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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: July 2, 2012 3:57:36 PM EDT
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
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Chemical Safety Headlines =46rom Google
Monday, July 2, 2012 10:22:37 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 (10 articles)

HAZMAT INCIDENTS AT PHILA, N.J. POOLS, 9 PEOPLE HOSPITALIZED
Tags: us_NJ, public, release, injury, chlorine, pool_chemicals

TEPID BATHS EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, environmental, chlorine

WAS IT BLAST OR MERE CHEMICAL REACTION?
Tags: india, explosion, public, response, unknown_chemical

TEXAS TECH RECEIVES FAVORABLE REPORT FROM CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD :: TEXAS TECH TODAY
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical

CREWS BATTLE SOUTH MPLS BUSINESS FIRE; 1 FIREFIGHTER HOSPITALIZED
Tags: us_MN, industrial, explosion, response, propane

CHEMICAL SPILL BELIEVED TO HAVE KILLED PIGS
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, response, unknown_chemical

CHEMICAL LEAK PROMPTS WINNIPEG SCHOOL EVACUATION
Tags: Canada, education, release, injury, hvac_chemicals

SPONTANEOUS FIRE IN CHEMICAL YARD
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, response, ammonium_persulfate

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY LAB EVACUATED AFTER HAZARDOUS GAS ALARM
Tags: us_NJ, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

18 INJURED IN ANDHRA AGROCHEMICAL PLANT FIRE
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical


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HAZMAT INCIDENTS AT PHILA, N.J. POOLS, 9 PEOPLE HOSPITALIZED
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8720447
Tags: us_NJ, public, release, injury, chlorine, pool_chemicals

GLOUCESTER COUNTY, N.J. - June 30, 2012 (WPVI) -- At least four people have been taken to area hospitals sickened by a chlorine release at a Gloucester County swimming pool.

Officials say the incident was reported around 3:00pm at the Green Fields Swim Club at 989 Jessup Road in West Deptford, N.J.

The injured were transported by ambulances to Underwood and Kennedy Hospitals. There is no word on conditions.


The incident is under investigation.
And in Philadelphia, five people, including two children hospitalized in a similar incident at a pool in Northeast Philadelphia.

The incident was reported around 9:00am in the 8200 block of Bustleton Avenue.

Two children and three adults were taken to Hahnemann Hospital. They are listed in stable condition.

Officials say initial investigation revealed the incident occurred at a private pool where someone had mixed pool chemicals together causing hazardous material to be released.

---------------------------------------------

TEPID BATHS EVACUATED AFTER CHEMICAL LEAK
http://www.nzherald..co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10816694
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, environmental, chlorine

A chemical leak forced the evacuation of Auckland's newly opened Tepid Baths this afternoon.

A fire communications spokesman said they were called to the incident in the CBD around1.30pm, Newstalk ZB reported.

Staff told fire crews they had spilt about 50 litres of chlorine from a 2000 litre container.

70 people were evacuated and nearby streets were closed as fire crews worked to contain the spill.

---------------------------------------------

WAS IT BLAST OR MERE CHEMICAL REACTION?
http://www.asianage.com/kolkata/was-it-blast-or-mere-chemical-reaction-667
Tags: india, explosion, public, response, unknown_chemical

Calcutta, June 30: A "tin can" exploded at the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital as a sweeper's broom hit it this morning, smashing windowpanes 10ft away in a portion of the facility that would have been teeming with outpatients in two hours.

The sweeper has been admitted to the hospital with injuries in the eye and all over his body.

The hospital authorities tried to downplay the 7am explosion, suggesting a chemical reaction involving waste may have triggered it.

"Police are yet to tell us what caused the blast. We have formed a five-member inquiry committee of doctors," said Partha Pradhan, medical superintendent of the hospital.

Health department spokesperson Asit Biswas said: "We are reviewing how to upgrade security at the hospital.."

Amit Raut, the injured sweeper, said he saw a tin can among the garbage in a corner of the outpatient department. He said the explosion occurred the moment it hit the wall after being brushed aside.

"I was clearing garbage piled in front of an electric room when the blast happened," he said.

Doctors said Raut suffered minor abrasions all over his body. "His eye injury was caused by smoke and dust," Pradhan said.

He skirted the question whether Raut had suffered splinter injuries. "The police have not found any splinters."

A forensic expert corroborated that a team that visited the hospital had "not found any splinter activity in the place of occurrence". He said the blast "appeared" to be caused by a chemical reaction.

Hospital sources dismissed suggestions that the can was a crude bomb.

"No signs of explosives have been found. Some chemical must have been dumped in the corridor and it reacted with some other chemical, resulting in the explosion," a hospital official said.

---------------------------------------------

TEXAS TECH RECEIVES FAVORABLE REPORT FROM CHEMICAL SAFETY BOARD :: TEXAS TECH TODAY
http://today.ttu.edu/2012/06/texas-tech-receives-favorable-report-from-chemical-safety-board/
Tags: us_TX, laboratory, follow-up, response, unknown_chemical

The status of the investigation into the 2010 incident at the Texas Tech University Chemistry Building that injured a graduate student has been changed to "Open-Acceptable Response" by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB).

The status change came in a letter from the CSB. In the letter, Rafael Moure-Eraso, chairperson of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, informs Texas Tech officials that "-the status change reflects the Board's determination that TTU has planned and initiated actions that appear consistent with the intent of the recommendations. We appreciate that TTU's newly established Institutional Laboratory Safety Committee is working to both revise the university's chemical hygiene plan and to develop an incident and near-miss reporting system.

Please continue to keep us abreast of TTU's efforts to implement the CSB's recommendations. We look forward to seeing TTU's revised CHP and incident and near-miss reporting system."

---------------------------------------------

CREWS BATTLE SOUTH MPLS BUSINESS FIRE; 1 FIREFIGHTER HOSPITALIZED
http://kstp.com/news/stories/s2674436.shtml
Tags: us_MN, industrial, explosion, response, propane

At least one explosion brought firefighters and hazmat crews to a south Minneapolis businessFriday night.

Authorities say the incident began shortly after 9 p.m. near the intersection of East 28th Street and Longfellow Avenue South at a business that makes asphalt.

Witnesses reported multiple explosions and a police officer told 5 EYEWITNESS News he saw flames shooting from the top of the building when he arrived on the scene.

Fire officials say stacks of wood pallets had apparently caught fire, causing several propane tanks to explode.

Firefighters were able to get the fire under control just before 11 p.m. Streets in the area were closed and buses were re-routed. The streets have since reopened.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL SPILL BELIEVED TO HAVE KILLED PIGS
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/chemical-spill-believed-have-killed-pigs-4951631
Tags: New_Zealand, public, release, response, unknown_chemical

The white powder at a rural property near Ashburton, that's linked to the death of a number of animals, is believed to have been there for years.

The Christchurch Fire Service had been working most today to contain the chemical spill this morning.

They were called around 8.30am to investigate the white powder at a rural residential property on Cochranes Road, five kilometres east of Ashburton.

The powder was collected in a safe container and is now the hands of the Fire Service.

The Fire Service believe it is some kind of organic phosphate, probably more than 10 years old.

The powder came from a 45kg box container in an open shed.

Fire Shift Manager Karl Patterson said the powder may have contributed to the deaths of some pigs on the property over the last few days.

---------------------------------------------

CHEMICAL LEAK PROMPTS WINNIPEG SCHOOL EVACUATION
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2012/06/29/19936966.html
Tags: Canada, education, release, injury, hvac_chemicals

WINNIPEG - A chemical leak at a Winnipeg elementary school prompted an evacuation and medical treatment on Friday for close to 40 staff and students following a fire in an air-conditioner.

The refrigerant fumes emitted from Victor Mager School's ventilation system caused coughing and breathing problems for dozens throughout the building on the children's last day of classes until September.

Paramedics and firefighters responded to a 911 call at about 11:20 a.m.

After 17 students were treated and released by paramedics outside the elementary school, more than 20 staff and kids were taken on two fire-paramedic major incident response vehicles to hospital in stable condition.

---------------------------------------------

SPONTANEOUS FIRE IN CHEMICAL YARD
http://www.newswest9.com/story/18920567/summer-heat-sparks
Tags: us_TX, industrial, fire, response, ammonium_persulfate

MIDLAND COUNTY - The West Texas summer heat turned into a deadly fire starter on Friday.

Chemplex chemical yard in Midland County was thrown into chaos just before three in the afternoon, when a nearly 30,000 lb. container holding ammonium persulfate suddenly burst into flames.

"These 100-degree temperatures and if there's a little bit of moisture and they came in contact with that moisture, it would have caused it to oxidize and catch on fire," Midland Fire Marshal, Jeff Meiner, said.

Soon another container caught fire, threatening three more bigger containers holding more dangerous chemicals like sodium persulfate.

All workers were evacuated and a quarter-mile ring around the yard was shut down with toxic smoke leaking into the air.

"The smoke from this fire is toxic," Meiner said. "It does create some chemicals. You do not want to be in the smoke."

Firefighters did get some help from Mother Nature with wind blowing the toxic smoke over to a vacant field next to the chemical yard, so that no neighboring businesses had to be evacuated.

But the smoke did come close.

---------------------------------------------

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY LAB EVACUATED AFTER HAZARDOUS GAS ALARM
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/06/princeton_university_lab_evacu.html
Tags: us_NJ, laboratory, release, response, unknown_chemical

PRINCETON BOROUGH - Approximately 100 people have been removed from a Princeton University engineering building due to a reported leak of a potentially hazardous gas, a university spokesman confirmed this evening.
A Hazmat team from the Trenton Fire Department is inside at this hour, with fire and police units from the university and borough also standing by.
"Right now, we are trying to determine the condition in the building," said Martin Mbugua, the university spokesman.
The hazmat situation is inside the engineering quadrangle building on the first block of Olden Street, which houses the university=E2=80™s school of Engineering and Applied Science. An alarm for the gas sounded around 5:40 p.m., Mbugua said.
A graduate student was working inside the fourth-floor laboratory where the alarm was triggered, but no injuries were reported to the student.

---------------------------------------------

18 INJURED IN ANDHRA AGROCHEMICAL PLANT FIRE
http://india.nydailynews.com/politicsarticle/9e4fc4702e87a4b7b5a7478db998f2e3/18-injured-in-andhra-agrochemical-plant-fire
Tags: India, industrial, explosion, injury, unknown_chemical

Hyderabad, June 30 - Eighteen workers of an agrochemical company were injured in a fire following an explosion at the plant in Andhra Pradesh's Srikakulam district Saturday morning, police said.

Fire broke out at Nagarjuna Agrichem Limited following an explosion in a chemical reactor in the fifth block of the plant, which produces agrochemicals. The plant is located at Chilkapalem in the Srikakulam district of north coastal Andhra, about 700 km from here.

Srikakulam district collector Vankatrami Reddy said 15 of the injured were shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) at Srikakulam while three critically injured were taken to Visakhapatnam.

About 200 employees were reportedly working at the plant at the time of the incident. The workers ran in panic after the chemical reactor exploded. Company officials said the fire broke out during tea break which saved many lives.

Dense black smoke engulfed the entire area including nearby villages and the national highway. Some villages were evacuated as a precautionary measure. Fire tenders from neighbouring districts rushed to the scene and prevented the flames from spreading to other blocks.

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