CENtral Science

Friday chemical safety round-up

Chemical health and safety news from the past week:

• Sepracor Canada fined for chemist Roland Daigle’s death due to trimethylsilyldiazomethane exposure; the company pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to provide adequate ventilation in the laboratory and the other charges were dropped
• OSHA to fine DuPont and contractor Mollenberg-Betz nearly $117,000 for 17 safety violations in the Nov. 9 death of Richard J. Folaron and injuries of William R. Freeburg; “OSHA cited the companies for failing to make sure that any chemical residue and flammable vapors were cleaned out of the storage tank before Folaron and William R. Freeburg started doing welding work there”
• Lab safety commentary inspired by Michele Dufault‘s death at Yale: A call to arms, Taken for granted, Staying alive in the lab
• OSHA launches “Picture It!” photo contest for images of workplace health and safety; if anyone is inspired to contribute, send the photo to us, too, and we’ll post it here!
• Chembark on the juxtaposition of “nontoxic” and fire diamond labeling in a drycleaner’s window
• Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has appointed a panel to study hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, “a process in which millions of gallons of chemically treated water and sand are pumped into the ground at extremely high pressure to generate fractures or cracks in shale rocks and release trapped gas”
• General Chemical to buy family’s home, which is adjacent to the hazardous waste facility in Massachusetts

Fires and explosions:

• Because a few people brought it to my attention: 1 killed, 2 hurt in Aberdeen Proving Ground fire. Although initial headlines indicated that this was a lab incident, it wasn’t a lab in our usual sense: The linked story says that it was “a classified training test with a T-72 Russian tank” and “those types of classified exercises involve finding out the extent of punishment captured material can handle to render it vulnerable in battle.”
• An explosion in an Iranian chemical plant killed two
• A G&W Foundry employee mistakenly mixed two reactive chemicals, starting a fire that destroyed the Massachusetts facility
• Liquid asphalt was the source of a fire at a California plant
• A fire at a thermostat plant in Pennsylvania exposed firefighters to mercury

Leaks, spills, and other exposures:

• A peroxide powder, Perkadox 16, at BP Automation in Canada
• Ferric chloride in a jewelry studio at Front Range Community College in Colorado; a woman who was reportedly diluting the chemical was burned on her arms
• Chlorine gas at a water-treatment plant in North Carolina
• Some sort of acid at chemical testing company Ameri-Sci in Massachusetts, an hour after a hazmat crew cleaned up another spill (headline says fire, but the story reads like it was a spill)
• Environmental consultants were called in to dispose of chemicals collected by a former Mobil Oil chemist; when the chemist’s son “first tried to dispose of the first of about 10 boxes, the Chittenden Solid Waste District became concerned, especially when a Geiger Counter activated on some of the chemicals”
• On roads/railways/shipyards: 10 tons of human waste, phosphoric acid

Not included: meth labs, ammonia leaks, and incidents involving floor sealants, cleaning chemicals, or pool chemicals