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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 (10 articles)
Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2015 07:48:39 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 1612F4D9-2520-4C38-AB5D-57672BCFE767**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Friday, November 27, 2015 at 7:47:57 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=jLyAWDdgnslMpg81A04zaxkVRmhXuv8MSvqteY9qf00&s=e4RKiN-K_HQz8lqLO4kwd_WGdeltEIDpi_7b94yinfA&e=
Table of Contents (10 articles)
SUSPECTED HAZARDOUS MATERIAL REMOVED FROM ST. CHARLES HOME
Tags: us_MO, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
CRASH, SPILL CLOSE ROUTE 15 FOR 6 HOURS
Tags: us_PA, transportation, release, response, unknown_chemical, corrosives
100 GALLONS OF GASOLINE SPEW ONTO BURTON ROAD AFTER CRASH
Tags: us_MI, transportation, release, response, gasoline
POST FALLS HIGH SCHOOL CLOSES AFTER MERCURY SPILL
Tags: us_ID, laboratory, release, response, mercury
NO INJURIES AS STUDENT CAUSES CHEMICAL BLAST AT USC
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
CALIFORNIA PROSECUTORS JOIN CASE OVER WASTE PLANT BLAST AND CHEMICAL FIRE THAT INJURED 52
Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, injury, illegal, waste
ABANDONED LAB, HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS DISCOVERED IN MIDLAND; FIRE DEPARTMENT MONITORING SCENE
Tags: us_MI, laboratory, discovery, response, unknown_chemical, toxics
CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD MOVES TO FIRE TWO TOP STAFF
Tags: us_WA, industrial, discovery, environmental
SCHOOL CLOSED FOR TESTING DECADES AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, response, benzene, toxics
HAZMAT CREWS CONTAIN NITRIC ACID LEAK AT PLANT IN SOUTH PHOENIX
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, release, response, nitric_acid
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SUSPECTED HAZARDOUS MATERIAL REMOVED FROM ST. CHARLES HOME
Tags: us_MO, public, discovery, response, unknown_chemical
ST. CHARLES ‰?¢ Police from various agencies safely removed suspected hazardous liquids early Thursday morning from a home in the 400 block of San Miguel Drive, officials said.
It started with a call about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, reporting a burglary that was not in progress. Officers searching the home found the liquids, which they did not identify.
No charges are expected to be filed against anyone in connection with the incident, police said.
St. Charles County police, FBI bomb technicians, the Central County Hazmat Team and the St. Charles County Emergency Management Agency assisted St. Charles city police in removal of the material, which was completed without incident at about 12:45 a.m.
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CRASH, SPILL CLOSE ROUTE 15 FOR 6 HOURS
Tags: us_PA, transportation, release, response, unknown_chemical, corrosives
LEWISBURG ‰?? Hazmat crews cleaned spilled chemicals from Route 15 after a tractor-trailer crashed into the rear of a second big rig Thursday morning in Kelly Township, Union County.
State police at Milton described the unidentified substance as a ‰??corrosive material,‰?? saying a small amount leaked from a damaged container stored in a box trailer after impact.
The highway was closed approximately six hours while employees from Northridge Group environmental services cleaned up the acidic liquid using brushes and absorbent materials. Southbound traffic was diverted onto AJK Boulevard.
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100 GALLONS OF GASOLINE SPEW ONTO BURTON ROAD AFTER CRASH
Tags: us_MI, transportation, release, response, gasoline
BURTON, MI -- The Genesee County Hazardous Materials Team was working to clean about 100 gallons of gasoline from a Burton road after a car and semi-truck crashed Wednesday, Nov. 25.
Assistant Chief Kirk Wilkinson with the Burton Fire Department said a car punctured the semi-truck when the two collided around 11:30 a.m. on Center Road near the west entrance to the Courtland Center Mall, just in front of JCPenney. He said he didn't know specific details of the crash.
The semi was parked in the northbound lanes of Court as crews cleared the spill.
Around 100 gallons of gasoline spewed onto the road, some of it getting into a storm drain, Wilkinson said.
Firefighters and the hazmat team poured Oil-Dri on the spill to keep it contained and to keep more from going in the drain, Wilkinson said.
Crews planned to sample the inside of the drain to determine how much gasoline actually leaked into it, Wilkinson said. Then, they'd bring a vacuum to clean up the rest, he said.
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POST FALLS HIGH SCHOOL CLOSES AFTER MERCURY SPILL
Tags: us_ID, laboratory, release, response, mercury
POST FALLS, IDAHO
A Catholic school and church and school in Post Falls have closed so a hazmat team can clean up mercury that was spilled in the school's science lab.
A student at the Immaculate Conception St. Dominic school decided to play with mercury on Monday when containers of the hazardous substance were removed from a storage locker that was being cleaned, The Coeur d'Alene Press reports (https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__bit.ly_1IaDP3f&d=BQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=jLyAWDdgnslMpg81A04zaxkVRmhXuv8MSvqteY9qf00&s=VVyGY_DZsnPq-WWxW1PPSGUOK8K-IDW4qi0aumjI2HA&e= ">https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__bit.ly_1IaDP3f&d=BQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=jLyAWDdgnslMpg81A04zaxkVRmhXuv8MSvqteY9qf00&s=VVyGY_DZsnPq-WWxW1PPSGUOK8K-IDW4qi0aumjI2HA&e= ).
Kootenai Fire and Rescue EMS Chief Steve Isaacson said a sophomore student decided to see what mercury looked like in his palm and two other students also thought that was a good idea. Some of the mercury spilling on the floor and hazmat officials found mercury was tracked all over the school.
"The school has a mercury problem," he said. "After several conference calls, all the state agencies agreed the school needed to be closed until a professional team can get in there and clean it up."
Isaacson said the amount of mercury that was found exceeded the safe level for exposure.
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NO INJURIES AS STUDENT CAUSES CHEMICAL BLAST AT USC
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, response, unknown_chemical
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles Fire Department says a student mixing chemicals caused a small explosion in a classroom at the University of Southern California.
Fire officials say no one was injured in the Tuesday night blast in the basement of the five-story classroom building on USC's main campus.
No fire broke out and no structural damage was caused at Ronald Tutor Hall.
It did force the evacuation of the building, which firefighters checked for a possible methane gas leak.
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CALIFORNIA PROSECUTORS JOIN CASE OVER WASTE PLANT BLAST AND CHEMICAL FIRE THAT INJURED 52
Tags: us_CA, industrial, follow-up, injury, illegal, waste
SANTA PAULA, California ‰?? State prosecutors are joining a criminal case sparked by an explosion at a Southern California waste treatment plant that sent 52 people to hospitals.
State Attorney General Kamala Harris' office announced Tuesday that the state Department of Justice will join Ventura County in prosecuting seven company officials for hazardous waste crimes at the Santa Clara Wastewater Company facility in Santa Paula.
Authorities say a chemical reaction between sodium chlorite and sewage caused a November 2014 explosion that sent 10 firefighters and dozens of others to the hospital.
Two plant managers pleaded guilty last week to charges that included failing to warn of a serious concealed danger and improper storage of hazardous substances. Each faces up to three years in county jail.
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ABANDONED LAB, HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS DISCOVERED IN MIDLAND; FIRE DEPARTMENT MONITORING SCENE
Tags: us_MI, laboratory, discovery, response, unknown_chemical, toxics
The Midland Fire Department has been on scene of an abandoned laboratory containing hazardous chemicals since the problem was discovered during a routine fire inspection last Thursday.
The laboratory, abandoned by a tenant of the building at 1406 E. Pine St., contains a number of both identified and unidentified chemicals, some in a decomposing state, a media release from the department indicated.
Fire Chief Chris Coughlin said the list of chemicals includes everything under the sun, in the categories of shock reactives ‰?? meaning they are explosive ‰?? toxics and organic compounds, and the chemicals are beginning to break down.
‰??There isn‰??t any hazard outside of the building,‰?? he said. Firefighters and Midland Police have teamed up to keep people out of the building, and it is being boarded up today.
There are no homes nearby, and an adjacent business building next door remains open, Coughlin said.
‰??Dow Chemical has been very helpful‰?? in helping with the identification of the chemicals, Coughlin said, pointing out the chemicals and the lab are not connected to The Dow Chemical Co. or Dow Corning Corp.
The fire department is working with the Michigan Departments of Environmental Quality, Natural Resources and an environmental company to determine how to remove and dispose of the chemicals. Coughlin said the process of sequestering chemicals will occur on Friday and Saturday, and removal of the chemicals will occur next week.
The discovery of the lab is a sign changes to the department‰??s fire inspection program are paying off.
The department‰??s engine companies conduct inspections, looking for basic violations such as those involving fire extinguishers, egress points and lighting, Coughlin explained. A new program was implemented with two firefighters who are trained to a higher level and certified, and they conduct inspections outside their normal duties. It was during one of those more thorough inspections that problems at the abandoned lab were discovered.
‰??The program is working,‰?? Coughlin said.
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CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD MOVES TO FIRE TWO TOP STAFF
Tags: us_WA, industrial, discovery, environmental
Turmoil at the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board continues as CSB is poised to fire its top two staff members who have been on paid leave since June.
In a Nov. 16 letter, CSB member Kristen Kulinowski, a chemist, recommends terminating Daniel Horowitz, CSB managing director. His firing is called for because of misconduct and ‰??conduct unbecoming a federal employee,‰?? she writes in the letter to Horowitz, citing allegations made by CSB employees.
The letter was released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a watchdog group that is representing Horowitz, a 15-year CSB staffer. The board would not provide C&EN with details about the possible firing of Horowitz and Richard Loeb, CSB general counsel. Loeb and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
CSB Chair Vanessa Allen Sutherland will make the final decision regarding their terminations after mid-December.
Members of Congress have sought the firing of Horowitz and Loeb after lengthy investigations by an oversight committee and the Environmental Protection Agency‰??s Office of Inspector General, which alleged that the two mismanaged the agency and retaliated against CSB employees. Lawmakers and the inspector general lodged similar criticisms against former CSB chair Rafael Moure-Eraso, which led to his forced resignation in March.
If Sutherland fires the two, she will be free to fill the positions. However, PEER argues that the allegations are groundless and is preparing to challenge them.
Meanwhile, CSB has not investigated a chemical accident since last February, its longest inactive period. Over this time, the U.S. has had some 19 chemically related industrial accidents with 16 fatalities, PEER says.
---------------------------------------------
SCHOOL CLOSED FOR TESTING DECADES AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: us_CA, industrial, release, response, benzene, toxics
EL CAJON ‰?? Usually the hub of its working-class community, Magnolia Elementary School sits vacant while scientists conduct tests commissioned to ease concerns over a toxic groundwater plume that stretches beneath campus decades after a chemical leak at the neighboring aerospace plant.
All but three of the school‰??s 21 teachers and 500 of the 700 students packed up and moved into temporary accommodations two miles away at the Bostonia Language Academy for the school year ‰?? at a cost of about $800,000 (largely for school bus transportation and portable classrooms) to be picked up by Ametek, the plant‰??s former owner.
The company will also foot the bill for a new campus ventilation system, and tests ‰?? estimated to cost $300 a day ‰?? overseen by the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.
State regulators, Ametek and the Cajon Valley Union School District-hired specialists have done considerable testing of ambient classroom air and soil gases over the years, with both showing the levels of toxins (including trichloroethylene and benzene) at the school are safe under federal and state guidelines. Air and soil monitoring was conducted annually until August 2012, when Ametek started quarterly tests after the state directed the plant to increase the frequency of air sampling because of new regulations.
The school board decided to shutter Magnolia this school year while longer-term tests are conducted in every space ‰?? from the cafeteria to classrooms to offices ‰?? to put to rest any speculation that the campus might be unsafe.
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HAZMAT CREWS CONTAIN NITRIC ACID LEAK AT PLANT IN SOUTH PHOENIX
Tags: us_AZ, industrial, release, response, nitric_acid
PHOENIX - Hazmat crews gained quick control of a nitric acid leak Tuesday evening at a plant in south Phoenix.
Phoenix firefighters say 70 gallons of the acid reacted when it got too hot at the QuantumClean facility near 40th Street and University.
QuantumClean specializes in parts cleaning and tool restoration. The facility also cleans copper with nitric acid.
There are no injuries reported at this time.
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