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Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Monday, May 2, 2016 at 7:21:10 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=DQIFaQ&c=lb62iw4YL4RFalcE2hQUQealT9-RXrryqt9KZX2qu2s&r=meWM1Buqv4IQ27AlK1OJRjcQl09S1Zta6YXKalY_Io0&m=zoiXk8RepmvXhecviD7xM8Ydu2zFo0FzIEwz91E9nrc&s=pXuJC_-T4yD_tlQc5gV92QA9irgMjMP1sp5Te2nwLg4&e=
Table of Contents (12 articles)
PERSPECTIVES: BACK TO THE FUTURE OF CHEMISTRY
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
ROOF FIRE FORCES EVACUATION OF THE DIODES/FABTECH BUILDING
Tags: us_MO, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
NEIGHBORS REACT TO CHEMICAL LEAK FROM TRAIN DERAILED IN DC
Tags: us_MD, transportation, release, response, ethanol, sodium_hydroxide
VISAKHAPATNAM NYOOOZ
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO ACID SPILL AT GNP PLANT
Tags: us_MN, industrial, release, response, other_chemical
CHEMICAL FUMES SCARE SHUTS WIMBLEDON LEISURE CENTRE
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, chlorine
HAZMAT TEAMS WORK TO IDENTIFY SUBSTANCE IN JANESVILLE CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_WI, transportation, release, response, unknown_chemical
FIRE DAMAGES BELPRE CHEMICAL PLANT
Tags: us_WV, industrial, fire, response, cleaners, waste
PROPERTY OWNERS SUE BRIDGEPORT OVER PERFUME FACTORY FIRE
Tags: us_CT, industrial, follow-up, environmental, metals
STATE, US EPAS INVESTIGATING CHEMICAL DUMPING IN TUSCARAWAS, STARK COUNTIES
Tags: us_OH, public, discovery, response, ag_chems, illegal, pesticides
AT LEAST 11 NUCLEAR FACILITY WORKERS CHECKED FOR CHEMICAL VAPOR EXPOSURE
Tags: us_WA, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
MAN FOUND DEAD AT DOW CHEMICAL PLANT
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, death, petroleum
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PERSPECTIVES: BACK TO THE FUTURE OF CHEMISTRY
Tags: laboratory, discovery, environmental
Cures, not treatments. It is our science that invents new medicines and how to make them. In this, chemists are assisted by biologists and medical researchers doing the testing. Perhaps the most general challenge in drug discovery today is to invent new medicines that will cure viral diseases. The threat is enormous: Imagine a world in which AIDS or Ebola could be passed by a mosquito bite, unless we develop medicines to conquer the diseases. But besides antivirals, other critical needs include inventing cures"not just treatments"for cancer, heart disease, diabetes, schizophrenia, arthritis, and genetic defects.
Tapping the power of the sun. We need materials with improved electrical properties, including superconducting wires that operate at or near room temperature, so that we can transfer electricity from its source to its point of use without loss from resistance. Then we could generate electricity from the sun in the desert and send it wherever it is needed. And we could develop better photovoltaic materials to convert the desert sunlight to electricity; there"s plenty of room for better efficiency. Currently, we use the solar power of the past to generate energy when we burn coal and petroleum. But by developing new materials, we can take advantage of solar power beaming down at the present instead and not cause global warming and air pollution.
Systems, not substances. Another challenge for chemistry is to focus more on interacting chemical systems, not just individual substances. As an example, chemists isolated DNA and learned its structure more than 50 years ago. But that does not really tell us how life works or how we could imitate life. Life is a process in which many substances interact in organized systems, and chemistry is in its infancy in understanding these systems. For example, bacteria are quite simple living organisms, but we don"t yet know exactly how to mimic them or build on their functions with our own created, synthetic systems. Chemists will do this one day, and we will build self-reproducing molecular machines that could change our world.
In thinking about how we might achieve these dreams, one realizes that chemists have a general problem. We are creative scientists constantly making new molecules and materials, which means we must also be mindful of their impacts. That is why green and sustainable chemistry will always be in our future. We have to get better at anticipating and avoiding possible side effects or imparting unexpected toxicities to our air and water. This is yet another good reason to be a chemist: We can understand and solve such problems. Many other scientific fields have no such challenge"who has heard of green astronomy or green algebraic topology?
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ROOF FIRE FORCES EVACUATION OF THE DIODES/FABTECH BUILDING
Tags: us_MO, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
On Saturday, April 30, 2016, at 8:02 p.m., the Lee"s Summit Fire Department responded to a reported structure fire at Diodes/Fabtech, 777 NW Blue Parkway, in the north building of the Summit Technology Campus. An employee called 911 to report a fire on the roof and smoke in their chemical/gas storage room.
When the fire department arrived, a small fire was visible on the roof of the 540,000 square foot, mixed use facility. The building was in the process of being evacuated.
The fire was located on the roof and in the gas scrubber room, on the north side of the building. The gasses are used for the manufacturing of semi-conductors for the electronics industry and the scrubbers process the gasses after they have been used.
After consulting with facility staff to determine the types of hazardous materials involved, crews made an initial investigation inside of the scrubber room and found a piece of ductwork from a scrubber unit burning in a pipe chase near the deck of the roof. A sprinkler head near the fire had activated and controlled the fire in the chase.
Fire crews finished extinguishing that fire as other crews attacked the fire involving the ductwork on the roof. On the roof, a portion of the ductwork going to an exhaust fan had burned and fallen away leaving burning gasses coming from two scrubber exhaust pipes. Fire crews applied foam and water from the ladder truck to control the fires and protect the exposures around them as the fire department worked with Diodes staff to shut down all of the gasses going into the scrubber.
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NEIGHBORS REACT TO CHEMICAL LEAK FROM TRAIN DERAILED IN DC
Tags: us_MD, transportation, release, response, ethanol, sodium_hydroxide
The CSX train was traveling from Cumberland, Md. to Hamlet, N.C. when it derailed 14 rail cars at 6:40 a.m. on May 1, said a spokesperson with CSX. The train had three locomotives and 175 total cars, including 94 loaded cars carrying mixed freight, and 81 empties.
Authorities later confirmed there were three chemical spills due to the derailment. The sodium hydroxide leak from one of the derailed cars was plugged this morning. Clean-up operations will be underway shortly. During more detailed inspections of the cars, another derailed tank car that was leaking non-hazardous calcium chloride solution has also been sealed. Additionally, a derailed ethanol rail car was found to be leaking slowly from the base of a valve. The ethanol is contained and work is ongoing to re-seal the valve, wrote a CSX spokesperson just before 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
The chemical spills forced some to temporarily stay inside, the incident also shut down stores and shops for much of the day. Metro made clear online, this was not their incident.
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VISAKHAPATNAM NYOOOZ
Tags: India, industrial, fire, response, unknown_chemical
Visakhapatnam: More than 48 hours after a major fire broke out at the Biomax manufacturing facility at Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone (VSEZ), fire and emergency services personnel continued to battle the blaze. According to officials of the fire and emergency services department, almost 90% of the fire has been doused and the remaining 10% is expected to be put out by Thursday night.Meanwhile, APPCB (AP Pollution Control Board) has decided to issue orders to stop production of the facility until further notice.Speaking to TOI, district fire officer J Mohan Rao said, "Only one out of the 12 tanks which caught fire is continuing to burn. We are making all efforts to ensure that the fire is doused by the end of today."In the meantime, another fire department official said they had been trying to spray foam in order to douse the fire at the tanker but were unable to do so because it was not easily accessible to the fire tenders.APPCB chairman GN Phani Kumar has ordered for !
rejection of consent for operation of the industry for causing environmental pollution.
Reviewing the situation, he also observed that the industry was not treating the effluents as per the APPCB standards and discharging the untreated effluents outside the industry premises through water tankers.He observed that the results of the monitoring carried out by APPCB at two stations indicate that due to the fire accident, there is an increase in the respirable suspended particulate matter to 108 g/NM3 as against the standard of 100 g/NM3.Meanwhile the district administration is planning to undertake a safety audit during the coming week in Visakhapatnam. According to sources, around 10 officials from the factories department will be roped in from other districts as part of the safety audit drive. At the same time, the fire services department is also expected to rope in officials from different districts to be part of its team which would jointly inspect the industries along with factories department and AP pollution control board officials.Meanwhile, officials of !
the Eastern Naval Command experimented with the use of fire balls, which are made out of dry chemical powder to douse the fire.
---------------------------------------------
FIREFIGHTERS RESPOND TO ACID SPILL AT GNP PLANT
Tags: us_MN, industrial, release, response, other_chemical
COLD SPRING " Two fire departments responded to the GNP Co. production plant Friday night when 260 gallons of acid were spilled.
Battalion Chief Jerry Raymond said the St. Cloud Fire Department responded to assist the Cold Spring Fire Department at 6:10 p.m. Friday. Raymond said a chemical called Inspexx 150, a sanitizing liquid used to treat the company's chicken for salmonella, spilled because of a faulty valve in a pole building on the north side of the property.
Firefighters contained the chemical spill and ventilated the building. Raymond said St. Cloud firefighters were on the scene in case the acid created an explosive atmosphere, but said that did not turn out to be a concern.
"They weren't anywhere close to having an explosive atmosphere," he said.
Firefighters were on the scene until just before 8 p.m. There were no reports of any injuries or harmful exposure, Raymond said.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL FUMES SCARE SHUTS WIMBLEDON LEISURE CENTRE
Tags: United_Kingdom, public, release, injury, chlorine
More than 100 people have been evacuated from a leisure centre after breathing in chemical fumes.
A man and a child were taken to hospital and five others treated at Wimbledon Leisure Centre after two chemicals were accidentally mixed together, London Fire Brigade said.
The building on Latimer Road was closed and 130 people evacuated to a nearby school just after 10:15 BST.
Police cordoned off the street which reopened at 14:00 BST.
Firefighters said hydrochloric acid and sodium hypochlorite were mixed together, making chlorine gas.
GLL, which runs the facility, said the mistake was "immediately recognised" and the leisure centre was evacuated as a precaution.
---------------------------------------------
HAZMAT TEAMS WORK TO IDENTIFY SUBSTANCE IN JANESVILLE CHEMICAL SPILL
Tags: us_WI, transportation, release, response, unknown_chemical
he Madison Fire Department said its hazmat incident team was assisting the Janesville Fire Department and Rock County hazmat team at 1:24 p.m. with an investigation of an unknown chemical spill at on Highway 14 near the cross with Kennedy Road.
A Janesville Fire Department battalion chief told News 3 that a passerby had reported liquid leaking out of a truck that was stopped on Highway 14. The truck drove away and officials hadn't found it Friday afternoon. The fire department found a slippery substance where the truck had reportedly been.
The chief said the Rock County hazmat team used all the tools available to them and called Madison fire and hazmat to help identify the chemical. Sand was put down reduce slipperyness.
---------------------------------------------
FIRE DAMAGES BELPRE CHEMICAL PLANT
Tags: us_WV, industrial, fire, response, cleaners, waste
An overnight fire in Belpre damages a recycling operation.
Fire Chief Tony Cronin says some non-hazardous material caught fire just before 4 A.M. at the Toll Compaction business behind Fire Station #2 on Farson Street.
Plant Manager John Jewell says it was contained to some pallets on the plant's west side, ignited by a cleaning agent.
Cronin says the damage was not extensive. However, he adds all of the city's fire units responded, and were at the site for three hours.
No injuries were reported. It isn't known how the fire started.
Toll Compaction is located at the site of the former Kaiser Aluminum plant near U.S. Route 50.
---------------------------------------------
PROPERTY OWNERS SUE BRIDGEPORT OVER PERFUME FACTORY FIRE
Tags: us_CT, industrial, follow-up, environmental, metals
BRIDGEPORT " Da"nay McBride strolled down Seaview Avenue recently, past the site of the September 2014 fire that destroyed a warehouse and threatened surrounding homes like hers.
Federal contractors are still busy hauling away the remnants of metal drums of chemicals that tenant Rowayton Trading company had stored there.
Some of those 55-gallon containers exploded the night of the fire, adding to the confusion that drew firefighters from Bridgeport, Fairfield and Stratford, as well as state and federal environmental agencies.
But once the smoke cleared, the firefighters were widely praised for keeping the fire contained to the warehouse, with no loss of life or surrounding homes.
"They did pretty good," McBride said.
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STATE, US EPAS INVESTIGATING CHEMICAL DUMPING IN TUSCARAWAS, STARK COUNTIES
Tags: us_OH, public, discovery, response, ag_chems, illegal, pesticides
State and federal environmental agencies are investigating three similar cases of illegal dumping of chemicals that occurred over six days in northern Tuscarawas County and southern Stark County.
The liquids were suspected to have been pesticides, herbicides and surfactants, soapy substances that reduce the surface tension of liquids. They are believed to have killed fish and damaged vegetation.
"It just looked like white foam," said Bolivar Fire Chief Shawn Lynch. His department was involved in the response to the incident around 10 a.m. on April 23, when the substances were found around 9559 Towpath Road NE in Lawrence Township near Bolivar in Tuscarawas County. The location is near the Towpath Trail.
It had rained the previous afternoon and evening; the spill is believed to have occurred in the early morning hours.
The released liquid "scoured" a gulley about a foot wide and two feet deep into the road's north embankment before settling into an approximate 10-by-80-foot area at the bottom of the embankment.
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AT LEAST 11 NUCLEAR FACILITY WORKERS CHECKED FOR CHEMICAL VAPOR EXPOSURE
Tags: us_WA, public, release, injury, unknown_chemical
RICHLAND, Wash. " Eleven workers at a nuclear facility who reported headaches were sent for medical evaluations Thursday after working near an area where waste from a leaking tank was being transferred, U.S. Energy Department officials said.
The first two workers at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation to be medically evaluated were wearing oxygen respirators because they were in an area where work was being done that could increase the risk of chemical vapors in the air, The Tri-City Herald reported.
After leaving the area and removing the respirators, both reported suspicious odors and said they had headaches. Both were evaluated and treated at an on-site medical provider.
Two other workers reported odors while walking the transfer line for the waste pumped from the leaking double-shell tank. Seven other employees nearby also reported odors.
Those workers also sought on-site medical evaluations. The results were not immediately available.
Officials said the transfer of waste from the double-shell tank back into the primary tank was stopped Thursday after the workers' reports.
Earlier this month, officials revealed that a tank known as AY-102 had leaked several thousand gallons of radioactive waste from its primary tank.
---------------------------------------------
MAN FOUND DEAD AT DOW CHEMICAL PLANT
Tags: us_TX, industrial, discovery, death, petroleum
A contract worker died after being found unresponsive at the Dow Chemical Facility in Freeport.
Officials with the Brazoria County Sheriff's Office directed questions about the fatality to Dow.
The company said in an emailed statement that the victim was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead. The victim's name has not been released yet.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends and colleagues during this extremely difficult time," David Winder, a spokesman, said in the email. "An investigation is underway to determine the cause."
The death comes less than a year after a man died in a Dow facility in Oyster Creek, near Missouri City.
KTRK reported that the man was believed to be a pipe fitter employed by the J V Group, a petrochemical contractor.
The exact circumstances of the death are still unknown. Separately, Dow has run afoul of federal watchdogs repeatedly in recent years.
In 2015, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated it and found it had violated federal standards. The facility passed two other inspections that year without incident.
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