Chemical Incident Reporting – Week of 7-1-23

NOTE: See here for series background.

Huntington Beach, CA – 6-30-23

Local news report: Here.

Cleaning chemicals mixed, producing chlorine gas fumes. Five people medically evaluated but not hospitalized.

Not CSB reportable.

This mixing of cleaning agents is a well understood hazard that continues to affect many people. Fortunately, in this case none of the injuries were serious.

East Alton, IL – 6-22-23

Local news reports: Here, here, and here.

Shotgun shell primers exploded in trailer being moved at the facility. 1 dead

Possible CSB reportable. If this was a delivery truck transporting the primers this would not be a CSB reportable as the NTSB would be the investigating agency. If the trailer had been dropped off at the site and a facility tractor was moving it around on site, it would have become a CSB incident.

Santa Clarita, CA – 7-4-23

Local news reports: Here, here and here.

A muriatic acid spill (40-gal) at pool supply store resulted in chlorine outgassing. 7 hospitalized.

CSB reportable.

The news report is not clear, but the acid probably mixed with hypochlorite or some other pool chlorinating agent. This is another well understood chemical safety issue that arises too frequently in the pool supply industry.