Chemical Safety Incidents and Fatalities

For those looking for a compilation of chemical safety incidents and fatalities check out the two sites below.

The AIHA Laboratory Health and Safety Committee tracks laboratory safety incidents HERE. A variety of information can be found on their website HERE.

The Laboratory Safety Institute tracks laboratory fatalities on its Memorial Wall, which can be found HERE.

These two resources are useful for emphasizing the impacts of poor planning and unsafe conditions.

Jewelry Studio Incident Sends Student to Hospital

LONGMONT, Colo. -- Authorities say a Front Range Community College student has been taken to a hospital after she suffered burns while diluting a chemical in a jewelry studio classroom.

Longmont emergency manager Dan Eamon tells the Daily Times-Call the woman was injured Saturday by a chemical reaction while she was diluting ferric chloride. The chemical is often used for water treatment and to etch metal.

Itching Powder Causes Scare at School

By: news-press.com
Apr. 8, 2011

The Fort Myers Fire Department is at Paul Laurence Dunbar Middle School responding to a possible hazmat situation.

Firetrucks and ambulances are on scene and the school is currently on lockdown. The nature of the incident is unknown at this time.

UPDATE:
The school is no longer on lockdown.

Lee County EMS Chief of Operations Scott Tuttle said a student brought itching powder into the school. Twelve students and 11 cafeteria workers were affected by the powder.

Lab Fire Washington University, St. Louis

By: Michael Tabb 
Student Life, March 30, 2011

Matt Mitgang | Student Life

Three fire departments and at least nine fire trucks respond to a lab mishap with a reaction experiment in an environmental nanochemistry laboratory of Brauer Hall brought at least nine fire trucks to the northeast of campus Tuesday afternoon. No one was injured and, according to fire department officials at the scene, damage was negligible.

UMass: Chemical Spill Shuts Down Goessman Building

By: Jeff Bernstein/Collegian
Collegian News Staff
March 23, 2011

By: Jeff Bernstein

At around 4:00 p.m., Goessman was all cleared by the hazardous materials team, said Thomas O’Regan, emergency management and business continuity manager. The dean and provost will work to finalize the rescheduling of classes in Goessman.

The Goessman laboratory building has been shut down and evacuated after a chemistry department faculty member found a leaking ammonia tank at 10 a.m. this morning, said Daniel Fitzgibbons, associate director of news and media relations at the University of Massachusetts.

Students Mistake Poison for Candy

Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, January 14, 2011

Seven San Francisco middle school students were taken to hospitals Thursday after ingesting small amounts of rat poison they found on top of a classroom filing cabinet, thinking the single blue cube was candy, fire officials said.

The Martin Luther King Jr. students, who showed no symptoms other than fear, were transported to three local hospitals, but were not expected to suffer any harmful consequences, said Fire Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge.

Talmadge said one of the students found the small cube and took a little nibble and told classmates it tasted like a cookie. Six others, boys and girls ranging in age from 10 to 12, then licked or bit pieces of the 1.5-inch cube of poison and either swallowed or spit it out.

Chemical Spill at High School

January 13, 2011

Fire and Hazmat crews were called Thursday morning to Poland Seminary High School for a chemical spill.

Township Police Chief Brian Goodin said someone in a biology lab accidentally spilled a solvent on the floor as they were moving some chemicals around. Around 8:30 a.m., someone was cleaning and knocked over a bottle of Xylene, a clear, colorless liquid that can be very flammable. Students were asked to leave the classroom where the spill was contained, but the building was not evacuated, said township Police Chief Brian Goodin.