17/02/2015

Hundreds of students have been evacuated from the Australian Catholic University campus after a chemical spill in a laboratory this morning. Roads around the university in Edward St, North Sydney, were closed as fire crews rushed to the scene.

The spill is understood to have involved a acid-based chemical of an explosive nature. Superintendent Ian Krimmer from NSW Fire and Rescue said firefighters were in the process of assessing the nature of the spill. “Someone noticed the leak and did the right thing,” Supt Krimmer said. The entire campus has been evacuated and three fire crews are at the university with further experts on the way. About 200 students had to leave the university and there were some classes in session at the time.

Read More....

05/03/2015 

A male employee at Kaiser Permanente Irvine Medical Center was treated at the hospital's emergency Thursday evening after accidentally spilling a chemical onto the floor and himself, authorities said.

The Orange County Fire Authority received a call at 6:30 p.m. about the spillage in the pathology lab where the employee worked, Capt. Steve Concialdi said.

The employee spilled the liquid chemical, Formalin, on himself and immediately showered and sought treatment in the emergency room. The chemical is a formaldehyde solution that contains a small amount of methanol. It's used for preservation of specimens in a lab setting. Contact with it can cause skin burns and blistering.

Read More....

02/01/2015

Christmas Eve brought the unwelcome news that a lab worker at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may have been exposed to the Ebola virus. It was the latest in a series of similar lapses. Citing such problems, the Obama administration in October suspended some government-funded research projects involving genetic modification of viruses that have the potential to set off a worldwide epidemic. The lapses reported so far have not involved serious injuries or fatalities. But is the lack of serious harm evidence that current safety measures are effective, or are the lapses early warning signs of systemic problems?

The recent Ebola exposure at the CDC occurred just four days after a symposium on lab safety at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington. A broad cross section of experts, including me, assembled to ponder such questions, to debate the risks and benefits of the suspended research and to begin to discuss how to implement and enforce risk assessments of laboratory processes.

Read More....

Accident Description
An explosion severely injured a graduate student at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, in the chemistry department during the handling of a high-energy metal compound, which suddenly detonated.

Read More.... http://www.csb.gov/texas-tech-university-chemistry-lab-explosion/

02/02/ 2015

Four people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries Monday after an explosion in the Texas Tech Chemistry Building.

Officials believe the explosion was caused by a chemical waste product, said Chris Cook, university spokesman. Cook could not say what type of chemical caused the accident.

Those injured suffered cuts and abrasions, Cook said. It was unclear if the building sustained any structural damage, but crews were working to clean up inside.

According to a release from the Lubbock Fire Department, the Tech Fire Marshal’s office is investigating the exact cause of the explosion.

“It will be investigated, and they will start that immediately,” Cook said.

Read More....