We are protecting the privacy of those individuals who are involved."
---------------------------------------------
WYOMING WORKPLACE SAFETY INVESTIGATORS PROBE CHEYENNE CHEMICAL PLANT FIRE THAT BURNED 3 MEN
Tags: us_WY, industrial, follow-up, injury, ammonia, explosives
CHEYENNE ‰?? Wyoming workplace safety officials say they're investigating a fire that burned three men at a chemical plant that manufactures explosives near Cheyenne.
The fire happened Thursday morning at the Dyno Nobel plant a couple miles west of town.
Wyoming Department of Workforce Services spokeswoman Hayley McKee said Friday three men ages 28, 29 and 40 are being treated at the Western States Burn Center at the North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, Colorado.
McKee says the flash fire happened during work on a compressor system.
Dyno Nobel officials, including company safety representative Eric Smith, did not return messages Friday seeking comment.
Workplace safety officials say they also investigated the Dyno Nobel plant last year after a man inhaled ammonia gas through a malfunctioning respirator.
---------------------------------------------
THE CHEMICAL INSTITUTE OF CANADA
Tags: Canada, public, discovery, environmental
When the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) set its sights on two widely used antimicrobial agents last year, the organization wanted the results to have a more profound impact than a typical product warning. Such warnings may be steeped in scientific research, but that does not mean they will get a fair public hearing ‰?? or any kind of hearing at all. In fact, it is all too easy to imagine an audience grown numb to such news, having been warned many times about many different chemicals posing some kind of threat to our personal health or the health of the environment. Yet another outcry can simply be drowned out by sports scores or celebrity scandals, especially if the chemical critique is dominated by technical information that appears to be accessible only to an expert elite.
CELA therefore teamed up with the United States-based Clean Production Action (CPA), a multi-national network of environmental activists that has been tackling this communications challenge for more than a decade. CPA has replaced turgid collections of charts and graphs with a much tidier means of expressing the problems that might be associated with particular agents. This approach goes by the name GreenScreen for Safer Chemicals (GreenScreen), a methodology that established four major benchmarks for ranking the relative hazard or toxicity of any given chemical expressed in common sense terms such as ‰??Avoid ‰?? Chemical of High Concern‰?? or ‰??Use but Search for Safer Substitutes.‰?? These categories build on the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry and the US Environmental Protection Agency‰??s Design for the Environment (DfE) program. It also draws on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling, a worldwide initiative to promote standard criteria for cla!
ssifying chemicals according to their health, physical and environmental hazards.
---------------------------------------------
POWERED BY JET 24 AND FOX 66 ERIE PA
Tags: us_PA, industrial, fire, response, other_chemical
The fire was reported at the joint municipal building in Conneaut Lake around 4 this afternoon.
A building there held a 330 gallon tank of sodium bi-sulfate.
The chemical is listed as a non explosive chemical with one of the uses being the lowering of pH in the water fort effective chlorination.
It reportedly took about 20 minutes to put the fire out, but there was a foul smell in the air surrounding the area as that chemical burned off.
Emergency management officials were on scene, as were officers from waterways and conservation.
According to Conneaut Lake fire Chief Mike Betts, a portable heater is to blame for the fire.
---------------------------------------------
FOUR FIREFIGHTERS TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER EXPOSURE TO CHEMICAL
Tags: New_Zealand, public, fire, injury, repellent
Four firefighters were taken to hospital as a precaution after a shipping container holding insect repellent caught fire in West Auckland today.
The Fire Service was called to a rubbish fire in Riverhead around 3pm.
A nearby container holding mosquito repellent caught fire, exposing fire crews to the chemical dimethyl phthalate.
Northern Fire Communications manager Jaron Phillips says the firefighters were taken to North Shore Hospital as a precaution, but most likely suffered from heat exhaustion.
Emergency services stayed at the scene until the fire was put out.
Dimethyl phthalate can irritate the nose, throat and eyes.
---------------------------------------------
MINER DIES OF POISON CHEMICAL INHALATION INSIDE PIT IN CAMNORTE TOWN
Tags: Philippines, industrial, release, death, unknown_chemical
LEGAZPI CITY -- A 45-year-old miner died after inhaling a poisonous chemical inside a mining pit from where he was trying to retrieve a water pump and a blower at Sitio Ligwa, Barangay Tawig, Paracale, Camarines Norte, Saturday morning.
A police report identified the victim as Julie Lancion, married and resident of Purok 4, Barangay Bayan-Bayan, Labo, Camarines Norte.
The report said the incident happened at about 7:30 a.m. when Lancion and his companions entered the pit to get the water pump and blower that they left behind inside the mining pit when he suddenly felt dizzy.
His companions tried to bring him out of the pit but it took almost one hour before they succeeded.
Once out, Lancion's companions noticed him already lifeless.
The other miners carried the victim's body down the mountain, taking them four hours to reach the road in the area.
Lancion's fellow miners believed he inhaled a poisonous chemical that they used in mining gold in the area, causing his death.
His body was brought to a funeral home for autopsy.
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Ralph Stuart
secretary**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Secretary
Division of Chemical Health and Safety
American Chemical Society
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