HazardEx - Industry News

Pharma factory explosion in Brazil injures 26 23 October 2014

At least 26 people were injured, including three who are in a critical condition, in an explosion at a medicine factory in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, EFE reported medical sources as saying. Of the three seriously injured staff, one had 90% burns, the second a deep head injury and the final worker suffered internal in juries from smoke inhalation. ...

News Extra: OSHA director says US standards process is “broken” 01 October 2014

In an interview with NBC News, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) director David Michaels said: “When it comes to health hazards, we have a standards process that is broken.” Political opposition to new standards in Congress, where many Republicans oppose them as potential constraints on business, have combined with legal and procedural challenges to make OSHA’s efforts to bring rules up to date a Herculean task. ...

UK research facility fined by regulator for biohazard failings 02 May 2014

A world-renowned animal disease research facility in Surrey has been fined for shortcomings in the management of safety during experiments with cattle infected with the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). This follows two incidents at the Pirbright Institute in November 2012 and January 2013 in parts of a contained facility housing infected animals. ...

Survey shows optimism in UK chemical industry 08 April 2014

In the latest survey of business prospects for the UK’s number one manufacturing exporter – the chemical industry, optimism remains high. Over half of the companies expect sales to increase and there is a renewed appetite for investment. The survey was carried out in March by the industry’s trade body, the Chemical Industries Association....

UK pharmaceutical company fined £100,000 after man sprayed by toxic chemical 24 September 2013

A North East pharmaceutical company has been fined for a serious safety breach which left a worker fighting for his life in hospital. The employee, from Tyne and Wear, was sprayed with seven litres of bromine as he removed cables from a valve connected to pipework at Aesica Pharmaceuticals on the Windmill Industrial Estate, Cramlington, Northumberland. ...

Worker injured in flash fire at California Amgen facility 17 May 2013

A worker at an Amgen research facility in South San Francisco has been hospitalized after a "flash fire" involving hazardous materials. "There was a flash fire at the research facility there," spokeswoman Ashleigh Koss said. "There was an incident with a flammable liquid." There was no report on the worker's condition. ...

Novartis plant leak causes hospitalisation of six workers 17 December 2012

Swiss police said six people were taken to hospital on Tuesday following the leak of a corrosive liquid at a Novartis pharmaceutical production site in Schweizerhalle near Basel in Switzerland where the group makes the blood pressure drug Diovan. Police said a few litres of a caustic liquid chemical were spilt and 13 people who inhaled the fumes needed medical attention...

Canadian health products company to rebuild plant destroyed in November explosion 30 November 2012

Neptune Technologies & Bioressources, whose main plant was destroyed in an explosion that killed three workers and injured 18 more, says it will rebuild its plant and expand capacity. The Canadian company is looking for manufacturers to take on its fish oil production until the new plant is complete. ...

Quebec health products plant explosion kills three 09 November 2012

Three people have been killed and 19 injured by an explosion and fire at a health products plant in Quebec, Canada, on November 8. The plant is owned by Neptune Technologies & Bioressources, which produces health products such as Omega-3 derived from marine life. A second blast on the same day hit the Bombardier Recreational Products complex in Valcourt, Quebec, leaving two people with serious burns....

Pharmaceutical company fined over Irish plant explosion 11 May 2012

Corden Pharma Ltd has been fined €300,000 following a chemical explosion at its County Cork plant that killed one of its employees and seriously injured another, according to the Irish Times. The chemical explosion took place in a process reactor at the company’s 20-acre Little Island plant on April 28th, 2008. ...