May 30th, 2010 • 03:05
A belated Friday round-up
Chemical health & safety stories from the last week (or so):
Stemming from the Gulf oil spill (I realize that much of this is drilling rather than chemical safety, but I still think there is food for thought here on process safety in general)
- The WSJ investigates what went wrong and the response: BP decisions set stage for disaster and There was ‘nobody in charge’. From the NYT, Documents show early worries about safety of rig.
- Remembering the 11 oil workers who died last month: Families of oil rig victims struggle with a devastating loss
- 7 Gulf oil spill cleanup workers hospitalized (dizziness, headaches, nausea, rashes, and coughs; why does the Coast Guard spokesperson seem to imply that inhaling “the smell of petroleum” does not equate with chemical exposure?)
- On using injury rates as a measure of safety performance: Trying to keep track of the Gulf investigations
Other news
- Safety rules can’t keep up with biotech industry
- Univ. Delaware grad student injured in laboratory accident in Worrilow Hall (“four small glass containers ruptured” and “no hazardous materials were released”)
- Drug company arraigned in worker’s death (Sepracor Canada/Roland Daigle)
- Robert Moses Parkway, N.Y., reopened after chemical spill (iodine pentafluoride; five employees and four firefighters to the hospital)
- Leetsdale, Pa., chemical spill brings hazmat response, school precautions (ammonium persulfate)
- Delphos, Ohio, plant accident sends four to hospital (chlorine + oxalic acid)
- Truck stop in South Carolina reopens after truck leaks chemical (acrylonitrile)
- Fire at Phillips Lighting factory in Bath, N.Y. (some sort of water reactive chemical)
- Georgetown, Ky., airport closed for about an hour after hazmat scare (a cement truck ran over a device containing radioactive cesium)
- Chemical fumes lead to evacuation around Lucite International Tenn. plant (fuming mix of sulfur dioxide and sulfur trioxide)
- Two injured in explosion at ATK’s Allegany Ballistics Laboratory, W.Va. (“ATK manufactures tactical rocket motors, warheads, launch eject gas generators, and fabricated metal parts at that particular laboratory”)
- Dead fish found after fire at chemical factory in U.K. (herbicides, pesticides, and glue-based products)
- Man is treated for chemical face burns at Wrexham, U.K., firm
- Fire in chemical shops in India, three hurt
- Chemical cloud at Lakewood, Wash., building causes hazmat response (cleaning solutions; four to hospital)
- Pool Shock Mix Causes Chemical Explosion In West Mifflin, Pa. (mixing chlorine, possible contact with something else)
- Water gun fight in R.I. prompts hazmat case, evacuations (sodium hydroxide)
- C&EN Microbes quickly degrade a popular biofuel (making it corrosive to the carbon steel used for pipelines and storage tanks
- C&EN Dioxins reassesed (safe daily dose proposed for 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin)
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