Two Separate, Serious Incidents at Particle Board Plant in Gaylord, Michigan Injure 15 - May 25 and May 26, 2001
Nine employees were severely injured on May 25 when an explosion and fire rocked a section of the Georgia-Pacific pressed board manufacturing plant in Gaylord, Michigan. Six of the injured, suffering varying degrees of severe burn injuries, were airlifted to trauma and burn centers in several Michigan cities. A second explosion occurred the next day as firefighters were trying to extinguish the first fire. The fire had spread to a silo containing wood chips 20 to 30 feet deep. When firefighters opened the silo to pour water on the flames, the sudden infusion of oxygen caused the second blast. One firefighter suffered first- and second-degree burns, and five others were treated for smoke inhalation and minor injuries. The plant will remain closed until the investigation of the first blast is complete, idling most of the 230 workers employed at the plant.

  
Explosion, Fire at German Chemical Plant Injures 93, Including 50 Nearby Students - May 22, 2001
An explosion and fire at a BASF chemical plant released a cloud of gas in the western city of Ludwigshafen, Germany on May 21, and at least 93 people suffered respiratory problems. Among the injured were 50 children at a nearby school, 27 workers and 12 police officers. Although they complained of breathing problems, none of the injuries was considered serious. Residents were advised to shelter-in-place. BASF also advised residents to wash any toys and furniture that were outside at the time of the accident. Ludigol gas was released during production of laundry starch. Contact with the gas, which includes irritants such as nitrogen oxide, could cause eye and skin irritation. Firefighters extinguished the fire within 30 minutes using a turbo-extinguisher and six metric tons of extinguishing powder. Some of the powder, wax-coated sodium bicarbonate, drifted outside the site in a clearly visible cloud and descended in the neighborhood as a fine white deposit. This powder is not harmful, but could irritate eyes and airways.

  
Boiler Explosion at Taiwan Chemical Factory Claims One Life, Injures About 100 Others - May 18, 2001
An explosion at an unnamed chemical plat in northern Taiwan (Hsinchu County) claimed the life of one person and injured approximately 100 others. Most of the injured were cut by glass splinters and other debris that rained down up to 660 feet from the factory. The Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration said it was closely monitoring the impact of the explosion, but had not detected leaking toxic materials. Details about the cause of the explosion or the chemicals involved were not disclosed.

  
Nigerian Villagers Detain Oil Workers for Compensation from Oil Spill - May 6, 2001
Local youths in Nigeria’s Ogonilond region briefly detained oil workers (from Shell and Boots and Coots) who had just capped a gushing oil spill. After more than an hour of negotiations, the youths allowed the workers to leave. Another group of villagers had prevented the oil workers from starting the operation just days before. The impoverished local residents apparently wanted compensation from the workers, said Ledum Mitee, president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. Oil workers are regularly taken hostage by youths trying to extort high ransoms in Nigeria's oil-rich south. Last summer 165 Shell workers were held captive on a rig for six days. Security analysts say most small-scale hostage cases are not publicized. Shell abandoned the well in 1993 after being forced out in a violent campaign by Ogonis who said oil exploitation was ruining the environment and doing nothing to raise them out of poverty. Attacks against Shell and other drilling companies in other parts of the oil-rich Niger Delta have since become regular occurrences. Decades of army rule have left the Delta one of Nigeria's poorest regions, despite bountiful oil deposits beneath its marshes and forests. There was some dispute as to whether the original oil spill was as a result of vandalism from locals, or negligence on the part of Shell.

  
Three Killed, One Injured In Explosion at Russian Chemical Plant - May 6, 2001
Three workers were killed and another injured when an acetylene container exploded during welding work at the Stakhanov plant in Luhansk, 518 miles (836 km) east of the capital Kiev, the Emergency Situations Ministry reported. The explosion occurred one day after a methane gas explosion killed eight coal miners in eastern Ukraine, in the coal industry's gravest accident so far this year.
The Associated Press reported that job accidents occur frequently in the ex-Soviet republic's industrial sector, where safety rules are often violated due to neglect or lack of funds to improve labor standards.

  
Twenty-one Bulgarian Construction Workers Seriously Burned In Propane Explosion During Road-Surfacing Work - May 2, 2001
Twenty-one construction workers, including two foreigners, suffered serious burns in a propane gas explosion during road-surfacing work in southern Bulgaria, an official said May 3. The accident happened when two propane-filled bottles near an asphalt-laying machine exploded late Wednesday near the town of Lyubimets, some 300 kilometers (186 miles) southeast of Sofia. Twenty-one workers suffered burns in the ensuing fire and five of them, including the two foreign nationals, were flown to an emergency hospital in Sofia. Police were investigating the cause of the explosion.

  
Sulfur Dioxide Release at Richmond, California Chemical Plant Caused Dozens of Injuries, Area Shelter In Place - May 1, 2001
An estimated 417 pounds of sulfur dioxide and six pounds of sulfur trioxide were released on May 1. The release, at the General Chemical Corp plant in Richmond, California, prompted 150 people to go to area hospitals and shut down streets around the plant for more than four hours. People within a half mile radius of the plant were asked to shelter-in-place. The amount of chemicals contained in the cloud produced in this incident was not expected to create serious health problems. The leak started when workers tried to restart operations after a power outage. The outage was caused when a vehicle hit a pole at about 2:00 p.m., knocking down electric lines to the plant. General Chemical said in a county-required report that the trouble was a malfunction in a device called a governor, which is supposed to automatically open to release steam. The leak was capped when the device was manually opened, and the steam turbine came on.

  
Produce Workers Evacuate After Ammonia Leak - April 29, 2001
Reports of an ammonia leak at the San Antonio Produce Terminal Market forced workers to be evacuated April 29. San Antonio hazardous materials emergency crews were called to the produce terminal to help stop the leak. Authorities said that an employee was doing some maintenance on the valve “in the mechanism” when an ammonia valve failed. The employee was affected by the ammonia fumes, and was treated at the scene and released. According to local police, None of the ammonia that had escaped into the air was toxic enough to cause any type of harm to any persons in the neighborhood or at the scene.

  
Fine for Tosco Accidents Could Be Halved - April 24, 2001
Tosco will likely have to pay less than half the fine originally ordered for two accidents at its refineries. The accidents included the blast at Tosco's Avon refinery, which killed four people more than two years ago, and an unrelated accident at its Rodeo refinery. After settlement talks, Cal/OSHA decided Tosco will only be responsible for half that amount, or about $400,000. Agency spokespeople say they decided to settle the case to avoid lengthy court proceedings. The final decision lies with Cal/OSHA's Independent Review Board, which is expected to give it the ok. Tosco's troubled Avon refinery was sold last year to Ultramar Diamond Shamrock (UDS). Cal/OSHA says the settlement is still its largest penalty for any one company.

  
BP Amoco to pay $804,700 US-EPA Fine for Oil Spill - April 23, 2001
BP Amoco has agreed to pay a $804,700 fine for violating the federal Clean Water Act by dumping almost 162,500 gallons of oil in a Kansas river, according to the U.S. EPA. The wrongdoing occurred in January 1994 by a pipeline affiliate of Atlantic Richfield. BP Amoco assumed the liabilities of Atlantic Richfield when it merged with the company last year. The oil was dumped in the Marais des Cygnes River in Osawatomie, Kansas, disrupting the town's water supply for 38 days during the winter of 1994. The oil spill was caused by a break in a pipeline owned at the time by ARCO. In addition to the fine, BP Amoco agreed to spend at least $145,300 on a supplemental environmental project involving reconstruction improvements to Osawatomie's water intake.

  
Dramatic Coker Unit Fire at Tosco Los Angeles-area Refinery Prompts Local Evacuations - April 23, 2001
A fire that began in the Tosco Los Angeles Refinery’s Coker Unit spewed billowing smoke to about 3,000 feet above the Los Angeles area. Witnesses reported seeing plumes of black smoke as far as 50 miles (80 km) away. A Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman said, “as long as it remains in the atmosphere it's not a great concern,” but instructed people to stay indoors and close their windows. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. It began in the refinery's "coker" unit. About 200 plant workers were safely evacuated from the Carson facility.

  
Pipeline Break Leaks Oil, Saltwater on Alaska Tundra - April 18, 2001
A hole in a pipeline used for transporting by-products at the Kuparuk oil field on Alaska's North Slope has resulted in the biggest spill of industrial material onto the tundra in recent years, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) said on April 17. The leak, discovered on Sunday night, caused a spill of 92,400 gallons of so-called “produced water,” a mixture of salty water and oil. While the oil represents only 3% of the volume from the discharge, the material is harmful to the tundra anyway, and according to DEC has about the same toxicity as diesel fuel. Also, saltwater, if it seeps into the earth, kills the tundra plants and has lingering effects. The general strategy for cleaning saltwater from the tundra is to flush the area with fresh water, he said. The cleanup is expected to last for a few weeks, he said. The processed water contains salt because the oil producers use sea water to boost oil recovery. Sea water is injected into the earth to build reservoir pressure.