Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion

2012-01-27T09:46:00.002-05:00

Clean, Green and Healthy Schools Webinar Series

Hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) Region 8, the webinars are designed for schools servingtribal communities but are OPEN TO ALL: school administrators, risk managers,educators, health and safety coordinators, school health professionals,environmental protection personnel, parents, communities,and EPA personnel.

Please register to attend. You may attendone or more presentations in the webinar series and there is no costto attend.

Register at: www.epa.gov/region8/tribalschools
For additional information: Matthew M. Langenfeld, U.S. Environmental ProtectionAgency, Region 8, 1595 Wynkoop Street, 8P-P3T, Denver, CO 80202, 303-312-6284, Langenfeld.matthew@epa.gov

Integrated Pest Management &Green Cleaning in Schools
Mike Daniels, Native Integrated PestManagement Consultant
North Central Integrated Pesticide Management
Marie Zanowick, EPA
2/1/2012 3:30 PM MST, 5:30 PM EST

Recycling, Composting & Gardeningin Schools
Virginia Till, EPA
Diane Jourdan, Oneida and StockbridgeTribe
2/8/2012 3:30 PM MST, 5:30 PM EST

Indoor Air in Schools
Mansel Nelson; Graylynn Jaysue Hudson,Northern Arizona
Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals
2/15/2012 3:30 PM, 5:30 PM EST

Energy & Water Conservation inSchools
Deenise Becenti, Navajo Tribal UtilityAuthority
2/22/2012 3:30 PM MST, 5:30 PM EST

2012-01-26T12:12:00.003-05:00

Successful Strategies for Creating a Culture of Laboratory Safety
by Bryan Connors, M.S., C.I.H., H.E.M.

Felony charges have been filed against the University of California and a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) chemistry professor in connection with a laboratory fire that killed a staff research assistant three years ago. The L.A. County district attorney’s office has filed criminal charges against the chemistry professor responsible for the training and supervision of the research assistant, and the regents of the University of California with three counts each of willfully violating occupational health and safety standards, resulting in the research assistant’s death.

This tragedy has prompted universities and biotech facilities across the nation to scrutinize their own laboratory safety programs to ensure that they are adequately protecting employees from injury. EH&E manages environmental health and safety (EH&S) programs for several large research institutions in Boston and Cambridge, MA and understands these concerns. Similar incidents reported by the media have driven our staff to conduct internal reviews of our own programs to identify vulnerabilities and make improvements. This article offers insights from our internal reviews and resulting efforts on strategies we’ve found to be successful at improving safety program performance...

Continue reading here

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Environmental Health and Engineering Webinar

Best Practice Strategies for Laboratory Safety Programs

2/7/12 EST Pice: $0.00

Learn best practices and proven strategies for implementing, maximizing, and tracking the effectiveness of lab safety management programs.

More information

Registration Deadline: 2/7/2012 10:00:00 AM

2012-01-22T11:23:00.006-05:00

Safety task force will evaluate evacuation plan By Sarah Hite, Staff Writer shite@timesleader.com January 22 http://www.timesleader.com/TheDallasPost/news/Safety_task_force_will_evaluate_evacuation_plan_01-22-2012.html
Parents have demanded a specific evacuation plan tailored to a natural gas emergency for the Dallas School District, and district officials recently announced the creation of a safety task force, comprised of local first responders, board members and natural gas experts, to aid in the development of a plan.

2012-01-19T13:14:00.002-05:00

The marker at the site of the 1937 Texas School Explosion.

March 18, 2012 is the 75th anniversary of the 1937 Texas School Explosion, a massive explosion that destroyed the New London Junior Senior High School killing an estimated 296 students and teachers. The subsequent deaths of victims from injuries sustained brought the final death count to 311(*). The explosion was attributed to the odorless gas leak beneath the school building. The memorial to victims of this explosion was erected in 1939. *Due to the mobility of the people in the oil industry and lack of records, we do not know the exact number that died. Today the estimate is 319. (Photo: Ellie Goldberg, 2005)

2012-01-14T10:06:00.004-05:00

Got gas?

Rampant city gas leaks.65 million American households use natural gas to heat and cook. And thanks to the mining technique known as hydraulic fracturing, supply is soaring and so is demand. But delivering on natural gas’s promise, and distributing trillions of cubic feet through a maze of millions of miles of pipelines is fraught with many potential problems and real dangers, including contributing to climate change.
Living On Earth
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=12-P13-00002&segmentID=3

What to do if you smell gas?
Note from City of Newton website: Natural Gas

Only Your Nose Can Detect a Natural Gas Odor

Natural gas has no scent of its own. The natural gas "odor" is actually added for safety reasons to aid in the detection of a gas leak. The "rotten egg" smell helps you detect even the tiniest gas leak.

A natural gas leak can be extremely dangerous, so use the following advice whenyou smell natural gas.

GasLeaks, Odors and Emergencies (24 hours a day): 911 or1-800-231-5325

If you smell a faint odor:

Look for the source.
Check pilot lights on your furnace, water heater or stove.
Re-light pilot lights only if you're familiar with the process; otherwise, call us at the number above.
Make sure the burners on your stove are completely turned off.
If you can't find the source of the odor, call the number above.

If you smell a strong odor:
Leave the home or building immediately and leave the door open behind you to allow air to enter.
Call the emergency number above using a neighbor's phone or a cellular phone.
If you detect an odor outdoors, leave the area immediately and call the number.
When leaving a home or building, do not use any electrical devices that might create spark, such as light switches, flashlights, telephones, and computers.

2012-01-14T08:38:00.003-05:00

The aftermath of a school explosion

January 13, 2012 Science room mishap prompts HAZMAT response at David Douglas High

August 12, 1985 Science Class...

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close:
The aftermath of a school explosion
NYTIMES Magazine, February 27, 2005. "The Rescue Artist," by Deborah Solomon. Below is an excerpt from an article about Jonathan Safran Foer, Author of Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
… "Astoundingly, he insists that his development as a writer was shaped less by his parents and by his genetic endowments, less even by the novelists and poets he loves, than by a single event: the Explosion, as he calls it. ...

[His email] began: “Firstly, let me say that these are, quite literally, the first words I’ve ever written about this. Ever. Literally not a single world.” Foer told me later that he had composed the message at home, at the desk in his cluttered basement workshop, his thin face streaked with tears. The letter recounted, in some detail, the event that split the idyll of his childhood in two: the years before Aug. 12, 1985, and the years after.

That bright Monday morning began innocently enough. Foer, a boy of 8, was attending a summer program at Murch Elementary, a pubic school not far from his home. The first lesson of the day was a chemistry project, and in an act of nearly unbelievable carelessness, the teacher laid out bowls of combustible materials. The goal was to make sparklers...

Read more: The aftermath of a school explosion

Includes The Washington Post article: $11 Million Awarded for Boy Burned in School Lab

2012-01-13T10:40:00.003-05:00

My Boys and Girls Are in There

by Ron Rozelle, Publication Date: March 1, 2012
6 x 9, 184 pp.18 b&w photos. Appendix. Index.

The 1937 New London School Explosion

On March 18, 1937, a spark ignited a vast pool of natural gas that had collected beneath the school building in New London, a tiny community in East Texas. The resulting explosion leveled the four-year-old structure and resulted in a death toll of more than three hundred—most of them children. To this day, it is the worst school disaster in the history of the United States. The tragedy and its aftermath were the first big stories covered by Walter Cronkite, then a young wire service reporter stationed in Dallas. He would later say that no war story he ever covered—during World War II or Vietnam—was as heart-wrenching.

In the weeks following the tragedy, a fact-finding committee sought to determine who was to blame. It soon became apparent that the New London school district had, along with almost all local businesses and residents, tapped into pipelines carrying unrefined gas from the plentiful oil fields of the area. It was technically illegal, but natural gas was in abundance in the “Oil Patch.” The jerry-rigged conduits leaked the odorless “green” gas that would destroy the school.

A long-term effect of the disaster was the shared guilt experienced—for the rest of their lives—by most of the survivors. There is, perhaps, no better example than Bill Thompson, who was in his fifth grade English class and “in the mood to flirt” with Billie Sue Hall, who was sitting two seats away. Thompson asked another girl to trade seats with him. She agreed—and was killed in the explosion, while Thompson and Hall both survived and lived long lives, never quite coming to terms with their good fortune.

My Boys and Girls Are in There: The 1937 New London School Explosion is a meticulous, candid account by veteran educator and experienced author Ron Rozelle. Unfolding with the narrative pace of a novel, the story woven by Rozelle—beginning with the title—combines the anguished words of eyewitnesses with telling details from the historical and legal record. Released to coincide with the seventy-fifth anniversary of the New London School disaster, My Boys and Girls Are in There paints an intensely human portrait of this horrific event.

The author of seven previous books, Ron Rozelle is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters.

Gordon College Annual Green Chemistry Lecture

2012-01-12T11:11:00.000-05:00

2012 Green Chemistry Lecture We are pleased to announce our next Green Chemistry Lecture: Green Chemistry: Chemistry for the Long Haul, Michael C. Cann, Chemistry Department, University of Scranton, Thursday, March 1, 2012, 4:30 pm

As concerns over such issues as food, water, energy, climate change and waste production escalate, sustainability is rapidly moving from the wings to center stage on the world agenda. Chemistry, the central science, must play a central role in moving humanity onto a sustainable path. Green Chemistry (environmentally benign chemistry) is the paradigm that will aid in the development of this sustainability. Green chemistry not only focuses on pollution prevention, but also the efficient use of resources, use of renewable resources, and energy conservation. This presentation will highlight the ethos of green chemistry, the twelve principles of green chemistry, specific examples of green chemistry from the winners of the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, and some of our efforts to infuse green chemistry into the curriculum.

For more info on our Green Chemistry Series, email: chemistry@gordon.edu

Green Chemistry Resources List

Get ready for National Healthy Schools Day

2012-01-06T12:08:00.002-05:00

Activity Ideas from the Bourne TX Educational Leadership Forum: LINK

2012-01-06T10:53:00.001-05:00

Virtual School Walkthrough Webinar 2.0:

Effectively Responding to Common IAQ Issues and Concerns

Thursday, January 26, 2012, 1 – 2:30 p.m. EST

Register today for this free webinar!

This webinar is a follow-on to the Virtual School Walkthrough 1.0 webinar, held in December 2011. This webinar will touch upon the information presented in December, but further delve into how you can effectively respond to IAQ issues and concerns and how to communicate your IAQ assessment findings to your school community.

Attend this webinar to:

· Discover best practices for addressing IAQ issues raised by teachers, students, staff and other school community members. Learn how to maintain effective communication throughout the issue response and resolution process.

· Learn tips and techniques on how to properly use common IAQ instruments, including how and when to collect data, interpret it, and effective ways to report your results.

· Understand the limitations of air sampling for mold and other pollutants, the relative value of a thorough visual inspection, and what can be accomplished without the use of instruments.

· Hear how to foster a culture of open communication in your district where reports of IAQ concerns are welcomed and encouraged as part of a quality IAQ management plan.

This webinar is offered at no cost to participants. Don’t miss your chance to have your questions answered by the speakers – send your questions by clicking the button below or sending an email to IAQTfSConnector@cadmusgroup.com by January 23, 2012.

2012-01-01T15:35:00.001-05:00


		Gone at 3:17: The Untold Story of the Worst School Disaster in American History David M. Brown and Michael Wereschagin To be released January 31, 2012. Advance purchase is available on line through Amazon and the Potomac Books websites. ... Gone at 3:17 is a true story of what can happen when school officials make bad decisions. To save money on heating the school building, the trustees had authorized workers to tap into a pipeline carrying “waste” natural gas produced by a gasoline refinery. The explosion led to laws that now require gas companies to add the familiar pungent odor. The knowledge that the tragedy could have been prevented added immeasurably to the heartbreak experienced by the survivors and the victims’ families. The town would never be the same. Using interviews, testimony from survivors, and archival newspaper files, Gone at 3:17 puts readers inside the shop class to witness the spark that ignited the gas. Many of those interviewed during twenty years of research are no longer living, but their acts of heroism and stories of survival live on in this meticulously documented and extensively illustrated book.

Critical Exposure

2011-12-20T15:12:00.001-05:00

On her first day at Roosevelt Senior H.S., Sabrina was shocked to find broken windows, leaky ceilings, and moldy class equipment. In October, Sabrina and her classmates began working with Critical Exposure to document the school's conditions and highlight the differences between Roosevelt and the renovations at many other D.C. public schools. She and her peers are now organizing students to hold city officials accountable for promises they made to begin modernizing the building this year... More: LINK

http://www.criticalexposure.org

...in the rush to go green, safety is often overlooked...

2011-12-12T08:47:00.003-05:00

Grad Helps Make Green Buildings Safe for Workers: Researcher Develops Tool to Integrate Safety Into Design

Mohamed Omar, a 2011Work Environment graduate, conducted research on the safety of green building features.

12/09/2011 By Karen Angelo

Green buildings are intended to do good – conserve energy, protect the environment and improve the health of occupants. But some green systems are putting people who install and maintain them in harms way, says a research study conducted by Work Environment graduate Mohamed Omar.

“We found that many of the green buildings that house these systems were not designed with workers in mind,” says Omar, a Lowell resident who works as an environmental management engineer at Harvard University’s Office of Environmental Health, Safety and Emergency Management. “Unfortunately, in the rush to go green, safety is often overlooked.”

Working with his adviser Prof. Margaret Quinn, Omar found an increased risk of occupational safety and health hazards for five common green building features – geothermal wells, green roofs, rainwater harvesting systems, energy recovery wheels and natural light percolating systems.

Read More

2011-11-18T10:14:00.001-05:00

Schools. Do you know where your chemicals are?

WATCH: Planning for Environmental Health and Safety Issues in Schools - FEMA www.epa.gov/osw/partnerships/sc3/pdfs/fema.pdf

SEE: Hazards in High Schools and Middle Schools

DO: Bring the Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion to Your School

MORE: You can prevent explosions in your school.

The importance of visualizing the danger...

2011-11-15T09:27:00.001-05:00

Natural Gas Leaks Fuel Global Warming, Not Homes Bostonia, Fall 2011. BU researcher, Nathan Phillips, maps gas leaks on city streets http://www.bu.edu/bostonia/fall11/gas-leaks/

2011-11-03T17:47:00.003-04:00

Upcoming Webinar!
The Virtual School Walkthrough: Identifying and Solving Common IAQ Problems

Friday, December 9, 2011, 1–2:30 p.m. EST.

Do you know what to look for when observing the condition of your school buildings?

Join IAQ experts Richard Prill from Washington State University and David Blake from the Northwest Clean Air Agency on a virtual school walkthrough, providing you with a comprehensive and effective process for identifying, diagnosing and solving common IAQ issues.

Attend this webinar to:

Gain insight on how to identify potential IAQ issues before they become major problems for your school community.
Learn when and how to take, interpret and use IAQ-related measurements to determine the condition of your school buildings.
Discover tools and resources your school can use, including checklists within the IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit, to conduct a thorough and effective walkthrough investigation.
Learn the importance of prioritizing IAQ issues and the power of effective communication when responding to reports and concerns.
Hear about Dave and Rich’s follow up webinar on IAQ measurements and testing, which will be held in January 2012.

Listen to a clip of Dave and Rich’s webinar presentation to hear how conducting a walkthrough in a school should be as routine as getting a physical at a doctor’s office. Access the clip here: http://cadmusweb.com/Outreach/TfS/Virtual_Walkthrough_Audio_Marketing.mp3

Visit https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/345795698 to register today!

2011-10-28T08:36:00.006-04:00

CSB Again Calls for Increased Safeguards at Oil and Gas Sites. The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) recently distributed educational materials concerning oil site hazards that threaten the lives of teenagers to more than 150 ississippi school superintendents. CSB is calling on schools across the state to incorporate the video and lessons into school curricula.

The project’s aim is to save the lives of teenagers in rural areas who often socialize at oil and gas production and storage sites and who are seemingly unaware of the explosion hazards. The products include the CSB’s safety video, "No Place to Hang Out: The Danger of Oil Sites," and a lesson plan to be incorporated into school curricula across the state.

The “No Place to Hang Out” video was released in April and tells the story of the tragic deaths of 18-year-old Wade White and 16-year-old Devon Byrd. The two boys were killed Oct. 31, 2009, when an oil tank located in a clearing in the woods near one of the boys’ homes in Carnes, Miss., exploded.

Chemical board calls for safer oil, natural gas storage tanks after explosions ...Washington Post Explosions from oil and natural gas tanks tucked away in isolated areas killed 44 people in the last three decades, federal regulators said Thursday as they called on companies and officials to make the storage sites safer. Thousands of tanks are in ...

Chemical Safety Board: Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Sites Are ...EHS Today On Oct. 31, 2009, two teenagers, aged 16 and 18, were killed when a storage tank containing natural gas condensate exploded at a rural gas production site in Carnes, Miss. Six months later a group of youths were exploring a similar tank site in ...

Nominate a Healthy Schools Hero 2012

2011-10-25T09:29:00.013-04:00

The Cenotaph

For Immediate Release

Attn: Science educators, STEM advocates, professionals in health and safety, lab safety, community security, IAQ, IPM, emergency and risk management, asthma educators, first responders, school administrators, advocates, parents…

Do you know someone whose sense of responsibility, inspirational leadership, and exemplary persistence and courage protects children from hazards and unhealthy school or community conditions?

March 18, 2012 will be the 75th anniversary of the 1937 Texas School Explosion, the worst school disaster in U.S. history -- a gas explosion in the small East Texas town of New London that killed 319 people, mostly students, just minutes before the end of the school day. (What was the 1937 Texas School Explosion?)

By nominating a Hero you can help make March 18 an annual day that brings the Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion to our nation's schools and celebrates the leadership that can save lives. See: "Set aside a special day each year as a memorial..."

Send your hero's name, contact information, and your hero's story by February 15, 2012 to healthykids@rcn.com

The Healthy Kids Healthy Schools Hero Award was created as an annual opportunity to tell the story of New London Texas' preventable tragedy, to promote inspirational examples of leadership and partnerships, and to start conversations to identify and eliminate chemical hazards and unhealthy conditions that put children at risk today.

Break the Silence.

The Heroes Award is part of an ongoing campaign to bring "safety" from the margins to the core of school curriculum and community culture.

The goal is to strengthen parent involvement and community partnerships to establish the 21st century standards and safeguards that can protect children from deadly explosions, fires, chemical spills and toxic exposures.

This cenotaph, erected in 1939 is the memorial to victims of the explosion. The sculptural block of Texas granite depicts twelve life-size figures, representing children coming to school, bringing gifts and handing in homework to two teachers. Around the inside of the base are the individual names of those who died. The Egyptians defined a cenotaph as a symbolic tomb, honoring the dead but not containing the body. It is a sepulchral monument erected to commemorate a person or persons buried elsewhere.

2011-10-20T21:04:00.004-04:00

Clarkston remembers 22 dead from 1961 gas explosion
BBC News

The explosion caused devastation and left 22 people dead and dozens injured.

Events are being held this weekend to mark the 40th anniversary of the Clarkston gas explosion which killed 22 people and left more than 100 injured.

The blast flattened a row of shops in the town and impacted on a passing bus just before 15:00 on 21 October 1971.

It was described as the worst peace-time explosion in Scotland. An inquiry later found no-one was to blame.

A flower laying ceremony will take place next to Clarkston Hall at 15:00 on Friday.

Family grief

This will be followed by a special service at Greenbank Church at 14:00 on Sunday.

East Renfrewshire Provost Alex Mackie said: "The Clarkston explosion took many lives from our community but it touched many more.

"The families and children who were left behind in their grief, the many people injured and the many more people who knew someone affected by it.

"We are joining with the local churches and community to remember the events of 40 years ago.

"It is a chance for all of us to pay our respects to those who lost their lives and those who lost loved ones."

2011-10-20T15:27:00.003-04:00

CSB Releases New Video on Laboratory Safety at Academic Institutions October 20, 2011 "Experimenting with Danger"

Focuses on CSB Case Study on Texas Tech University Accident; Laboratory Deaths at UCLA and Dartmouth

2011-10-19T11:58:00.002-04:00

Report finds fault with college labs over poor safety record by Dan Vergano and Gregory Korte, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/story/2011-10-19/college-lab-safety-chemistry/50818666/1

..."The report lays out a challenge to the academic community, " says Neal Langerman of Advanced Chemical Safety Inc. in San Diego. "We really need a 'safety culture' in university labs."

... Lab accidents at schools and colleges happen 10 to 50 times more frequently than in the chemical industry, according to Jim Kaufman of the Laboratory Safety Institute.

... "Safety is just as important as scholarship," says Taylor Eighmy, Texas Tech research vice president. The university now makes investigators report all safety accidents.

2011-10-13T12:53:00.002-04:00

Dallas schools consider update of emergency plan By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer),Published: October 13, 2011

Evacuation by bus to another site may not be practical if it's a large gas fire, like San Bruno or Edison NJ. The thermal flux (radiant heat) could be enough to panic children, even if there's been evacuation drills before. It sounds like very poor siting of the schools or pipelines was done here.....

More: http://citizensvoice.com/news/dallas-schools-consider-update-of-emergency-plan-1.1217251#axzz1aeKDeuVT

...... Jacobs said she felt the school board had dropped the ball on the subject, and was glad she could make a valid point which its members understood.
"They just want to ignore the thing over there, and everybody's going to hold their breath for the next 50 years and hope there's not a problem," she said.

2011-10-06T17:44:00.003-04:00

Schools Learn Some Hard Lessons
Healthy School News Fall 2011 Issue (PDF) (8 pp. 1.4MB)

Over the past few months, EPA has found a number of cases of asbestos contamination in schools in Region 10. In one instance, school personnel removed ceiling tiles as part of a school project and inadvertently disturbed asbestos-containing dust. In another case, contractors hired by the school district removed asbestos floor tile without first identifying it as asbestos-containing material. EPA has also learned of volunteers who are being asked to sand and paint portions of their schools without proper safety precautions and training.

Schools need to carefully consider repair and maintenance projects for school buildings to avoid potentially harmful exposures. Some approaches schools should use include:

1. Know The Age of Your Buildings– Both lead and asbestos were used extensively in building products sold prior to 1978.

2. Get Professional Help if Pre-1978 – If you allow any untrained person to disturb pre-1978 building materials, there is a good chance you are exposing that person to both asbestos and lead and are doing something illegal.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions about Building Materials – There is no way for you to determine whether there is lead or asbestos in a building product by visual inspection. Specialized equipment and trained personnel are required.

To learn more about the EPA’s lead & asbestos programs, go to http://www.epa.gov/lead or http://www.epa.gov/asbestos. Or contact Regional Lead Coordinator, Barbara Ross at ross.barbara@epa.gov or Regional Asbestos Coordinator, Maria Tartaglia at tartaglia.maria@epa.gov.

Do you want a free test of your school’s artificial turf for lead? Contact Matt at turf@ceh.org or (510) 655-3900, ext. 318.

2011-10-06T16:14:00.004-04:00

October is Children’s Health Month
Healthy School News Fall 2011 Issue (PDF) (8 pp. 1.4MB)

EPA is recognizing that school environments are very important for children, and is calling attention to the tools and resources available for communities to improve school environments, address indoor air quality, and reduce exposures to chemicals and pesticides, ultimately making their schools healthier and safer places for children.

All of EPA’s tools and resources can be accessed through EPA’s Schools Web Portal, http://epa.gov/schools/.

-- Highly recommend: EPA newsletters that offer tips and information to keep schools in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska environmentally healthy and pollution-free.

Healthy School News Fall 2011 Issue (PDF) (8 pp. 1.4MB)
Healthy School News May 2011 Issue (PDF) (7 pp. 817K)
Healthy School News Winter 2011 Issue (PDF) (5 pp. 1MB)
Healthy School News Fall 2010 Issue (PDF) (4 pp. 272K)
Healthy School News May 2010 Issue (PDF) (3 pp. 325K)
Healthy School News Feb 2010 Issue (PDF) (2 pp. 338K)

2011-10-06T15:10:00.003-04:00

Effective Policies to Eliminate Chemical Releases and Exposures in Schools
Healthy School News Fall 2011 Issue (PDF) (8 pp. 1.4MB)

To promote a national framework for the prevention of chemical incidents in schools, the ATSDR National Toxic Substance Incidents Program (NTSIP) has teamed up with Interstate Chemical Threats Workgroup (ICTW) to bring you this exciting fall webinar series.

During the sessions we’ll explore policies and prevention efforts for three chemicals/chemical categories that lead the NTSIP incident list: elemental mercury, cleaning products, and pesticides.

At the conclusion of the webinar series, the summary notes will guide the development of a white paper entitled, Best Practices and Policies for Eliminating Chemical Releases and Exposures in Schools.

This paper will be distributed nationally and will serve as a basis of ATSDR’s outreach to those who can effect change. If you are not an ICTW member, but would like to attend please contact Lori Copan at lori.copan@cdph.ca.gov.

Save the dates: All sessions will begin at 12:30pm EST/9:30am PST and run for 75 minutes.

October 13th Mercury exposures and effective policies

November 10th Green cleaning policies to eliminate exposures

December 15th Pesticide exposures and effective policies

January 12th Discussion on white paper development: “Best Practices and Policies for Eliminating Chemical Releases and Exposures in Schools”.

2011-10-05T17:12:00.002-04:00

New: Landowner's Guide to Pipelines

The Pipeline Safety Trust frequently hears from landowners who live near pipelines with questions about pipeline safety, the government processes for routing pipelines, easements and eminent domain, right of way maintenance and use limitations, property values and insurance, and many other topics related to living near a pipeline. Last year we received a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration to produce a guide for landowners to provide answers to many of these questions.

We are happy to announce the release of the Landowner's Guide to Pipelines, developed following input from landowners and those about to become pipeline neighbors who advised us what kinds of information landowners living with pipelines need to have. If you would like a printed copy (or more), please let us know. (Please phone or send an email with your mailing address to riley@pstrust.org - don't post it on the list). We'll be happy to mail them to you. For those of you who just can't wait for a copy in the mail, the Guide is also available as a pdf on our website at http://www.pstrust.org/library/docs/landownersguide.pdf

Thanks for your continued support.

The Pipeline Safety Trust
360-543-5686

2011-10-05T16:49:00.001-04:00

New photos from the New London school disaster Houston Chronicle
After the tragic events of that day, the Texas Legislature passed a law ... Search-and-recovery scene following New London school explosion, March 1937...

2011-10-03T16:39:00.002-04:00

Large fire at chemical plant south of Dallas... including chemicals used to stimulate oil and gas wells and hyrdraulic fracturing. VIDEO: http://www.necn.com/10/03/11/Large-fire-at-chemical-plant-south-of-Da/landing_nation.html?blockID=571506&feedID=4207

2011-10-02T16:02:00.006-04:00

October is Children's Health Month

Develop a "Safety Bill of Rights" for your school. For example:

Parents, educators, and health professionals owe it to children to teach safety and teach safely.

Every child has a right to an environmentally safe and healthy home and school.

Schools should be role models for environmental safety and environmentally responsible behavior.

Everyone has a right to know about unsafe and unhealthy school conditions and to be involved in efforts to create and maintain safe conditions.

More: What Can I Do?

Neighbors uneasy as Kansas gas fields go uninspected, Wichita Eagle

2011-10-02T14:21:00.002-04:00

2011-09-29T09:45:00.003-04:00

Nathan Phillips is a meter-reader for the 21st century.

The College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of geography and environment recently piled into a Nissan Murano with collaborators Bob Ackley and Eric Crosson and rambled through the streets of greater Boston to hunt for natural gas leaks. With the help of a strange-looking vacuum device attached to the car just below the rear bumper, the three have found geysers of gas gushing invisibly from underground pipes corroded by age. The leaks, Phillips says, contribute to global warming, could create explosions in some extreme cases, have killed or damaged up to 10,000 trees in Massachusetts (a disputed matter under litigation), and shaft rate-paying gas customers who must pick up the tab for wasted gas.

Much more

2011-09-26T09:21:00.004-04:00

Data kept secret on risk, failings of plastic pipe

09/26/2011 By Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer

The type of plastic pipe that caused a natural gas explosion and fire in a Cupertino condominium last month has long been considered a potential threat to the public, but federal pipeline regulators have allowed companies to keep it in the ground and secretly gather limited information about its failings, a Chronicle investigation shows.

Companies such as Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which owns the line that caused the Cupertino blast, don't have to routinely report what they know about failure rates of particular brands of plastic pipes, even to the federal and state agencies that regulate pipeline operators. The federal government, bowing to industry resistance, has never required it.

Officials with the California Public Utilities Commission, which oversees PG&E, say the utility does account for plastic pipe leaks in quarterly reports, but does not indicate the maker of the pipes involved. PG&E provides that and other key information about plastic pipe failures on a voluntary, anonymous basis to an industry-maintained confidential database.

Timothy Alan Simon, one of the five PUC members appointed by the governor, said that should change.

"These are gas lines coming to your home," Simon said. "Every resident should have a certain level of assurance that we are not hiding information that they need to know to determine safety."

Much More...

_____

Plastic natural gas pipe failure data kept secret Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, September 26, 2011

Read article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/09/25/MNAH1L8QMB.DTL&ao=all#ixzz1Z4K5vG8S

... Richard Kuprewicz, a consultant from Redmond, Wash., who advises federal regulators on pipeline safety, said keeping data hidden blinds regulators.

The current system, he said, creates "the illusion of safety, in that it gives people the impression that someone is keeping real data that means something. It may or may not - most likely not."

New standards set for industrial pipe cleaning in wake of deadly 2010 Conn ...

2011-09-25T10:13:00.003-04:00

Update 9 24 2011 New standards set for industrial pipe cleaning in wake of deadly 2010 Conn ... The Republic AP MIDDLETOWN, Conn. — Federal officials are coming to Connecticut to unveil a new safety standard on how industrial gas-piping systems should be cleaned, a measure developed after the deadly 2010 Kleen Energy plant explosion. ...
_______

August 5, 2010 $16.6 Million in Fines After Fatal Blast at a Connecticut Plant by RUSS BUETTNER

Federal safety officials on Thursday issued $16.6 million in proposed fines in connection with a huge explosion at a power plant that killed six workers in Middletown, Conn., determining that construction companies had blatantly disregarded industry procedures designed to safeguard workers.

The fines, the third largest ever issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for a single episode, stem from accusations of 371 violations, including 225 considered “willful,” found after the Feb. 7 blast, which occurred as flammable natural gas was being shot through a supply pipe to purge it of debris. Fifty people were injured in the explosion... Read more.

2011-09-23T14:56:00.002-04:00

Lost and Unaccounted Natural Gas: Energy, Economics, and Environment Workshop:

http://www.bu.edu/energy/lost-and-unaccounted-natural-gas-energy-economics-and-environment/
The purpose of this workshop is to explore and create awareness around “the unknown” – the extent – the cause – the locations – the how – of these methane gas leaks; to explore rural- urban environmental and economic interdependencies surrounding the natural gas resource and industry; and develop a consensus on a research strategy to address these findings. Leaders from government, research, citizens, utilities and private sector will gather to share information and brainstorm next steps.

Thousands of gas leaks in Boston area Boston Globe (August 17, 2011)

Extensive Methane Leaks Discovered Under Streets of Boston ScienceDaily (May 13, 2011)

2011-09-16T12:54:00.006-04:00

Effective Policies to Eliminate Chemical Releases and Exposures in Schools. Webinar Series.

To promote a national framework for the prevention of chemical incidents in schools, the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) National Toxic Substance Incidents Program (NTSIP) has teamed up with Interstate Chemical Threats Workgroup (ICTW) to bring an exciting webinar series.

During the sessions we'll explore policies and prevention efforts for three chemicals/chemical categories that lead the NTSIP incident list: elemental mercury, cleaning products, and pesticides.

At the conclusion of the webinar series, the summary notes will guide the development of a white paper entitled, Best Practices and Policies for Eliminating Chemical Releases and Exposures in Schools.

"Mercury Exposure and Effective Policies" on October 13,
"Green Cleaning Policies to Eliminate Exposures," on November 10,
"Pesticide Exposures and Effective Policies" on December 15,
"Best Practices and Policies for Eliminating Chemical Releases and Exposures in Schools" on January 12, 2012.

All webinars start at 9:30 a.m. PST.

Webinar Dates and Information

2011-09-16T11:45:00.007-04:00

"The U.S. Review of Books," John E. Roper Review of An American Holocaust: The Story of Lataine's Ring by Kerry L. Barger

"I remember being thrown up in the air like a toy... I keep turning and spinning. Then darkness."

The attack on the World Trade Center in New York claimed almost 3,000 lives and changed America forever. A little-remembered explosion of a school in the 1930s resulted in just over 300 deaths, yet it, too, had a tremendous impact on society. Barger revives the story of one of the nation's most poignant tragedies in his highly-moving tale.

The school in New London was considered one of the most modern facilities in the state for the time period, and the residents of the small East Texas town were extremely proud of it. Like in many of the small towns near the oil fields, school officials had decided to tap into the natural gas lines to cut heating costs at the facility. What they never realized was just how dangerous that practice could be. On March 18, 1937, a spark in the wood shop ignited the cloud of invisible and odorless gas that had slowly permeated the school. The resulting explosion killed children and teachers alike, littering the area with body parts and completely devastating a community. The catastrophe led Texas to mandate the inclusion of an additive to natural gas that would enable people to smell it. The nation and then much of the world soon followed suit.

Barger's book follows the lives of several families affected by the tragedy, including his own. By giving the reader glimpses into the hopes and dreams of individuals like his cousin, Lataine, he builds a literary memorial to those who lost so much to make others safe in the future. The book is not without its flaws, but it stands as a much-needed reminder of an event that should never be forgotten.

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/KerryBarger

Kerry Barger has donated free hardback and paperback copies of An American Holocaust: The Story of Lataine's Ring to the New London Museum, where it is now available for their visitors. Also, a free download is now available at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/KerryBarger . For a limited time, it is being sold for $.99 cents as a Nook Book at Barnes & Noble and $.99 cents at Amazon.com for Kindle Readers.

The US Review of Books www.theUSreview.com

12 Principles of Green Chemistry

2011-09-14T09:30:00.000-04:00

Beyond Benign: Green Chemistry Education

Green Chemistry is the science of creating safe, energy efficient and non-toxic products and processes and offers a concrete path towards solving the environmental problems our society faces today.

A pervasive lack of proactive measures

2011-09-08T20:07:00.004-04:00

"Organizational accidents typically have multiple contributing causes, involve people at numerous levels within the organization, and are characterized by a pervasive lack of proactive measures to ensure adoption and compliance with a safety culture. They are generally catastrophic in nature and require complex organizational changes. All these aspects are present in this accident."

-- September 3, 2011 San Bruno Pipeline Blast: NTSB lays out another system failure http://disaster-wise.blogspot.com/2011/09/san-bruno-pipeline-blast-ntsb-lays-out.html

A summary of facts and technical findings presented by Ravi Chattre, NTSB engineer and chief investigator. http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2011/san_bruno_ca/presentations/San_Bruno_IIC_Opening_Statement.pdf

not as safe as it should be

2011-09-03T09:20:00.001-04:00

Adrian Martin was aware that his work at Membrane Technology and Research in Menlo Park was "not as safe as it should be," his wife recalled

Scientist killed in explosion at Menlo Park R&D firm
San Jose Mercury News
The 56-year-old scientist's observation appeared to ring true Friday afternoon when a gas-fueled explosion ripped through a laboratory at the company's Willow Road headquarters, killing him and injuring a colleague. "He's not here right now because a ...

See all stories on this topic »

2011-09-02T10:24:00.000-04:00

An American Holocaust: The Story of Lataine's Ring by Kerry L. Barger

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/KerryBarger

A new book -- in anticipation of the 75th anniversary of the March 18 1937 Texas School Explosion.

Got gas?

2011-09-02T08:25:00.001-04:00

Chairman Hersman Addresses Media Midway Through NTSB Meeting on San Bruno Pipeline Accident

www.youtube.com

2011-08-26T20:19:00.003-04:00

2011 NSC Congress & Expo

The National Safety Council (NSC) Congress & Expo is the world's largest annual safety event serving the environmental, health and safety professions. It provides an opportunity for safety professionals of all experience levels to share ideas, trends and best practices to propel their organization forward. The 2011 NSC Congress will be held on October 30- November 4, 2011 and the Expo will be held on October 31- November 2, 2011 in Philadelphia, PA.

Conference website

2012 NSC Texas Safety Conference & Expo

The National Safety Council Texas Safety Conference and Expo (NSC TSCE) provides an opportunity to share the latest developments in safety issues, trends and best practices. The 2012 Conference will be held from March 18-20, 2012 in Galveston, TX.

Conference website

2011-08-26T09:20:00.001-04:00

Toshiba America Foundation: Grants for Science and Math Education
Toshiba America Foundation Grants aim to contribute to the quality of science and mathematics education in U.S. communities by investing in projects designed by classroom teachers to improve science and mathematics education. Maximum award: $1,000. Eligibility: teachers K-12. Deadline: October 1, 2011.
http://www.toshiba.com/taf/k5.jsp

811

2011-08-25T07:41:00.000-04:00

...breaking through a natural gas line can result in an explosion that could prove fatal.

...If homeowners are going to dig a hole or ditch more than a foot deep anywhere on their property, they must call 8-1-1 a full two days ahead of time. Utility crews will then arrive at the site and mark, through various colored spray paint lines, the location of underground utilities.
It's a shared responsibility – from homeowners and contractors to excavators and utility providers – to ensure that services are not disrupted and people are safe. That's why it's essential that you call before you dig.

-- For safety of all, everyone should heed `call before you dig' August 25, 2011 http://www.theolympian.com/2011/08/25/1772400/for-safety-of-all-everyone-should.html

Back to School: Check up on Science Lab Safety

2011-08-21T14:45:00.000-04:00

Potentially explosive chemicals at Fort Lauderdale school briefly close Federal Highway

Linda Trischitta, Sun Sentinel

August 12, 2011

Sun Sentinel/Linda Trischitta

Traffic flow on South Federal Highway was briefly blocked in both directions Friday morning between Davie Boulevard and Southeast Seventh Street while Fort Lauderdale's bomb squad, HazMat team, fire rescue and police worked to dispose of potentially volatile chemicals found at a private school.

The roadblock was removed at 11:30 a.m.

Administrators at Bethany Christian School, 615 SE Ninth St., were preparing for the coming school year when a teacher discovered a quantity of ammonium nitrate from a science lab and said it appeared to be crystallized.

"It being crystallized would make it dangerous and means it was contaminated with another chemical that could make it explosive," Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue spokesman Matt Little said. "It could have a blast radius of 150 feet."

Methane Gas Leaks Common Across Massachusetts boston.cbslocal.co

Boston's aging pipes are leaking explosive methane gas and it may be occurring in a neighborhood near you.

2011-07-09T07:57:00.002-04:00

'Model workplaces' not always so safe www.iwatchnews.org Workers at plants billed as the nation’s safest - and thus exempt from some inspections - are dying in preventable accidents: explosions, chemical releases, crane accidents and machinery-related crushing and asphyxiation.

EG: Is a culture of silence reinforced when government authorities and employers cooperate to paint an overly rosy picture of conditions and attitudes that, in reality, put people at risk?

Where do people learn to ignore safety?

2011-07-08T10:18:00.001-04:00

CSB: DuPont needs to 're-examine' safety practices. DuPont Co. rejected affordable plant and equipment upgrades, ignored near-miss incidents and violated the chemical giant's own widely touted safety guidelines in failing to prevent three January 2010 accidents that left one Belle plant worker dead, according to a report issued Thursday. Charleston Gazette, West Virginia.
http://wvgazette.com/News/201107070326

Phosgene leak could have crossed river, CSB says. Dangerous levels of the poisonous chemical phosgene may have escaped the DuPont Co. Belle plant and drifted across the Kanawha River as part of a January 2010 leak that killed a DuPont worker, federal investigators revealed Thursday. Charleston Gazette, West Virginia.
http://wvgazette.com/News/201107070743

2011-06-30T10:42:00.001-04:00

Mine disaster probe finds intimidation, false papers. Choosing safety over production was a firing offense at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine, according to a federal investigation of last year's deadly explosion there. All Things Considered, NPR.
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/29/137504341/federal-investigators-massey-falsified-safety-records

Boston College Lab Explosion, HazMat 3 ...Student alone in the lab

2011-06-26T09:14:00.003-04:00

Chemical blast at Boston College lab hurts student

July 1 Update, Associated Press BOSTON—A Boston College doctoral student suffered minor injuries at a lab Saturday when a chemical used in making mustard gas and methamphetamine exploded in her hand, a school spokesman said.

The student, who was not identified, suffered cuts on her face after the small blast at the Merkert Chemistry Center in Boston, said school spokesman Jack Dunn. She then drove herself home.

Other students who later spotted evidence of an explosion called Boston police, Dunn said. Fire officials and hazmat crew evacuated the building.

The student told emergency workers that she was using a chemical called thionyl chloride alone in the lab. Thionyl chloride can be used to make mustard gas and nerve toxins, but it is also used in the manufacturing of batteries and herbicides, among other things. The fire department didn't know what kind of experiment she was conducting.

Boston Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said the student was decontaminated and transported to St. Elizabeth Hospital. She also suffered minor burns on one of her hands, he said.

MacDonald said the situation was complicated when the student left the building and went home. "We then had to decontaminate her car and her apartment," he said.
The Boston College building reopened Saturday afternoon.
_____________________

Newton Patch, June 25 update.
An explosion in a basement chemistry lab at Boston College injured one student and caused authorities to evacuate the building on Saturday morning.

The student, who was initially unaccounted for, was found off campus. Emergency decontamination teams are helping her and interviewing her. It could not immediately be confirmed the nature of the experiment she was doing at the time of the explosion.

Firefighters have cleared the scene of the explosion, 2995 Beacon St. There was no fire along with the explosion, according to Steve MacDonald of the Boston Fire Deparment.

Newton Patch, June 25.
An explosion in a lab at Boston College has caused the evacuation of the building.The situation has been declared a Level 3 Hazardous Materials incident. Initially, one student was unaccounted for, but she has been found. There was no fire as a result of the explosion.The incident took place in the basement of 2995 Beacon St.

2011-06-17T15:29:00.003-04:00

Bosses Imperil Cleanup at Hanford, Agency Says

A recent investigation conducted by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) into safety issues related to the construction of a nuclear waste treatment plant at the Hanford nuclear reservation revealed that government managers and contractors overseeing the project have actively prevented workers from raising serious concerns about safety. The investigating board found that Hanford's safety culture is so poor that it has "a substantial probability of jeopardizing" construction and safe operation of the one-of-a-kind plant.

The Seattle Times Craig Welch

DNFSB Report

2011-06-06T07:24:00.002-04:00

This Week In Natural Gas Leaks and Explosions — June 6, 2011 - Natural Gas Watch.org

...intimidated workers who raised safety issues...

2011-05-20T11:14:00.003-04:00

Massey Energy Co. ignored well-established safety practices, intimidated workers who raised safety issues and used its clout to exert political influence and resist regulation. From the report: “Such total and catastrophic systemic failures can only be explained in the context of a culture in which wrongdoing became acceptable…It is only in the context of a culture bent on production at the expense of safety that these obvious deviations from decades of known safety practices make sense.”

Persistent black lung, old scourge of coal, found in autopsies of most Massey miners. Autopsies of the 29 men killed in last year’s explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia revealed a surprising fact: Most had coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, better known as black lung , a deadly disease that U.S. authorities have been vowing to eradicate for more than 40 years. Center for Public Integrity
http://www.iwatchnews.org/2011/05/19/4643/persistent-black-lung-old-scourge-coal-found-autopsies-most-massey-miners

Report Faults Massey in Miners' Deaths

A 13-month independent investigation into the coal-mine explosion that killed 29 Massey Energy Co. workers last year concluded that the accident could have been prevented and was primarily the result of the company's failed safety systems, which federal and state regulators failed to correct. The 120-page report by J. Davitt McAteer, the top mine regulator during the Clinton administration, is the first comprehensive account of the worst U.S. coalmining disaster in 40 years, which occurred at Massey's Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, W.Va., on April 5, 2010.

The Wall Street Journal [Author Kris Maher]

Upper Big Branch Report

2011-05-18T12:08:00.001-04:00

New Online Green Chemistry Professional Development for High School Educators

Beyond Benign is proud to announce our first online professional development course. This course is designed for the high school chemistry and general science teachers who see sustainability as a core understanding for all students. By signing up for this 8 week course (45 contact hours) teachers will receive cutting edge science content and tools to learn at your own pace. The materials are designed for high-tech, low-tech and no-tech implementation so that teachers with varying resources have a clear avenue for implementation. Sign-up begins today and the deadline for registration is June 8th.
Learn More - Get Credit!

Workplace and Environmental Health and Safety Films

2011-05-12T15:23:00.000-04:00

Taking unnecessary risks?

2011-05-12T09:58:00.000-04:00

Staying Alive in the Lab
"... No one had taught them the most essential professional skill of all: how to stay alive." by James Austin, Editor of Science Careers, May 5, 2011

2011 Healthy Schools Hero Dr. Dwight Peavey

2011-03-18T16:42:00.000-04:00

Every year, to mark the anniversary of the March 18, 1937 Texas School Explosion, I salute a Healthy Schools Hero whose extraordinary responsibility and inspirational leadership is dedicated to eliminating explosives and other chemical hazards and unhealthy conditions in schools.

The March 18 Healthy Schools Hero Award is an annual call to tell the story of the worst school disaster in American history as a case study and cautionary tale. By example, each Hero is an inspiration to break the silence about school hazards and bring the Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion to today’s schools.

The 1937 story needs telling because the decision-making and false economies that led to the 1937 explosion are too common in schools today. We have widespread school design, building and operations problems, warnings are unheeded, no one takes responsible for safety, and explosives and other hazardous materials and unhealthy conditions in labs, classrooms, closets and storerooms are routinely ignored.

The 1937 explosion resulted in a law that required adding a warning odor to natural gas thus saving millions of lives all over the world. However, other important recommendations of the 1937 Court of Inquiry have yet to be used so that schools are teaching safely and teaching safety to students in 21st century schools.

Meet the 2011 Healthy Schools Hero
Dr. Dwight Peavey

Today is the 74th anniversary ... Survivors Remember

2011-03-18T11:38:00.002-04:00

Voices of New London narrated slideshow:

http://www.news-journal.com/app/multimedia/new_london_explosion/final/chaptered_ss_2.html

New London survivor recalls 'chaotic' scene of explosion site ...

“...I was in the PTA program in the gym,” West said. “I played the triangle in the Little Rhythm Band. We had just finished when the teacher told us we could get on the buses at the big school gym.

“I didn’t know which was my bus, so I had just walked back and got in line when (the building) exploded.”

2011-03-17T12:50:00.001-04:00

Lax oversight of school construction raises doubts about earthquake safety. State regulators have routinely failed to enforce California’s landmark earthquake safety law for public schools, allowing children and teachers to occupy buildings with structural flaws and potential safety hazards reported during construction. California Watch
http://bit.ly/eGS6Ev

Unfinished Legacy:

The story of the 1937 Texas School Explosion needs to be part of our national legacy because the decision-making that led to the 1937 explosion is the same type of decision-making in schools today. Short cuts and false economies put children at risk...

The story can inspire us to break the silence about school hazards and to prioritize the values and technical skills we need to live safely with 21st century chemicals and technology.

2011-03-13T09:17:00.006-04:00

“I think this is something that people in the rest of the country need to know about; it should be part of our national history, and I’m hoping my book will help more people become aware of it. The story is still relevant today because safe handling of natural resources continues to be an issue, he said. The explosion was caused by a natural gas leak beneath the school.The book doesn’t focus solely on the disaster itself,” Brown said. “It’s also about the aftermath; how people coped with the depths of their grief — some families lost several children in a matter of moments — and how the rest of their lives turned out.”...

-- David Brown, quoted in http://www.news-journal.com March 17, 2011, "Lasting wounds: Almost 75 years after New London explosion, book brings national exposure."

David Brown, an author and former East Texas journalist, is hoping to change that with the publication of an upcoming book titled “Gone at 3:17: The Untold Story of the Worst School Disaster in American History.” The “3:17” refers to the time of the afternoon explosion.

“Safety is No Accident: Live Injury-free.

2011-03-12T15:10:00.000-05:00

Plan an event to celebrate National Public Health Week April 4-10

The theme for National Public Health Week is “Safety is No Accident: Live Injury-free.” You can prevent injuries by making chemical safety part of every school's ongoing security audits and safety plan.

Bring the Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion to Your School. Just Say "Know" to explosives, flammables and other hazards and toxic chemicals in labs, storerooms and other school areas.

Help raise awareness of the urgent need for responsible leadership and partnerships to eliminate explosives and other hazards and unhealthy conditions in schools. Teach Safety, Teach Safely. Give students the skills and values to safeguard their future families and co-workers and "to live safer healthier longer lives. Go to "What Can I Do?" to find ideas for activities and events.

Save the Gummy Bears, Save the World

2011-03-04T16:16:00.003-05:00

Amy Cannon writes: I recently received an e-mail with a link to an article that had the title “Chemistry class explosion injures seven.” I was hesitant to open it, worried about what disaster I would find inside, but did anyway. The article was about a local chemistry teacher who was demonstrating a reaction between potassium chlorate and “food” when the reaction went “awry” and exploded upon her and seven students. Luckily there were no life threatening injuries, just minor cuts and burns. But, despite these “minor injuries”, my mind still went to that classroom on that day...read more

Amy Cannon, is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Beyond Benign, a non-profit organization that promotes sustainable science in order to create an environmentally, socially and economically prosperous world. http://www.beyondbenign.org

Poison Prevention Week March 20-26, 2011

2011-03-03T16:13:00.012-05:00

Be alert for poisons in school closets, storerooms, classrooms, art studios, sports area and labs.

Hazards in High Schools and Middle Schools

Dave Waddell is the Environmental Investigator and Project Coordinator for the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County, Seattle WA, http://www.govlink.org/hazwaste/schoolyouth/rehab/ He works with schools to reduce their use of hazardous chemicals, dispose of unneeded and degraded chemicals and improve the management of those they need to keep and use. Here's a link to the smaller version of the slide show he uses to train art teachers: Hidden Hazards in the Arts: Dyeing and other art hazards

Kids and Toxins: Exposures at School

Children can be exposed to a myriad of environmental toxins in and around schools every day. From cleaning products to plastics, toxins in the air they breathe, the water they drink and the food they eat can have a significant impact on their health. Three of the most worrisome exposures commonly found at schools across the country are detailed in our award-winning ChildSafe School Program -- cleaning products, turf pesticides and diesel exhaust.

The ABCs of a Healthier School (book review)

The Artist's Complete Health and Safety Guide (3rd edition, Allworth Press) by Monona Rossol. Although written for artists and teachers in the arts, the book is useful reading for anyone interested in healthier schools. There are safety checklists, ingredients tables, and ventilation guidelines. Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety Data Sheets from 1 to 10 pages on over 60 different technical subjects related to health and safety in art and theater.

Clean and Safe in the 21st Century (PDF format)

(A guide that includes information on household cleaning product labels, safety and storage; hard surface cleaning; poison prevention and more. Appropriate for childcare and healthcare professional, educators, and parents.) Request a free copy by mentioning PoisonPrevention.org. Send order to education@cleaninginstitute.org. American Cleaning Institute, 1331 L St NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20005. www.cleaninginstitute.org

THE SAFE HOMETOWNS GUIDE: Chemical Safety & Security After September 11, 2001

This is a guide for local health and safety officers, elected officials, emergency responders, local emergency planning committees, businesses, workers and concerned citizens to reassess community safety and security regarding the storage, use, production and transport of extremely hazardous chemicals. Throughout the US economy, thousands of facilities use and ship high volumes of these chemicals, threatening populous communities near to facilities and transit routes where chemical releases can happen. Most chemical incidents to date have involved accidental releases of chemicals to the environment. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 made apparent that chemical sites around the US could also be targets of terrorists wishing to intentionally harm people and property. While hiring more security guards at these sites may safeguard against some threats, the truth is that these facilities are often so vulnerable that only sharply reducing or eliminating the presence of extremely hazardous substances can truly protect against intentional assaults.

Telling their stories: Voices of the 1937 Texas School Explosion

2011-03-03T13:51:00.003-05:00

"Recollections" is the "human interest" section of New London School Explosion website: http://www.newlondonschool.org/ It includes the (unedited) words of the survivors or of those closely related to them. Within these pages you will find personal accounts of the tragedy taken from newspaper articles, information sent to me, and personal interviews.

Click on the links below to read their stories.

Virgie Blalock Abercrombie
Clotiele B. Abercrombie
Loyd D. Abercrombie Sr
John Armstrong
Lola Bento
Lu Campbell
Dorothy Womack Box
Pearl Shaw Holbert
James E. "Ike" Challis
Beaver Cole
Howard Coleman
Cronkite, Walter
Degnan, Julie E.
Erikson, Charles Henry
Ezell, Alta Reigh
Farrell, Hal
Gregory, Doug
Grenley, Martha Rogers
Grigg, Horace
Grigg, William N.
Hannon, Bill
Harris, Howard
Johnson, Joe and Bobby
Lester, George
Lester, George - Playmates
Mayhew, Bessie
McAllister, Mark
Meissner, J. Raymond
Moody, Mildred
Motley, Pete
Nelson, Ron
Plant, Sally
Read, Osceola Jefferson
Robertson, William Judson
Robinson, Jimmie
Mack Thornton Rogers
Ryan, Terri Jo
Stanley, Glenda G.
Taylor, Bob
Taylor, Jim
Thompson, Bill
Vento, Eduardo
Vinson, Allen Earl
Vinson, Melvin
Williams, William B.

It seems that we sometimes learn most from our worst mistakes..

2011-02-18T14:02:00.002-05:00

Twenty Lessons from Asbestos, Dr. Irving J Selikoff, EPA Journal, May 1984

Getting smart about pipeline safety

2011-02-17T07:46:00.001-05:00

NRDC Report

Evaluate the need for new U.S. pipeline safety regulations. Older safety standards designed for conventional oil may not provide adequate protection for communities and ecosystems in the vicinity of a DilBit pipeline. The Department of Transportation (DOT) should analyze and address the potential risks associated with the transport of DilBit at the high temperatures and pressures at which those pipelines operate and put new regulations in place as necessary to address these risks. READ MORE www.pstrust.org

The entire report can be download by clicking here

Natural Gas Safety Awareness Can Mean the Difference Between Life and Death

2011-02-15T10:19:00.002-05:00

A Leading Energy Company Reminds People Safety is Key Following Deadly Pennsylvania Gas Explosion

Read full article: http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/news.html?d=213805

... "This terrible tragedy in Pennsylvania illustrates just how deadly natural gas can be," says Jeffrey Mayer, President and CEO of MXenergy, one of the nation's fastest growing independent energy providers. "Natural gas provides an important and invaluable service but it is equally critical that we treat it with respect and always use the upmost care when dealing with it in any capacity."

Natural Gas Safety Tips

Use Your Nose: If you smell even the slightest odor of gas leave the area immediately and call your service provider or 911 from a remote location. Do not waste time or use anything that can cause a spark, such as a cell phone or even a garage door opener

Regular Inspections: Have all gas appliances, furnaces, chimneys, vents and gas lines regularly inspected and maintained by a certified professional

Keep Areas Clear: Keep all areas surrounding appliances and equipment unblocked to allow for clear airflow

Look for the Blue Flame: Check all pilot lights and burners for a steady blue flame. The only exception is gas fireplaces which sometimes have a yellow flame

Dig Safely: Always call your local provider before you begin digging to avoid hitting an underground pipe and causing a leak

Store Properly: Never set flammable material close to any gas appliance or equipment

Properly Maintain Your Meter: Don't allow frozen rain or ice to build up on your meter. Use a broom (never a shovel) to clear ice and snow

Signs Of Trouble

Listen: A hissing noise near a pipeline or building is cause for concern. Immediately call your local service provider

Look: Dead or distressed vegetation above a gas main is another cause for concern and should be reported

Sniff: Any hint of natural gas odor inside or outdoors is cause for immediate action. Quickly leave the area and then call your provider or 911 for help

EPA Grant to protect children in homes, schools, child care

2011-02-08T08:01:00.001-05:00

EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection is pleased to announce the release of a solicitation for grant proposals to address children's environmental health in underserved communities by building capacity for these communities to reduce environmental exposures in child-occupied settings, eg, homes, schools and child care centers. Funds available for award are expected to total approximately $1.5 million, and EPA intends to award approximately 15-20 awards, each for an amount not to exceed $100,000. The due date for initial proposals is February 18, 2011. Assistance under this competition is available to States or state agencies, territories, city or township governments, county governments, the District of Columbia, federally recognized American Indian Tribes, possessions of the U.S, public and private universities and colleges, hospitals, laboratories, other public or private nonprofit institutions, and 501(c)(3) organizations. For complete information regarding this Request for Initial Proposals, see: http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/grants.htm

Just Say Know: Creating Safer School Labs

2011-02-07T13:01:00.007-05:00

Rehab the Lab: Creating Safer School Labs

Just Say Know: Getting Mercury out of Schools

2011-02-07T12:59:00.001-05:00

Getting Mercury out of Schools ppt
http://www.newmoa.org/prevention/mercury/schools/ReducingMercuryinSchools.pdf
More resources:
http://www.newmoa.org/prevention/mercury/schools/

San Bruno pipeline called 'tip of the iceberg'

2011-01-31T09:44:00.005-05:00

San Bruno blast a 'wake-up call' thousands of miles of untested natural gas pipelines across the u.s. are at a great risk of failure than regulators maintian, experts say.

Lessons of the Challenger Disaster

2011-01-28T08:22:00.018-05:00

Keeping quiet about a problem can lead to disastrous consequences. Study these lessons. Break the silence.

As many safety heroes know, it often takes enormous persistence and courage to take leadership for safety...and overcome indifference to a wide range of health and safety issues. See Feed Your Heroic Imagination

Deadly space lessons go unheeded Apollo 1, Challenger, Columbia tragedies have much in common, By James Oberg NBC News space analyst ..."But the internal hazards -- what investigation boards have called the "flawed safety culture" -- have proven much more insidious. This is the realm of convenient assumptions, of complacency, of willfulness, of use of statistical superstitions, of a false familiarity with an unblinking foe. It is a culture made possible by an all-too-human aversion to facing unpleasantness. It has become easy to look away from these horrible space disasters -- and I never call them "accidents," a term that relieves the people involved on the ground of ultimate responsibility.

See Eliminating Cultures of Silence "Sadly, before each disaster, stake holders saw clear warning signs for catastrophe and yet they said nothing. Trends show that similar cultures of silence proliferate in organizations across the country....The good news is that organizations who successfully handle these five issues transform cultures of silence into cultures of honesty and effective communication—eliminating potential catastrophes and saving lives."

Teachers who enforce safety rules not only avoid accidents in school but they give their students the skills and attitudes necessary to safeguard their future families and co-workers and "to live safer healthier longer lives." (Jim Kaufman, Lab Safety Institute)

... Silence begets silence. The bigger the silence, the more powerful it is. Silence can become so all-encompassing that one is not even aware of it. In such instances, entire constellations of thoughts, questions and conversations simply do not arise. Or, if they do, the pervasiveness of the silence makes them seem dangerous. Perhaps the last person who tried to break the silence got in trouble, perhaps she became a pariah, perhaps she lost her job. -- Beyond Erin Brockovitch By Sonja Biorn-Hansen, in Rachel's Environment & Health News #815, http://www.rachel.org/?q=en/node/6438. Sonja Biorn-Hansen an Environmental Engineer with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

"...those normally charged with protecting a school from liability (and its occupants from harm), ...may not be familiar with the scope of the risks. Too often, people with only a cursory understanding of the issues will consider themselves experts. Familiarity may also be surprisingly limited among those to whom a school generally turns for advice on health issues, such as school nurses, industrial hygienists, HVAC companies, consulting firms and health departments ...More often than not, they will under-emphasize the risks and over-emphasize the costs (and the inconveniences) of responding to a perceived problem." "Legal Aspects of Pollution in Schools," Earon Davis, The Healthy School Handbook, National Education Association, 1995.

Press Release: New Data Shows Schools Ignore Children's Health: Groups Urge Action by EPA and States Healthy Schools Network Executive Director Claire Barnett warns, “Parents are stunned when they discover schools have known about environmental factors affecting their child and have done little or nothing. Then they learn that no agency responds either. Every effort should be made to intervene when children are in harm’s way.”

Bring the Science of Chemical Safety to Your School

Leadership in Science: Teaching Safely and Teaching Safety

Lesson: Know how to turn off your gas

2011-01-25T15:37:00.003-05:00

Ohio Gas Line Pressure Leads to Explosion, Fires

Chemistry of everyday things

2011-01-25T12:42:00.003-05:00

The IYC 2011 will be a year-long celebration in which anyone can participate. You can coordinate an activity, engage in a project, or simply share an idea. Join in now and become part of something special.
    •   http://www.chemistry2011.org/
   •   http://iyc2011.acs.org/
   •   http://www.nbclearn.com/chemistrychapters

'Chemistry Now' Video Series Brings Science to Students

Bring the Science of Chemical Safety to Your School

2011-01-25T09:57:00.003-05:00

Webcasts, podcasts, white papers, case studies, data sheets
and more in the new SchoolDude Resource Library!
http://www.schooldude.com/resources/

Identify and Control Chemical Safety Risks Webcast Presentation
Roger Young, featuring Dave Waddell from the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association, Joanie Arrott from TASB and Dale Zabel from School District of Kettle Moraine, WI
Identify and Control Chemical Safety Risks Webcast Presentation (SLIDES) Hosted by Roger Young, featuring Dave Waddell from the North American Hazardous Materials Management Association, Joanie Arrott from TASB and Dale Zabel from School District of Kettle Moraine, W

Rules really are monuments, gravestones...

2011-01-20T01:34:00.001-05:00

James Kaufman, founder of Laboratory Safety Institute, emphasizes the importance of schools teaching safety and teaching safely. Teachers who enforce safety rules not only avoid accidents in school but they give their students the skills and attitudes necessary to safeguard their future families and co-workers and "to live safer healthier longer lives."

In a 2005 interview for Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion, Kaufman emphasized that safety rules and regulations are the lessons we learn from other people’s mistakes and short cuts.

“What rules really are, are monuments; they are gravestones,” he said. “It’s not that safety people sit up late trying to figure out how to make it take longer and cost more money and irritate the living daylights out of their colleagues. It’s that -- as night follows day -- if you do what those people did, sooner or later, you are going to get the same result.” Kaufman said his father once asked him, “Jim, what’s the difference between school and life? Well, in life the test comes first and the lesson comes afterwards.”

Chemical safety program cannot be overrated

2011-01-10T13:45:00.003-05:00

The viability of a chemical safety program cannot be overrated. Unfortunately, most schools and universities don't emphasize their programs the way they should. Read more at:

MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT: Chemical Safety Programs

http://asumag.com/mag/university_maintenance_management_chemical/

American School and University

Dec 1, 2000 12:00 PM RICHARD SHAW

Leadership in Science: Teaching Safely and Teaching Safety

2010-12-27T08:52:00.011-05:00

Attn: Science educators, STEM advocates, health and safety, lab safety, security, IAQ, IPM, emergency and risk management professionals, first responders, school administrators, parents…

Do you know someone whose sense of responsibility, inspirational leadership, and exemplary persistence and courage protects children from school hazards and unhealthy school conditions?

By nominating a Hero you can help make March 18 an annual day that brings the Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion to our nation's schools and celebrates the leadership that can save lives.

Send your hero's name, contact information, and your hero's story by February 15, 2011 to healthykids@rcn.com

The Heroes Award is part of an ongoing campaign to bring "safety" from the margins to the core of school curriculum and community culture.
The goal is to strengthen parent involvement and community partnerships to establish the 21st century standards and safeguards that can protect children from deadly explosions, fires, chemical spills and toxic exposures.

This cenotaph, erected in 1939 is the memorial to victims of the explosion. The sculptural block of Texas granite depicts twelve life-size figures, representing children coming to school, bringing gifts and handing in homework to two teachers. Around the inside of the base are the individual names of those who died. The Egyptians defined a cenotaph as a symbolic tomb, honoring the dead but not containing the body. It is a sepulchral monument erected to commemorate a person or persons buried elsewhere.

Set aside a special day each year as a memorial...

...let us suggest the legislature of Texas set aside a special day each year to be observed as a memorial day on which tribute will be paid to the children and teachers who died in this catastrophe...and to make laws of safety... Our daddies and mothers, as well as the teachers, want to know that when we leave our homes in the morning to go to school, that we will come out safe when our lessons are over. Read more.

You Can Prevent Explosions in Your School

2010-12-24T13:28:00.005-05:00

Update your fire safety knowledge at http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/fire_safety.cfm
Conduct a school safety walk-through. Find flammables and combustibles in labs and storerooms, shops, kitchens, art rooms, tech-voc classes.
Review your school's Chemical Hygiene Plans. Use the resources online at: US EPA Chemical Cleanout Campaign
Plan a program. Invite a fire fighter or other first responder to your school to discuss fire and chemical safety.
Map school escape routes and meeting places and post them in classrooms and hallways.
Conduct a fire drill.

A Guide to Prudent Chemical Management

2010-12-04T12:01:00.001-05:00

Chemical Laboratory Safety and Security: A Guide to Prudent Chemical Management

Good safety and security procedures can lead to greater productivity, efficiency, savings, and most importantly, greater sophistication and cooperation. Improving safety and security is mistakenly seen as inhibitory, because of lack of understanding of safety and security procedures, cultural barriers, lack of skills, and financial constraints. Chemical Laboratory Safety and Security A Guide to Prudent Chemical Management and accompanying toolkit will assist chemists in developing countries to overcome the barriers they face and increase the level of safety and security in their labs through improved chemicals management and following the best laboratory practices possible.

English
Reference book
• Reference book, Chemical Laboratory Safety and Security: A Guide to Prudent Chemical Management
Toolkit Items
• Quick guide for laboratory managers (brochure format)
• Quick guide for laboratory managers (page-by-page format)
• Executive summary to share with institutional leaders (brochure format)
• Executive summary to share with institutional leaders (page-by-page format)
• Instructor’s guide, forms, and signs to photocopy and distribute• Preplanning reference cards to distribute to laboratory personnel
• Helpful reminder signs for posting in the laboratory

For more information contact bcst@nas.edu

Gas problems in school kitchens

2010-11-10T09:49:00.003-05:00

Explosion prompted kitchen alerts
BBC News
Problems with school kitchens in Derby first came to light after a small gas explosion which injured a member of staff, it has been revealed. ...

Massachusetts Gas Leaks - WHDH report

2010-11-09T08:26:00.002-05:00

Hank Investigates - Gas Leaks

www1.whdh.com

Devastating home explosions, caused gas leaks-so how many gas leaks are there right now? And could they be in your neighborhood? Our exclusive investigation found gas leaks all across the state-so many, experts say its out of control. Whats more shocking, gas companies know about them!

...another explosion occurred at an oil and gas production site in New London, Texas

2010-10-29T10:41:00.004-04:00

CSB launches educational outreach initiative HazardEx
29 October 2010

The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has announced that educational materials concerning oil site hazards that threaten the lives of teenagers have been distributed to more than 150 Mississippi school superintendents. The CSB is calling on schools across the state to incorporate the video and lessons into school curricula.

The products include the CSB’s safety video, "No Place to Hang Out: The Danger of Oil Sites," and a lesson plan to be incorporated into school curricula across the state.

The project’s aim is to save the lives of teenagers in rural areas who often socialise at oil and gas production and storage sites and who are seemingly unaware of the explosion hazards.

“No Place to Hang Out,” was released at a news conference on April 13, 2010, in Hattiesburg, MS. The video tells the story of the tragic deaths of 18-year-old Wade White and 16-year-old Devon Byrd. The two boys were killed on October 31, 2009, when an oil tank located in a clearing in the woods near one of the boys’ homes in Carnes, MS, exploded.

CSB Chairperson Rafael Moure-Eraso stated: "As the one-year anniversary of this tragic accident approaches, the CSB is committed to doing whatever we can to help schools across the state of Mississippi develop and implement an effective oil tank safety campaign. Our goal, which we are certain is shared by school superintendents, is to be able to reach as many young people as possible in order to save the lives of teenagers exposed to this hazard.”

CSB Investigator Vidisha Parasram said: “This video directly focuses on educating teenagers and young people. The CSB decided that a video aimed at this age group would be the best way to spread a strong safety message, especially if accompanied by a lesson plan and discussion.”

Following the accident in Mississippi the CSB found similar accidents have occurred at rural oil and gas sites in states across the country, killing and injuring children, teenagers, and young adults. The CSB found 26 similar accidents at such sites resulting in 44 fatalities among teenagers and young adults between 1983 and 2010. The Board found that since 2003 alone, oil and gas site explosions caused 16 deaths to members of the public, all of whom were under 25 years of age. As a result of these findings the CSB convened a task force to look into state and federal rules and regulations governing the safety and security of oil and gas production sites. The task force will release its final case study in early 2011.

Chairperson Moure-Eraso added: “If this educational campaign can help save the life of one teenager, it will be worth the effort.”

The CSB has called for improved safeguards at oil and gas sites across the country. Just one day after the April 13, 2010, CSB news conference in Hattiesburg, CSB investigators learned of a similar accident hundreds of miles away at a production site in Weleetka, Oklahoma. CSB investigators examined similarities with the accident that occurred in Carnes, MS. The team determined the accident in Oklahoma occurred when a group of teens and young adults gathered at an isolated unsecured, unfenced and unmanned oil and gas site. The youth who died in the blast possessed a cigarette lighter that likely ignited vapor from the tank, the CSB determined. Just 12 days later, another explosion occurred at an oil and gas production site in New London, Texas. Two 24-year-olds – a man and a woman – were gathering at yet another isolated unattended site when an explosion killed the woman and seriously injured the man.

In August CSB Chairperson Moure-Eraso called on Mississippi legislators and officials to increase safeguards at the oil sties during a meeting of stakeholders convened by State Senator Billy Hudson to discuss the possible introduction of a bill requiring public safety measures at oil and gas sites. In September of 2010 the Board of Supervisors of Forrest County, Mississippi, passed an ordinance requiring appropriate critical security measures, including fencing and signage, be placed around hazardous oil sites. The CSB strongly applauded this action.

The CSB’s task force continues to examine state regulations that that require specific safeguards at oil and gas sites. The task force has found that in some areas of California sites are required to have barbed-wire fencing around facilities where it is necessary to protect life and property. Similarly, Colorado and Ohio require fencing of oil and gas production sites in urban or populated areas.

The CSB task force has identified a lack of consistent state or municipal regulations for perimeter fencing, gates, locks, and warning signage. Such safeguards would deter public access to the sites and prevent the accidental ignition of vapor from storage tanks, the CSB has determined. The final report of the CSB’s task force will address this lack of regulation.

Also see: No Place to Hang Out

The Coliseum Explosion of Halloween, 1963

2010-10-28T16:15:00.006-04:00

http://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/accidents/history/coliseum_explosion/coliseum.html

On Halloween night, 1963, during a "Holiday on Ice" skating exhibition at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum, a propane gas explosion killed 74 people and injured nearly 400.It was just after 11 p.m. and the skaters were finishing a medley called "Mardi Gras." No one realized that propane gas was leaking from a rusty tank in the concession area, slowly filling the unventilated room.

Read more

Photo Gallery

Concerns Raised Over Pipeline Near Indian Point

2010-10-25T10:44:00.002-04:00

Blanch is worried that an explosion and fire sustained by large volumes of natural gas would destroy the systems that power and govern the reactor's cooling ...

... Blanch spent 20 years at Northeast Utilities, where he was a nuclear operations engineer. While there, he raised safety concerns about Connecticut's Millstone generating station. He was fired by the company, but after the NRC substantiated Blanch's concerns he was rehired and defended Millstone's safety procedures. He believes that the NRC does not enforce nuclear safety strictly enough, and he is especially concerned with the degradation of older reactors like the ones at Indian Point.

The type of petition filed by Blanch, called a 2.206 petition, can be filed by any concerned member of the public. As of the end of August, there were 11 such petitions under review by the NRC. The NRC is expected to decide within a month whether or not to investigate Blanch's claims.

Read More

2010-10-05T09:43:00.002-04:00

Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind when You Know What's Right
By Mary C. Gentile
Publisher: Yale University Press ISBN-13: 978-0300161182

Review: By CSRwire Contributing Writer Elaine Cohen
...Truly embedding a culture of ethics which compels every individual to take personal responsibility and act ethically in every situation is what makes it all work. This book offers practical advice on how to "build the muscles" to speak and act, plan "voicing values," "craft scripts" and generally be prepared for a range of situations in which bold action is required. As the author says, "It is not about deciding what the right thing to do is, but rather about how to get it done."

For more information about this book, please visit www.givingvoicetovaluesthebook.com.
Sharing Values Out Loud: Finding Your Ethical Muscle

Why is that we do not seem to learn lessons from incidents?

2010-10-05T08:49:00.001-04:00

PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT INDIA: The Human and Process Safety by Karthikeyan.B
"The San Bruno natural gas explosion has underscored a growing concern about the capabilities of utility employees who watch over the nation's pipelines and whose errors have been linked to a number of mishaps, some of them catastrophic ...

Lessons still needed.

2010-10-04T09:37:00.000-04:00

Protect public from oil pipelines

www.wnd.com
We tend to think of infrastructure as bridges and roads. Now in the 21st century we think of fiber optics. Rarely do we think of pipelines, and if we do we conjure up images of caribou keeping warm in winter near the Alaska pipeline. There is another pipeline story. This week the subject of pipeline safety was the focus of a hearing in the Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation. In the busyness of the end of summer, few people paid attention to the pipeline accident on Sept. 9 in San Bruno, Calif....

The Pipeline Safety Trust has suggested some basics, and Congress can't seem to get it together to make sure that oversight of this kind of infrastructure takes place....

Read more.

Comment: The investigation of the 1937 Texas School Explosion concluded that, even though officials ignored warnings and took short cuts they weren’t responsible because they were just "average individuals, ignorant or indifferent to the need for precautionary measures, where they cannot, in their lack of knowledge, visualize a danger or a hazard." (Court of Inquiry, 1937.) -- Ellie Goldberg

Know your gas pipeline...

2010-09-27T09:36:00.000-04:00

HIDDEN POWER | Gas pipeline safety issues resurface after California tragedy by Diane Dietz, The Register-Guard, appeared in print: Sunday, Sep 26, 2010

..."Most U.S. transmission lines are old. The average age of pipes in the national system — including those carrying gases and liquid gasoline — is 50 years, Weimer said. “But what matters more is how well the pipeline has been maintained, operated and inspected,” he said.

“We’ve seen brand new pipelines that go to failure in just a few years because they weren’t maintained and operated well. In other places we’ve looked there’s 70-year-old pipelines and they’re still in good shape,” he said.

Mike Haberkorn, who oversees the 66-year-old pipeline that serves Western Oregon from Vancouver to Grants Pass, said pipelines are basically ageless. “If they’re operated and maintained property, they virtually last forever,” he said.

...lack of a strong safety culture in the natural gas industry

2010-09-25T19:15:00.001-04:00

“I believe there is a lack of a strong safety culture in the natural gas industry,” said Jim Hall, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board from 1994 to 2001 and an experienced pipeline investigator. “When you have a lack of enforcement activity, you end up with a tragedy.”

Read Gas Blasts Spur Questions on Oversight
NYTIMES September 24, 2010

Teaching Safely, Teaching Safety

2010-09-21T08:14:00.007-04:00

Celebrate Pollution Prevention Week
September 20-26, 2010

Peaks to Praries Pollution Prevention
Information and Tools

Laboratory Self-Audit: Setting Up Your Audit
Classrooms and laboratories practicing pollution prevention are safer for students and in most cases easier on the school budget besides being fairly easy to implement. However, changes in thinking must occur to make the initial effort a success. Lay the groundwork for change before using the Self-Audit Checklists included in this resource. Start with some basic grassroots organizing using these suggestions or some of the many community development resources available. The result will be a program that works for your school community. Read more

Checklists

Posters

Green Clean poster
Chemicals at School poster
Clean Air poster
Hazardous Chemicals poster
Integrated Pest Management poster
Save Energy at School poster
Top 10 Things You Can Do to Green Your School
Waste Reduction poster

Guidance and Tools for Schools

2010-09-20T11:24:00.000-04:00

Safeguard Against Chemicals in Your School: EPA’s Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign (SC3)

From school maintenance closets to high school chemistry labs to vocational school classrooms, schools house a variety of chemicals. These chemicals can have many useful applications: they help keep school areas clean, demonstrate chemistry lessons and teach students new mechanical skills. But when these chemicals are mismanaged, they can put students and school staff at risk from spills, fires and other accidental exposures — incidents that may result in lost school days and require millions of dollars to mitigate.

The Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign (SC3) gives K-12 schools the guidance and tools they need to responsibly manage chemicals, thus reducing the risks and hazards posed by mismanagement. The goals of SC3 are to bring together administrators, teachers, maintenance staff...

...anyone who smells gas should call the utility immediately.

2010-09-16T15:27:00.000-04:00

Gas smell at evacuated San Bruno school may have come from heating system
Los Angeles Times (blog)

Undetected: A deadly 1937 school explosion led to odorization requirements for combustible gas

2010-09-14T09:19:00.003-04:00

Looking Back... Undetected: A deadly 1937 school explosion led to odorization requirements for combustible gas, NFPA Journal®, September/October 2010

With few exceptions, the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations requires that "a combustible gas in a distribution line must contain a natural odorant or be odorized so that, at a concentration in air of one-fifth of the lower explosive limit, the gas is readily detectable by a person with a normal sense of smell."

Read more

Gas pipeline dangers

2010-09-14T08:30:00.000-04:00

Pipeline explosion near San Francisco highlights dangers of gas infrastructure. An ominous theme has emerged from the wreckage of a deadly pipeline explosion in California: There are thousands of pipes just like it around the U.S. Associated Press
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39157451/ns/us_news

2010-09-12T09:04:00.000-04:00

"Were there reports that there were odors escaping from the pipeline? If there were those reports, what actions took place in response to those complaints?"

6 people missing after California gas line explosion by the CNN Wire Staff http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/12/california.fire/?hpt=T2

Myths and Misleading Statements About Oil and Natural Gas Pipelines

2010-09-11T12:02:00.002-04:00

Myths and Misleading Statements About Oil and Natural Gas Pipelines
By Lois Epstein, P.E., Senior Engineer
Oil and Gas Industry Specialist
Cook Inlet Keeper
... lois@inletkeeper.org
July 2004, Pipeline Safety Trust www.pstrust.org

Blast shows dangers, scarcity of gas explosions

2010-09-11T12:00:00.001-04:00

Blast shows dangers, scarcity of gas explosions
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The natural-gas explosion that rocked a San Francisco suburb Thursday evening serves as a stark reminder of the dangers posed by the pressure cooker of pipelines crisscrossing the country.

---

Lessons of the 1937 Texas School Explosion

GasLeaks, Odors and Emergencies (24 hours a day): 911 or1-800-231-5325

If you smell a strong odor:

Gordon College Annual Green Chemistry Lecture

Get ready for National Healthy Schools Day

Critical Exposure

...in the rush to go green, safety is often overlooked...

Grad Helps Make Green Buildings Safe for Workers: Researcher Develops Tool to Integrate Safety Into Design

Schools. Do you know where your chemicals are?

WATCH: Planning for Environmental Health and Safety Issues in Schools - FEMA www.epa.gov/osw/partnerships/sc3/pdfs/fema.pdf

The importance of visualizing the danger...

Natural Gas Leaks Fuel Global Warming, Not Homes Bostonia, Fall 2011. BU researcher, Nathan Phillips, maps gas leaks on city streets http://www.bu.edu/bostonia/fall11/gas-leaks/

Nominate a Healthy Schools Hero 2012

Dallas schools consider update of emergency plan By Elizabeth Skrapits (Staff Writer),Published: October 13, 2011

More: http://citizensvoice.com/news/dallas-schools-consider-update-of-emergency-plan-1.1217251#axzz1aeKDeuVT

...... Jacobs said she felt the school board had dropped the ball on the subject, and was glad she could make a valid point which its members understood.

Neighbors uneasy as Kansas gas fields go uninspected, Wichita Eagle

Data kept secret on risk, failings of plastic pipe

Plastic natural gas pipe failure data kept secret Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, September 26, 2011

New standards set for industrial pipe cleaning in wake of deadly 2010 Conn ...

Federal safety officials on Thursday issued $16.6 million in proposed fines in connection with a huge explosion at a power plant that killed six workers in Middletown, Conn., determining that construction companies had blatantly disregarded industry procedures designed to safeguard workers.

Lost and Unaccounted Natural Gas: Energy, Economics, and Environment Workshop:

Effective Policies to Eliminate Chemical Releases and Exposures in Schools. Webinar Series.

12 Principles of Green Chemistry

A pervasive lack of proactive measures

A summary of facts and technical findings presented by Ravi Chattre, NTSB engineer and chief investigator. http://www.ntsb.gov/news/events/2011/san_bruno_ca/presentations/San_Bruno_IIC_Opening_Statement.pdf

not as safe as it should be

An American Holocaust: The Story of Lataine's Ring by Kerry L. Barger

Got gas?

2011 NSC Congress & Expo

2012 NSC Texas Safety Conference & Expo

The National Safety Council Texas Safety Conference and Expo (NSC TSCE) provides an opportunity to share the latest developments in safety issues, trends and best practices. The 2012 Conference will be held from March 18-20, 2012 in Galveston, TX.

Conference website

811

Back to School: Check up on Science Lab Safety

Methane Gas Leaks Common Across Massachusetts boston.cbslocal.co

Boston's aging pipes are leaking explosive methane gas and it may be occurring in a neighborhood near you.

'Model workplaces' not always so safe www.iwatchnews.org Workers at plants billed as the nation’s safest - and thus exempt from some inspections - are dying in preventable accidents: explosions, chemical releases, crane accidents and machinery-related crushing and asphyxiation.

EG: Is a culture of silence reinforced when government authorities and employers cooperate to paint an overly rosy picture of conditions and attitudes that, in reality, put people at risk?

Where do people learn to ignore safety?

Boston College Lab Explosion, HazMat 3 ...Student alone in the lab

Bosses Imperil Cleanup at Hanford, Agency Says

...intimidated workers who raised safety issues...

Report Faults Massey in Miners' Deaths

New Online Green Chemistry Professional Development for High School Educators

Workplace and Environmental Health and Safety Films

Taking unnecessary risks?

2011 Healthy Schools Hero Dr. Dwight Peavey

Today is the 74th anniversary ... Survivors Remember

-- David Brown, quoted in http://www.news-journal.com March 17, 2011, "Lasting wounds: Almost 75 years after New London explosion, book brings national exposure."

David Brown, an author and former East Texas journalist, is hoping to change that with the publication of an upcoming book titled “Gone at 3:17: The Untold Story of the Worst School Disaster in American History.” The “3:17” refers to the time of the afternoon explosion.

“Safety is No Accident: Live Injury-free.

Save the Gummy Bears, Save the World

Poison Prevention Week March 20-26, 2011

Telling their stories: Voices of the 1937 Texas School Explosion

It seems that we sometimes learn most from our worst mistakes..

Getting smart about pipeline safety

Natural Gas Safety Awareness Can Mean the Difference Between Life and Death

A Leading Energy Company Reminds People Safety is Key Following Deadly Pennsylvania Gas Explosion

EPA Grant to protect children in homes, schools, child care

Just Say Know: Creating Safer School Labs

Rehab the Lab: Creating Safer School Labs

Just Say Know: Getting Mercury out of Schools

San Bruno pipeline called 'tip of the iceberg'

Lessons of the Challenger Disaster

Lesson: Know how to turn off your gas

Chemistry of everyday things

Bring the Science of Chemical Safety to Your School

Rules really are monuments, gravestones...

Chemical safety program cannot be overrated

Leadership in Science: Teaching Safely and Teaching Safety

You Can Prevent Explosions in Your School

A Guide to Prudent Chemical Management

Gas problems in school kitchens

Massachusetts Gas Leaks - WHDH report

...another explosion occurred at an oil and gas production site in New London, Texas

The Coliseum Explosion of Halloween, 1963

Concerns Raised Over Pipeline Near Indian Point

Why is that we do not seem to learn lessons from incidents?

Lessons still needed.

Myths and Misleading Statements About Oil and Natural Gas Pipelines
By Lois Epstein, P.E., Senior Engineer
Oil and Gas Industry Specialist
Cook Inlet Keeper
... lois@inletkeeper.org
July 2004, Pipeline Safety Trust www.pstrust.org