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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 (14 articles)
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2015 07:20:47 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: CD2A7C8D-EAAF-4285-85F4-5F1F2DD8D3E2**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, September 9, 2015 at 7:20:32 AM
A membership benefit of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
All article summaries and tags are archived at https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__pinboard.in_u-3Adchas&d=BQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=raGhPtcy5dtb6XbxP9hXhxQke2y3l5haYLE6FEQ3gE4&s=JbWNSUlZ0wFm0hgiHkwzU8nqJrjlleQFMh4IA50Q-BI&e=
Table of Contents (14 articles)
CORONA: HAZMAT INCIDENT AT CENTENNIAL HIGH SENDS 4 TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_CA, education, release, injury, unknown_chemical
OVER-PRESSURIZED CHEMICAL DRUM BLOWS, PLANT REPORTS
Tags: us_OH, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
POLICE INVESTIGATING CHEMICALS IN FENWAY BASEMENT
Tags: us_MA, public, discovery, response, illegal
TDOT: ACID SPILL WON'T BE CLEARED UNTIL 8 P.M.
Tags: us_TN, transportation, release, injury, batteries, sulfuric_acid
TRUCK DRIVER TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_AL, transportation, release, injury, water_treatment
STUDY: 1M GALLONS OF FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS ROLLING DOWN INTERSTATE 380 DAILY
Tags: us_IA, transportation, discovery, environmental, ag_chems, ammonia, chlorine, flammables, pesticides, propane
OTAGO, SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND & INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Tags: New_Zealand, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical
EXPLOSION SHAKES CHEMICAL PLANT IN EASTERN CHINA
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
IRREPRODUCIBLE RESEARCH COSTS THE U.S. BILLIONS, NEW ANALYSIS SHOWS
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY PROPOSES TO HALT HEALTH CARE FACILITIES FROM FLUSHING SOME DRUGS DOWN THE DRAIN
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, drugs, pharmaceutical, waste
CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD GETS NEW CHIEF
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
CHINESE CHEMICAL FACTORY BLAST DEATH TOLL RISES TO 13
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, injury, adhesives
PROTESTING POLLUTION IN CHEMICAL VALLEY
Tags: Canada, transportation, discovery, response, other_chemical
TWO TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL AT BLUE RIVER DAIRY IN INVERCARGILL
Tags: New_Zealand, industrial, release, injury, chlorine
---------------------------------------------
CORONA: HAZMAT INCIDENT AT CENTENNIAL HIGH SENDS 4 TO HOSPITAL
Tags: us_CA, education, release, injury, unknown_chemical
Cleaning equipment that was emitting fumes at Centennial High School in Corona sent three firefighters and a custodian to the hospital Monday, Sept. 7, according to the Corona Fire Department.
The school‰??s fire alarm went off Monday evening, and fire crews discovered ‰??what appeared to be light smoke and an odor of electrical equipment overheating in a classroom,‰?? Fire Department officials wrote in a news release.
Fire crews found that a piece of equipment used to clean electronics was off-gassing fumes. A hazardous materials team was sent in and a perimeter was set up around the area, fire officials said.
Three firefighters and a school custodian experienced dizziness and respiratory pain, and were taken to the hospital. They have been released, officials said.
Just after midnight, the Fire Department ‰??mitigated the hazardous materials incident and returned the classroom back to Corona-Norco Unified School District officials for follow-up,‰?? the release said.
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OVER-PRESSURIZED CHEMICAL DRUM BLOWS, PLANT REPORTS
Tags: us_OH, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
COSHOCTON ‰?? A loud boom at Organic Technologies‰?? South Sixth Street plant Tuesday afternoon frightened neighbors and mobilized safety forces, but no one was injured, company and safety officials report.
A neighbor heard what sounded like an explosion at 12:59 p.m. and called the Coshocton County Sheriff‰??s Office, which alerted the city fire department and county medics, safety officials said.
Initial reports of injuries proved unfounded, said Todd Shroyer, director of the Coshocton County Emergency Medical Services. Medics were called to the plant but were not needed, he said.
‰??It was initially reported as an explosion,‰?? Shroyer said. ‰??Someone had seen a barrel fly through the air.‰??
Organic Technologies President David Wiley said that an empty 55-gallon drum ‰??over-pressurized,‰?? ‰??came apart‰?? and created ‰??an audible sound.‰??
The drum previously contained proprietary chemicals manufactured by the company at its plant at 1245 S. Sixth St., Wiley said, but it held only vapors Tuesday.
Founded in 1981, Organic Technologies employs 145 people in Coshocton. The company makes Omega-3 fish oil products, food supplements, pharmaceutical elements and other chemicals.
The company is completing an internal investigation and will report its findings to the Coshocton Fire Department, Capt. Jim Ward said.
---------------------------------------------
POLICE INVESTIGATING CHEMICALS IN FENWAY BASEMENT
Tags: us_MA, public, discovery, response, illegal
BOSTON (WHDH) -
Boston officials found a large quantity of an unknown type of chemicals in a 1-story commercial building on Tuesday night, according to the Boston Fire Department.
Boston Police Commissioner Williams Evans said the 76 Kilmarnock St. space is some sort of lab. Authorities do not know what the lab was being used for but said it was not being used to make illegal methamphetamine or bombs.
The building was not licensed to have chemicals. Police are interviewing the owners of the building.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force is assisting with the investigation.
After receiving a complaint about the building, officials found a "large quantity" of chemicals in the basement of the building.
Inspectional services officials noticed the doors of the basement were blocked.
Nearby homes and restaurants were evacuated and later allowed to return.
---------------------------------------------
TDOT: ACID SPILL WON'T BE CLEARED UNTIL 8 P.M.
Tags: us_TN, transportation, release, injury, batteries, sulfuric_acid
Exit 3 off Vietnam Veterans Boulevard in Hendersonville is expected to be closed until 8 p.m. while TDOT workers continue to clean up after a battery acid spill.
The spill has had both directions of the exit ramp closed since around 8:30 a.m. while multiple emergency crews secured the scene to prevent an environmental hazard.
The wreck
An 18-wheeler transporting a large load of batteries was coming from West Main Street in Hendersonville. The truck was heading southbound toward Nashville.
Preliminary reports suggest the battery load was not secured, and the 18-wheeler rolled over before reaching State Route 386. That‰??s when the batteries started leaking acid, according to Hendersonville Police Department dispatch.
The driver of the truck was injured and taken to Skyline Medical Center in Nashville with non-life-threatening injuries, according to Hendersonville Fire Department Chief Scotty Bush.
---------------------------------------------
TRUCK DRIVER TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_AL, transportation, release, injury, water_treatment
A delivery truck driver was taken to Athens-Limestone Hospital Tuesday after a chemical spill at an Athens Utilities water treatment plant.
Water Manager John Stockton said the incident was not serious and no major injuries were reported.
The driver was in the loading dock, filling a third-floor canister with aluminum chlorohydrate (a common material used in underarm deodorant) when Stockton said he improperly disconnected the hose from his truck to the delivery pipe.
Stockton said the way the driver removed the pressurized hose caused residual material to spill out onto the loading dock and on the delivery driver. The driver told emergency medical workers he had some of the material splash into his eyes and possibly in his mouth, according to scanner traffic.
Stockton said the incident was a safety violation of the trucking company the driver works for and Athens Utilities was not involved. He added he was ‰??assured‰?? the driver suffered no major injuries.
Aluminum chlorohydrate doesn‰??t pose a threat to the surrounding area when released the way it was Tuesday, Stockton said, but anyone dealing with concentrated chemicals the way the driver was can be harmed if exposed.
---------------------------------------------
STUDY: 1M GALLONS OF FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS ROLLING DOWN INTERSTATE 380 DAILY
Tags: us_IA, transportation, discovery, environmental, ag_chems, ammonia, chlorine, flammables, pesticides, propane
More than a million gallons of flammable liquids pass down Interstate 380 each day within a mile of up to 8,000 Cedar Rapids residents.
Other dangerous chemicals trucking down I-380 include ammonia, propane, chlorine and pesticides, according to a recent study of commodities being shipped by road and rail in Linn County.
‰??The volume of HAZMAT really surprised me,‰?? said Shane Dodge, chairman of the Local Emergency Planning Commission that covers Linn County.
The county sought the $9,000 study to quantify the amount and type of hazardous materials moving through it so first responders can better prepare for spills, fires and other emergencies, Dodge said.
---------------------------------------------
OTAGO, SOUTH ISLAND, NEW ZEALAND & INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Tags: New_Zealand, industrial, release, injury, unknown_chemical
Fire service personnel in hazmat suits attend a chemical spill in Invercargill yesterday.
Two people were taken to hospital after the emergency.
The spill occurred in the morning, but emergency services were not called until 2.30pm, when staff members at the Blue River Dairy factory in Nith St in the central city became ill.
Southern fire communications shift manager Andrew Norris said units from Invercargill and a hazmat command unit attended.
Gas detectors were used to check the site was safe.
Mr Norris said it was discovered a mixture of chemicals had created the gas in an incident in the morning.
Two people were taken to hospital by ambulance for a check-up, and the site evacuated.
---------------------------------------------
EXPLOSION SHAKES CHEMICAL PLANT IN EASTERN CHINA
Tags: China, industrial, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
BEIJING (Reuters) - An explosion shook a chemical plant in the Chinese province of Zhejiang, state media said on Monday, though there were no immediate reports of casualties in a country on edge after blasts killed more than 160 people last month.
The blast caused a fire and thick smoke to bellow from the plant in Lishui city shortly before midnight, state radio said on its official Weibo microblog.
Firefighters were on the scene and there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Chemical plant blasts are relatively common in China. At least five people died in an explosion at one in Shandong province last week.
---------------------------------------------
IRREPRODUCIBLE RESEARCH COSTS THE U.S. BILLIONS, NEW ANALYSIS SHOWS
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
Twenty-eight billion dollars. It‰??s a shocking amount of money, almost as much as the annual budget of the National Institutes of Health. But it‰??s how much a recent estimate suggests the U.S. science enterprise is spending each year on preclinical medical research that cannot be reproduced.
Irreproducibility is not just a problem because money is misspent on research results that can‰??t be trusted, explains Leonard P. Freedman, president of the Global Biological Standards Institute, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the use of standards and best practices in research. It also delays the development of potential treatments and adds to already soaring drug development costs.
Despite its importance, ‰??nobody had really put a dollar figure on it,‰?? Freedman says. So he and his coauthors estimated those costs in a paper published in June. They also tried to pinpoint the causes of the reproducibility problem and propose solutions (PLOS Biol. 2015, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002165).
---------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY PROPOSES TO HALT HEALTH CARE FACILITIES FROM FLUSHING SOME DRUGS DOWN THE DRAIN
Tags: public, discovery, environmental, drugs, pharmaceutical, waste
Health care facilities including hospitals, pharmacies, nursing homes, and veterinary clinics would be banned from flushing certain unused pharmaceuticals under a proposal from the Environmental Protection Agency.
The proposal is intended to protect waterways and reduce waste mismanagement in the health care industry, EPA says.
If finalized, the rule will affect certain unused drugs that, when they are discarded, are considered hazardous waste under federal law because they are particularly reactive or toxic. Examples include the chemotherapy drug mitomycin and pharmaceuticals with more than 0.3% warfarin as the sole active ingredient, such as the anticoagulant Coumadin. Because they are ignitable, pharmaceuticals prepared with alcohol may also be classified as hazardous waste under the nation‰??s waste disposal law, the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act. Other drugs are considered hazardous waste because they are corrosive.
Except for ignitable products, down-the-drain disposal of unused pharmaceuticals that are hazardous waste ‰??is presently an allowable and common disposal practice among health care facilities,‰?? according to EPA.
By the agency‰??s estimates, a ban on disposing of these drugs down sinks or toilets would prevent more than 6,400 tons of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals from entering waterways annually.
Mathy Stanislaus, EPA assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response, says the proposed rule ‰??will improve the safety and health of our communities.‰??
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD GETS NEW CHIEF
Tags: public, discovery, environmental
With two weeks on the job, Vanessa Allen Sutherland, the new chair of the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), on Sept. 2 announced an organizational review that she says will lead to an ‰??agency wide improvement plan‰?? in three months.
The board‰??s top slot had been vacant since March, when former chair Rafael Moure-Eraso resigned at the urging of President Barack Obama. His departure followed a lengthy Republican-led congressional investigation of mismanagement charges at the small agency that investigates chemical-related industrial accidents.
At her first public briefing last week, Sutherland underscored the need for organizational efficiency, a long-running problem for CSB.
‰??With a 40-person staff and a roughly $11 million budget coupled with the number of chemical accidents that I have seen come through my in-box, it really is important for me to understand operationally how we are best positioned to execute our mission to investigate accidents, share what we find, and really be a voice domestically and internationally on chemical safety.‰??
---------------------------------------------
CHINESE CHEMICAL FACTORY BLAST DEATH TOLL RISES TO 13
Tags: China, industrial, follow-up, injury, adhesives
he death toll from an explosion at a chemical factory in eastern China last week has jumped to 13 after search and rescue efforts ended, a city government said.
A factory that produces adhesive materials exploded on Aug. 31 in Lijin county in Shandong province.
Two days after the blast, the official death toll stood at five. The Dongying city government, which administers the area, said the toll had risen to 13 following the completion of search and rescue efforts Saturday. It said all 13 bodies had been identified, but gave no further details. It said 25 other people had been injured, 11 of whom were still hospitalized.
A man on duty at the Dongying city government, who gave only his surname, Fan, said Sunday that the cause of the blast was still under investigation and had no further details.
---------------------------------------------
PROTESTING POLLUTION IN CHEMICAL VALLEY
Tags: Canada, transportation, discovery, response, other_chemical
A group of protesters plodded through Chemical Valley Saturday afternoon to shine a light on the pollution caused by local industries.
The Toxic Tour left the Aamjiwnaang First Nation community centre close to 12:30 p.m. under sweltering conditions and started marching down Vidal Street.
Some of the goals of the annual event, explained spokesperson Vanessa Gray, were to continue the fight against oil pipelines being on local Indigenous land, and to give out-of-town participants a perspective of the effects the industry has had on their residents.
‰??We are all fighting the same fight when it comes to Line 9,‰?? she added. ‰??The Enbridge pipeline that crosses through all of our communities that we have been working on for a long time together ‰?? this is where Line 9 starts.‰??
---------------------------------------------
TWO TAKEN TO HOSPITAL AFTER CHEMICAL SPILL AT BLUE RIVER DAIRY IN INVERCARGILL
Tags: New_Zealand, industrial, release, injury, chlorine
Two people were hospitalised after a chemical spill at an Invercargill business on Monday.
Southland Fire Service acting area commander Colin Russell said there had been an accidental mix of two chemicals in the building which produced a small amount of chlorine gas.
Two staff members were subsequently transported to Southland Hospital by ambulance, but their illnesses were not thought to be serious.
The building, which produces sheep milk products, was evacuated and subsequent testing revealed there was no residual gas remaining in the building. The remaining staff were allowed back in after 5pm.
Blue River Dairy health and safety environmental manager Jamie Priemus said the chemical spill was at 11am, in a part of the building where three of the company's 35 staff were at the time.
The staff were kept under observation and at about 1pm one began "struggling a bit" with his breathing and one had a "tickle in his throat".
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