Worker with BIDCO Marine Group was killed when the arm of a crane fell on top of him, killing him. in an industrial section of the Old First Ward bordered by the grain elevators in Buffalo, NY

Buffalo Police and OSHA inspectors survey the scene of a fatal crane accident in the industrial yard at 220 Katherine St. in South Buffalo on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (Robert Kirkham/Buffalo News)

updated September 29, 2016 at 5:32 PM

BUFFALO, NY

A Town of Tonawanda man, 27, was killed early Thursday afternoon in an accident involving a crane in an industrial section of the Old First Ward bordered by the grain elevators.  He was killed when the arm of the crane fell on top of him, killing him.

The accident occurred in the 200 block of Katherine Street by BIDCO Marine Group, at 220 Katherine St., an industrial diving and marine construction company. Police remained on the scene, interviewing workers and others.

A Buffalo Police Department spokesman said that the accident occurred shortly after 1:10 p.m.

The 27-year-old man was declared dead at the scene, the Buffalo police spokesman said.

Buffalo police and fire personnel responded to the accident, according to Michael J. DeGeorge, the police spokesman.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has also responded to the scene. An OSHA representative did not have more details.

A representative of BIDCO declined to comment, saying an investigation was still underway. 

Tap water in Philadelphia contains unhealthy amount of cancer-causing chemical hexavalent chromium

 

Tap water in Philadelphia contains unhealthy amount of cancer-causing chemical hexavalent chromium, report shows 

By Charlotte Laracy

Chromium-6, a cancer-causing carcinogen, has been found at higher-than-recommended levels in the tap water supplying two-thirds of all Americans, according to a report from the Environmental Working Group. In Philadelphia, the nonprofit research organization found an average of 0.39 parts per billion, much higher than the group recommends.

EWG analyzed the Environmental Protection Agency’s data on more than 60,000 samples collected at water utilities in all 50 states between 2013 and 2015. They found chromium-6 at levels deemed unsafe by public health officials.

EWG used two different standards when deciding whether existing chromium-6 levels in community water systems are potentially dangerous. The first standard is the public health goal of 0.02 parts per billion set by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. The group also looked at the actual legal limit adopted by California regulators, 10 ppb, even though the EWG’s scientists consider this too easygoing of a standard.
Adam Finkel, Senior Fellow and Executive Director of the Penn Program on Regulation, said that since Philadelphia is in the middle of these two standards, it should be a concern for the city.

“The fact that Philadelphia is at 0.39, I certainly wouldn’t say that there is no reason for concern,” Finkel said. “I mean anything above 0.02 ppb is something that we cannot dismiss but I would call it a small risk compared to other environmental risks that people in the city are facing.”

Chromium-6 is produced naturally in the environment as well as by industrial projects. Chromium-6 is known to cause skin burns, pneumonia, complications during childbirth and stomach cancer, even in small doses.
It is the same chemical Erin Brockovich, later made famous when Julia Roberts portrayed her in a 2000 film, uncovered in a large amount of industrial hexavalent chromium contamination in the drinking water of a town in California that had a cancer epidemic.

“The EPA was working with chromium-6 as ventilation hazard for many years but they haven’t focused on chromium-6 as a drinking hazard until more recently,” Finkel said. “Everything the EPA is doing now is taking forever.”

Even though the EPA defines chromium-6 as a known carcinogen, there is no federal standard on the maximum amount of chromium-6. In 1991, the EPA set a regulation for total chromium, but that includes chromium-3, which is a naturally occurring chemical and essential human nutrient.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, high levels of airborne chromium-6 can cause cancer. However, there is uncertainty about what exactly is the safe amount of chromium-6 in drinking water and what the possible long-term consequences may be when people ingest it through water.


“Unfortunately, the EPA in recent is more reluctant to put out a risk assessment until they have satisfied industries and made sure that there is not any alternative theory to explain why animals got cancer,” Finkel said. “They are stuck in this lengthy back and forth and it could go on forever.”

In March 2010, the agency said that it had initiated a reassessment of the health risks associated with chromium exposure and did not believe it was appropriate to revise the national primary drinking water regulation while that effort was in process.

“EPA is stuck in this timid place where they feel like they cannot go forward until every last effort to exonerate this material has been tried,” Finkel said. “To me, that’s the opposite of what the EPA should be doing. The EPA should have strict protections and then be willing to relax those protections when more information is found. Right now, they are leaving us with underprotection.”

Drunk and angry Beatriz Fana-Ruiz, 28, charged with murder, arson, assault, reckless endangerment in deaths of 2 Wilmington firefighters and the injuries to others

 Drunk and angry Beatriz Fana-Ruiz, 28, charged with murder, arson, assault, reckless endangerment in deaths of 2 Wilmington firefighters and the injuries to others

Resident charged with murder, arson in deaths of 2 Wilmington firefighters


A resident has been charged with murder and arson following the house fire that took the lives of two Wilmington firefighters.

Thursday, September 29, 2016 04:44PM
WILMINGTON, Del. (WPVI) -- A  resident has been charged with murder and arson following the house fire that took the lives of two Wilmington firefighters.

Beatriz Fana-Ruiz, 28, lives at 1927 Lakeview Road, where the fire occurred Saturday, investigators say.

Beatriz Fana-Ruiz is charged with two counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of two firefighters, four counts of second degree assault for the injuries to the other firefighters, seven counts of reckless endangerment because her stepmother, step-siblings, and other children were in the house, and one count of first-degree arson.

According to court documents, Fana-Ruiz told investigators on the night of the fire she was drunk and on anxiety medication when she became angry. She went down into the basement and set the fire.

Two witnesses told investigators they saw Fana-Ruiz go down to the basement just before they noticed the smoke and flames.





Action News was on the scene as ATF officials questioned the family of Beatriz Fana-Ruiz on Monday, September 28.

A source tells Action News, Fana-Ruiz is the stepdaughter Missy Napier who lived in the rowhome with her five children.

Heavy smoke and flames began pouring from Napier's home before 3 a.m. Saturday.

News of Fana-Ruiz's arrest and the charges stunned neighbors, although some said they thought Fana Ruiz was acting strange after the deadly blaze.

"I am just shocked. I am just really shocked. But I had a gut feeling that something was going on. It was not clear to what was going on in the neighborhood by her demeanor, by her actions that day," Carol, a neighbor, said.

Firefighters arrived on the scene early Saturday morning and had received reports that people were trapped.

They rushed in. The floor beneath them collapsed.

Senior Firefighter Jerry Fickes, 51, and Lieutenant Christopher Leach, 41, were both killed.

Firefighters Ardythe Hope and Brad Speakman remain hospitalized.

Hope is still in critical condition, but stable condition. Speakman is improving.

"It's sad because we thought it was just an accident but who knows. Nobody knew what really happened until now and it's sad because two firefighters lost their lives in that fire," neighbor Juneydi Alans said.

The public viewing for Fickes will be held at the Grace Lutheran Church in Hockessin Delaware Thursday night.

A second viewing will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. on Friday, with a private service to follow. This event is for family, friends and members of the Wilmington Fire Department only. Seating and parking will be extremely limited at this church.

Services for Leach will be held Friday at St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church, 809 S. Broom St. in Wilmington.

There will be a viewing at 10 a.m. for family, friends, Wilmington Fire Department members and local first responders will be followed by a funeral mass at noon.

A joint memorial service honoring both firefighters will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Chase Center on the Riverfront, located at 815 Justison St. in Wilmington.

The service will be open to the public. Doors will open at 12 p.m.

Fana-Ruiz remains in custody on $6 million bail. She will next appear in court on October 7th.

BOOHOO YAHOO: After Yahoo data breach, here are 15 tips to protect yourself, ASAP

Just how bad is Yahoo's security breach? 'Equivalent of ecological disaster,' expert says

Yahoo's data breach could have ripple effects that span across the Internet. (Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP)

 By Associated Press
on September 27, 2016 at 8:52 PM, updated September 27, 2016 at 10:24 PM



LONDON — As investors and investigators weigh the damage of Yahoo's massive breach to the internet icon, information security experts worry that the record-breaking haul of password data could be used to open locks up and down the web.

While it's unknown to what extent the stolen data has been or will be circulating — or how easy it would be to use if it were — giant breaches can send ripples of insecurity across the internet.

"Data breaches on the scale of Yahoo are the security equivalent of ecological disasters," said Matt Blaze, a security researcher who directs the Distributed Systems Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, in a message posted to Twitter .

A big worry is a cybercriminal technique known as "credential stuffing," which works by throwing leaked username and password combinations at a series of websites in an effort to break in, a bit like a thief finding a ring of keys in an apartment lobby and trying them, one after the other, in every door in the building. Software makes the trial-and-error process practically instantaneous.

Credential stuffing typically succeeds between 0.1 percent and 2 percent of the time, according to Shuman Ghosemajumder, the chief technology officer of Mountain View, California-based Shape Security. That means cybercriminals wielding 500 million passwords could conceivably hijack tens of thousands of other accounts.

"It becomes a numbers game for them," Ghosemajumder said in a telephone interview.

So will the big Yahoo breach mean an explosion of smaller breaches elsewhere, like the aftershocks that follow a big quake?

That seems unlikely given that Yahoo says the "vast majority" of its passwords were stored in an encrypted form believed to be difficult to unscramble. On the other hand, Yahoo said the theft occurred in late 2014, meaning that hackers have had as many as two years to try to decipher the data.

Ghosemajumder said he didn't see a surge in new breaches so much as a steady increase in attempts as cybercriminals replenish their stock of freshly hacked passwords.
"Data breaches on the scale of Yahoo are the security equivalent of ecological disasters." - Matt Blaze


The first hint that something was wrong at Yahoo came when Motherboard journalist Joseph Cox started receiving supposed samples of credentials hacked from the company in early July. Several weeks later, a cybercriminal using the handle "Peace" came forward with 5,000 samples — and the startling claim to be selling 200 million more.

The stolen information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and in many cases, security questions and the answers people gave, Yahoo said. So here are steps you should consider taking, ASAP.
On Aug. 1 Cox published a story on the sale , but the journalist said he never established with any certainty where Peace's credentials came from. He noted that Yahoo said most of its passwords were secured with one encryption protocol, while Peace's sample used a second. Either Peace drew his sample from a minority of Yahoo data or he was dealing with a different set of data altogether.

"With the information available at the moment, it's more likely to be the latter," Cox said in an email Tuesday.

The Associated Press has been unable to locate Peace. The darknet market where the seller has been active in the past has been inaccessible for days, purportedly due to cyberattacks.

At the moment it's not known who holds the passwords or whether a state-sponsored actor, which Yahoo has blamed for the breach, would ever have an interest in passing its data to people like Peace .

Even if the hack was a straightforward espionage operation, Gartner security analyst Avivah Litan said that wouldn't be a reason to relax. Spies can mine trivial-seeming data from apparently random citizens to tease out their real targets' secrets.

"That's how intelligence works," Litan said in a phone call.

Meanwhile Yahoo users who recycle the same password across the internet may still be at risk. While people can always change the passwords across all the sites they use, Yahoo's announcement that some security questions were compromised too means that the risks associated with the breach are likely to linger.

A password can be changed, after all, but how do you reset your mother's maiden name? 

=========


After Yahoo data hack, here are 15 tips to protect yourself 
 
By Teresa Dixon Murray, The Plain Dealer
 
on September 23, 2016 at 2:45 PM, updated September 24, 2016 at 8:52 AM


It's getting more and more difficult to find someone who has never been hit by a data breach. Customers of stores and restaurants . . . Government workers . . . Workers whose companies' records have been stolen . . . People with health insurance . . . Now consumers who've done business with a major email and Internet company.



Personal information involving 500 million Yahoo accounts, including accounts with Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Finance and Yahoo Fantasy Sports, was stolen back in 2014 and we're just now learning about it. Yahoo's announcement Thursday also said the theft also may have included 113 million Flickr accounts.

The stolen information may have included names, email addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, and in many cases, security questions and the answers people gave, Yahoo said.

So here are steps you should consider taking, ASAP:

1. Assume that anything that was in your Yahoo email account could be in the hands of bad guys, including passwords to other web sites and accounts.

2. Make sure all of your passwords on all of your accounts -- especially on any other email account or financial account -- are solid and are not the same one you used on any of your Yahoo accounts.

3. If you used the same "secret questions" on your Yahoo account and any other account that you have, start changing them. Favorite movie of all time? Pet's name? Middle name of your youngest sibling? Change them all.

And on that note, don't use secret questions that other people know the answers to. There are lots of people who know your high school mascot. It's probably easy to figure out from your Facebook page or among anyone you knew in high school. Don't use the name of the street you lived on as a child. Or your pet's name. Tons of people know the name of your dog, cat or guinea pig.

4. Further, when you're asked by a bank or a credit card company or any entity to provide something like your mother's maiden name, don't provide the true answer. Your mother's maiden name is easy to find. When I'm asked for my mother's maiden name, I give them a fabricated last name. The trick is, you gotta remember it since it's not true.

5. Watch out for suspicious emails or phone calls that try to trick you into disclosing personal information, based on already having some information about you that may have been extracted from your Yahoo account.

With a data breach of this scale, many of us will receive emails and calls that claim to be from Yahoo and asking us to click on links or fill out forms or provide even more personal information.

If anyone contacts you by email or phone and says he's from Yahoo or law enforcement and is calling about this breach, hang up. If you don't hang up for some reason, then do not provide any information, such as your Social Security number, date of birth, bank account information, etc.

6. Remember that stores, banks, universities and investigators will never contact you out of sky blue and ask for personal information such as account numbers, Social Security numbers, passwords, etc. Never. Ever. And they'll never contact you and ask you to change your password by clicking on an unknown link. Don't click on links or reply with any information. Never. Ever.

7. This same warning applies to anyone who calls you and claims to be from Microsoft or Apple support and says you have a problem with your computer and the caller needs access to your computer to fix it. Just don't. Ever. Just hang up without saying bye.

8. Be more cautious about anything you post on social media -- Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. You can provide thieves with a lot of information without meaning to. This is especially troubling if you post the name of your best friend and photos of your dog online, and then use that information as the answers for security questions for bank accounts.

And remember that even if your social media accounts are accessible only to friends or family, the information is still on some company's database and can be accessed or sold.

9. If you want to be uber-cautious, contact your banks and investment accounts first, then credit cards and other types of financial accounts. Ask whether you can put additional verbal passwords on your accounts that don't involve any public record data such as your date of birth. We're talking about PINs or random words (like cinnamon or acorn). You want to make sure someone can't access your accounts for wire transfers or to change your contact information without your secret password.

10. I've never been a huge fan of credit freezes across the board. That's starting to change. It's almost come to the point where everyone should consider having their credit files frozen so that someone can't open new accounts in their name.

Yes, credit freezes can be a hassle if you need to unfreeze your reports because you're applying for a loan or insurance or renting a new apartment. It can take up to three business days to unfreeze it and allow access. And yes, freezing and unfreezing them costs $5 per credit bureau.

But a credit freeze would prevent any new accounts from being opened without your expressed permission, indicated by providing your 10-digit PIN that you're given when you freeze the files.

If you want to do a credit freeze, you'll have to contact each of them individually:

Equifax: http://www.equifax.com/help/credit-freeze/en_cp or call 1-800-685-1111.

TransUnion: https://freeze.transunion.com or call 1-888-909-8872

Experian: https://www.experian.com/freeze/center.html or call 1-888-397-3742.

One of my primary sticking points with credit freezes is that they can give people a false sense of security. Credit freezes won't help prevent fraud on existing accounts, which constitutes 88 percent of identity theft.

11. Consider paying for identity theft protection. You're looking for the kind that can alert you to any underground use of your Social Security number, credit card numbers, driver's license number or email.

12. Watch out for anything odd -- a medical explanation of benefits for a service you didn't have or from a provider you don't recognize, a rejection letter for an account you didn't apply for, a missing credit card statement that is more than a few days late. These could be signs of identity theft.

13. Put every type of protection you can on your financial accounts. If you can use two passwords, do it. If you can require codes to be sent to your phone in order for you to log in, do it. If you can request email or text alerts for purchases or bank account withdrawals or changes to your contact information, then do it. While you're at it, make sure that companies you do business with have all of your current contact information in their files.

14. Monitor your primary bank accounts, credit cards, investments, etc., more carefully than ever. Every week is good. Every day is better.

15. Check your credit reports regularly. You're entitled to one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit bureaus. Go to annualcreditreport.com or call 1-877-322-8228. Or you can fill out a paper request and mail it to: Annual Credit Report Request Service, P.O. Box 105281, Atlanta, Georgia 30348-5281. You'll be asked to provide your name, address, Social Security number, date of birth and which bureau you want a report from (Equifax, TransUnion or Experian).

Best advice: Order a credit report from one of the bureaus every four months.

The fatal NJ Transit train approached station in Hoboken, NJ at 3 times typical rate of speed; train engineer the focus of the early investigation

At Least One Dead After Speeding New Jersey Transit Train Crashes Into Hoboken Station

NJ Transit train approached station in Hoboken at 3 times typical rate of speed, sources say

By Jim Hoffer

Thursday, September 29, 2016 08:06PM

HOBOKEN (WABC) --

The New Jersey Transit train that crashed Thursday approached the station at three times the typical 10 mph approach speed, sources tell Eyewitness News.

The National Transportation Safety Board has sent a team of investigators to the scene of the crash in Hoboken, and the Federal Railroad Administration will also be investigating.
Pictures showed the violent force in which the passenger filled train struck the terminal platform.

The damage, according to one investigator, suggests the brakes failed or the engineer never applied them.

We've also learned there was no automated safety system, called positive train control, to stop the runaway train.

"PTC has been one of our priorities," said NTSB Vice-Chairman Bella Dinh-Varr. "We know that it can prevent accidents. As to whether it is involved in this accident, that is definitely one of the things we will look at carefully."

A lack of positive train control was cited as a contributing cause in a 2011 PATH train crash into a track bumper stop.
Investigators will also look at a similar accident in 1985 when a NJ Transit train coming into the same station as Thursday's crash failed to stop, resulting in 67 people injured.
"You've investigated a lot of accidents, what does your gut tell you?," we asked former train accident investigator James Sottile.

"The engineer was possibly incapacitated and could not control the train until it hit bumper block," said Sottile.

A source close to the investigation goes a step further, telling us a medical emergency is at the top of their list of probable causes.

Two data recorder boxes will show whether the engineer was hitting the throttle or applying brakes in the seconds before the crash.
But what upsets the former investigator is the absence of an automatic braking system that could have stopped the train when it started speeding into the terminal.

"I've investigated several accidents on NJ Transit and they never upgraded their system," said Sottile.

U.S. railroads are under government orders to install the system called positive train control, but the work has gone more slowly than expected. The deadline has been repeatedly extended and is now Dec. 31, 2018.

Last month, the Federal Railroad Administration said New Jersey Transit had a lot of work yet to do on installing the necessary equipment. New Jersey Transit responded that the report didn't reflect the work it had accomplished.

============
By ELI ROSENBERG and EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS

SEPT. 29, 2016


Train Crashes Into New Jersey Station.  Speed is a Factor in the Crash.



A New Jersey Transit commuter train crashed into the station at Hoboken, N.J., on Thursday. Video shot by witnesses shows the damage moments after the crash. Publish Date September 29, 2016. Photo by Pancho Bernasconi/Getty Images.


A commuter train crashed at a station in northern New Jersey during the Thursday morning rush, killing at least one person and injuring about 100 people, a number of them seriously, the authorities said.

“There are fatalities,” said a senior transportation official who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly. “There are a significant number of injuries. The train was going very fast. There are structural concerns about the facility.”

Jim Smith, a spokesman for New Jersey Transit, confirmed that an accident involving a New Jersey Transit train had occurred at the train station in Hoboken.

Rail service was suspended into and out of the station. Local buses and ferries were accepting train tickets in light of the accident.

Jason Danahy was on the train, on the Pascack Valley line, that crashed on Thursday morning. He said the train was filled with commuters and pulling into the station when it abruptly came to a halt. Slide Show
“From the fifth car, it felt like a major skid,” he said. “A creaking noise and a skid. I was lucky to be on the fifth car.”

When he got off the train, it was chaotic in the station.

“I saw bloody noses,” he said. “I saw people crying.”

Ben Fairclough, 35, said he was transferring at the station when he saw the derailed train, which was blocking part of the terminal.

“There were wires down, water pouring from the ceiling, the roof had collapsed, and there was people climbing out of windows of the train,” he said.

He said one person appeared to be unconscious on the ground. Others were bloody, he said.

“Cars drive into houses,” he said. “This was a train that drove into the terminal.”

A spokesman for Care Point Health said that four patients had been transported from the station to Hoboken University Medical Center, with more expected.

Matthew Lehner, a spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, said the agency was aware of the crash and had investigators on their way.

Speed is a factor in the crash based on the accounts of many witnesses.

=====


Commuter Train Crashes Into Hoboken, New Jersey, Station, Killing 3: Officials. 
Speed is a factor in the crash based on the accounts of many witnesses.
by Jay Varela, Emmanuelle Saliba and Erik Ortiz



Special Report: Commuter Train Crashes in Hoboken, N.J. 5:27

A commuter train plowed into a platform inside New Jersey Transit's Hoboken terminal during the Thursday morning rush-hour, killing at least three people and injuring more than 75, officials said.

Witnesses reported seeing bruised and bloodied passengers, including one woman pinned underneath concrete, after the crash occurred just before 9 a.m. ET inside the busy station.

The Regional Medical Examiner's Office in Newark and the Jersey City Medical Center confirmed the fatalities and between 75 to 100 injuries.
People are treated for their injuries outside after a NJ Transit train crashed in to the platform at Hoboken Terminal on Sept. 29, 2016. Eduardo Munoz Alvarez / Getty Images

The Hoboken terminal, located across the river from Lower Manhattan, is one of the busiest in the greater New York City area, with an estimated 50,000 commuters passing through every day. The trains do not have seat belts.

Photos taken from the scene and posted on social media showed major damage to the more than century-old station, with part of its roof collapsed and mangled steel and shattered glass on the ground.

The train originated from Spring Valley, New York, on the Pascack Valley line and was expected to arrive in Hoboken at 8:38 a.m. The accident occurred at 8:45 a.m. on track five, a NJ Transit spokeswoman said.







Passenger: 'People jumped through the windows' 4:38

A passenger, Bhagyesh Shah, said he was standing in the back of the second train car when it smashed through the platform and hit a couple of pillars, which caused the ceiling to rain down.

"It was for a couple seconds, but it felt like an eternity," Shah said. "I saw a woman pinned under the concrete. A lot of people were bleeding, one guy was crying."


Shah said the passengers in the second car broke the emergency windows to get out.

He added that the train, which had come from the Secaucus Junction station, was crowded — especially in the first and second cars because they give the easiest access to the terminal.

Another passenger, Steve Mesiano, told MSNBC that the crash sounded like a "huge, huge bang, and the lights went off." He was in the second train car, and said he saw the roof of the first car collapse.

When he got out, Mesiano saw bloodied passengers everywhere.

"There was blood on the floor," he said.







Hoboken Commuter Train Crashes into Terminal, Killing at Least Three 0:19

Nancy Bido, who was sitting in the middle of the train, told NBC New York that it felt like they were "going really too fast." She hit her head on the person in front of her as the train lurched forward.

"Everybody was pretty shaken up and upset," said Bido, adding that she was waiting to be taken to one of three hospitals in the area treating people.

Rail and PATH service in Hoboken was immediately suspended, and the National Safety Transportation Board told NBC News it was sending teams to investigate.

Kitty Higgins, a former NTSB board member, said the review will focus on what caused the train to pull into the station without slowing down.

"Why that happened, we obviously have to find out. Was there something that happened to the driver, was there an equipment failure we don't know [about] yet? That's what will be looked at," she told MSNBC.







NJ train crash 'isn't a deliberate act' 1:57

The comprehensive probe will look at all factors, including the condition of the train tracks and the recent sleep patterns of the engineer, according to another former NTSB board member, John Goglia. Investigators will examine data from the event recorder, the train's black box.

"The event recorder's going to tell us what the engineer was doing as he approached that station. We will be able to tell if he, in fact, slowed down, if he applied brakes, and how much he applied," Goglia said.

While the investigation is in its preliminary stages, there was no initial sign of terrorism or that it was a deliberate act, two local law enforcement officials said.

The Hoboken station — a historic facility and NJ Transit's fifth-busiest — was the site of another crash on a different train line that left more than 30 hurt in 2011.

Construction worker, 24, impales his leg on a steel rod after he fell nine feet (3 metres) from a building site

Construction worker, 24, impales his leg on a steel rod after he fell nine feet (3 metres)  from a building site


Man fell at a construction site in Pymble, north Sydney, about 9am Monday
The 24-year-old was impaled in the upper left leg, NSW Ambulance said
He is in a stable condition at Royal North Shore Hospital
WARNING: Graphic images

By Rachel Eddie For Daily Mail Australia

Published: 19:47 EST, 25 September 2016 | Updated: 01:19 EST, 26 September 2016


A construction worker has been impaled by a steel rod after the 24-year-old man fell at a worksite.

The man fell three metres and was impaled by a rod in his upper left leg shortly before 9am on Monday, NSW Ambulance told Daily Mail Australia.

He was rushed from the construction site on Livingstone Avenue in Sydney’s Pymble to Royal North Shore by ambulance.



A construction worker has been impaled by a steel rod after the 24-year-old man fell at a worksite




The man was rushed from the construction site on Livingstone Avenue in Sydney’s Pymble to Royal North Shore by ambulance

The 24-year-old is in a stable condition, CareFlight advised.

Safe Work NSW said it would investigate the incident and confirmed the man's injury was at a multi-storey residential construction site.

'The worker fell from level two of the site, around three metres,' the spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia.

A rapid response helicopter landed at a Pymble school about 300 metres from the construction site about 9.10am.

NSW Police are also at the scene.



NSW Police are also at the scene at Pymble in north Sydney

J & D Sewer Services Ltd. of Swift Current, Saskatchewan will have to pay a $42,000 penalty after two Calgary workers were killed after being exposed to hydrogen sulfide inside a sewer line and burried by collapsed line

Swift Current sewer company fined after two men died in September 2014 workplace accident near Fox Valley

@MedicineHatNews



By Canadian Press on September 28, 2016.

FOX VALLEY, Sask. – A Saskatchewan sewer company will have to pay a $42,000 penalty after two Calgary men were killed in a workplace accident.

J & D Sewer Services Ltd. of Swift Current was fined Tuesday for the accident in September 2014.

Two workers died when they were exposed to hydrogen sulphide in a sewer line near the village of Fox Valley, about 100 kilometres east of Medicine Hat.

RCMP said at the time that the men fell about 3 1/2 metres and were buried when the line partially collapsed.

The company pleaded guilty in July to two counts under occupational health-and-safety legislation.

It admitted that it failed to ensure the workers were trained in all necessary ways to protect their health and safety and did not take all steps to prevent them from being exposed to hazardous substances.



=======




Just over two years after two workers died from being exposed to hydrogen sulfide in a sewer line, Swift Current company, J & D Sewer Services (1984) Limited has been fined $42,000.

The fines were issued Tuesday after the company pleaded guilty in July to:

-Contravening clause 19(1)(a) of the regulations (being an employer, failure to ensure that a worker is trained in all matters that are necessary to protect the health and safety of the worker when the worker begins work at a place of employment, resulting in the death of two workers); and

-Contravening clause 302(2)(a) of the regulations (being an employer, failed to take all practicable steps to prevent exposure of a worker, to an extent that is likely harmful to a worker, to a chemical substance or biological substance that may be hazardous, resulting in the death of two workers).

The company was fined $15,000 plus a $6,000 surcharge on each count.

Charges stem from an incident that took place near the Village of Fox Valley on September 14, 2014.

At the time of the incident, RCMP said that the men fell about 3 1/2 meters and were buried when the line partially collapsed.

PFOA: Another dangerous substance in our drinking water, our bodies and the environment created by reckless chemists on the basis of "convenience"

Source: http://www.courierpostonline.com, September 23, 2016
By: James M. O’Neill 

What have the chemists done?  Over the years, they have created numerous chemicals that have been proven to be dangerous to our lives and the environment.  Here is a small list of the known chemist-made dangerous chemicals that have contaminated our water supplies:  

• TCE
• PCE
• Dioxin
• Asbestos 
• Hexavalent chromium
• PCBs
• DDT
• Fully Halogenated Chlorofluoroalkanes
• leaded-gasoline
• leaded paint
• MTBE in the gasoline

 

You have to note that there are 80,000 unregulated chemicals out there, and more are made by the day.  They have been messing with our food for years by changing the DNA and producing all kinds of products that we do not know whether the environment will accept them.  Somebody needs to stop these chemists on their trucks, before it is too late.

A New Jersey agency has proposed adopting what would be the most stringent standard in the nation to control levels of a cancer-causing chemical linked to an array of health problems and which is prevalent in drinking water systems across the state.

The chemical, commonly called PFOA or C8, has been used in the manufacture of stain-resistant carpets, waterproof clothing, non-stick cooking pans and other products that make life less messy. It has spread so far through the environment that it can be found everywhere, from the fish in the Delaware River to polar bears in the Arctic.

It has also become the subject of thousands of lawsuits.

The state’s Drinking Water Quality Institute on Thursday proposed the standard, which, if adopted, would require water utilities to treat water to reduce the amount of PFOA reaching taps.

“The institute is taking a pretty aggressive approach on PFOA,” said Howard Woods Jr., a private consultant to water utilities and a former water company executive. “It’s a good idea. The institute is deliberate and not rash. The stuff is all over the place.”

Smaller water utilities, including some in North Jersey, have said the extra treatment would be a major financial hit.

“System by system, you’ll find issues where the cost of treatment is prohibitive compared to finding an alternative water source, so some towns might abandon wells and buy water from a neighboring system,” Woods said.

The current state health advisory standard for PFOA is 0.04 parts per billion. The proposed standard is 0.014 – nearly three times lower – and many drinking water systems in the state have had levels above that.

The contaminant is found much more frequently in drinking water in New Jersey than in many other states. Sampling conducted by the state in 2006 and 2009 showed PFOA at levels above the state’s current standard in Garfield, Atlantic City, Brick, Greenwich, Montclair, Orange, South Orange, Paulsboro, Rahway and New Jersey American Water’s Logan, Raritan and Penns Grove systems.

The Montclair system has been blending water and is testing to determine if that lowers the levels. The two Orange treatment plants with high readings have been shut down. So has a treatment plant in Paulsboro. New Jersey American has installed treatment systems to remove PFOA at its Penns Grove and Logan systems, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.

More recently, the federal Environmental Protection Agency over the past two years has detected PFOA in levels of at least 0.02 parts per billion in 14 drinking water systems, including Ridgewood Water, Fair Lawn, Garfield, Wallington and Hawthorne.

The institute’s proposed new standard drew praise from environmental advocates. “PFOA is a very significant carcinogen, it doesn’t degrade in the environment and levels are increasing over time, so it’s entirely appropriate for the state to regulate it,” said David Pringle, Clean Water Action’s New Jersey campaign director, who served on the Drinking Water Quality Institute from 2002 to 2010 and pushed the institute to address the issue.

The institute Thursday also unanimously approved recommending a maximum standard of 0.03 parts per billion for 1,2,3-trichloropropane, another contaminant found in drinking water. It is a man-made chemical solvent and a likely human carcinogen.

Found nationwide

PFOA – short for perfluorooctanoic acid – is linked to kidney and testicular cancer, as well as high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, pregnancy-induced hypertension and other illnesses. There are also probable links to low birth weight and decreased immune responses.

Yet it is among thousands of contaminants that are not regulated by federal and state governments.

The chemical is so prevalent now that it can be found in the blood serum of most people in the United States.

In 2005, DuPont settled a federal lawsuit for $16.5 million after the EPA said the company failed to report information it had showing that PFOA posed substantial human health risks, information the company knew as early as 1981.

In 2006, the EPA asked the eight major producers of PFOA to eliminate the product by 2015. By 2010, those manufacturers had decreased emissions of the contaminant at their plants by 95 percent. DuPont has said it phased out PFOA by 2013.

In a statement on PFOA posted this year on its website, DuPont said that it “always acted responsibly based on the health and environmental information that was available to the industry and regulators about PFOA at the time of its usage.” The company said that it “was proactive in taking precautions to guard against any potential harm,” and that it “took more precautions in the use and handling of PFOA than any other company.”

In 2011 DuPont agreed to settle two class action suits for $8.3 million after it was alleged that PFOA from the company’s Chambers Works facility in Salem County contaminated drinking water supplies there. The more than 4,000 households involved were given a choice of $800 in cash or an in-home water filtration system.

About 3,500 lawsuits have been filed against DuPont over PFOA in West Virginia and Ohio. In the suits, residents claim they got sick or had a relative die because they drank water laced with PFOA from the DuPont plant that manufactured Teflon in Parkersburg, W.Va. The company could face up to $1 billion in potential damages.

PFOA seems more likely to contaminate water systems that use wells drilled into groundwater aquifers, such as those of Garfield, Fair Lawn and Ridgewood Water, which supplies drinking water to 60,000 people in Glen Rock, Midland Park, Ridgewood and Wyckoff.

Less affected are systems that rely on surface water, like rivers and reservoirs, including the reservoir system operated along the Hackensack River by Suez North America, and the treatment facility that Passaic Valley Water Commission uses to pump water out of the Passaic River.

Research indicates that filters made of granular activated carbon can remove PFOA and similar chemicals from water.

Willard Bierwas, facilities manager for Garfield, has said treating for PFOA “would be a major expense for every municipality in the state.”

But Jeff Tittel of the New Jersey Sierra Club said the technology is affordable and can even be used to remove other contaminants from the water.

“All this great work by the institute will just go to waste unless the DEP adopts this proposal,” Tittel said.

It could be years before the new standard became official, and Governor Christie’s administration could ultimately decide to reject the institute’s recommendation.

DEP spokesman Bob Considine declined to comment on the proposed PFOA standard, saying the agency wants the institute’s process to play out.

The institute’s presentation at a meeting Thursday triggered a 60-day public comment period. The institute would review the comments before making a final recommendation to the DEP.

Discharged pool water and waters containing chlorine or other chemicals can be detrimental to aquatic life if not handled responsibly

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
09/29/2016



Pennsylvania DEP Reminds Pool Owners to Handle Waste Water Responsibly




Harrisburg, PA – In an effort to help protect stream health and aquatic life, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) would like to remind private and public pool owners, as well as pool management companies, how to properly close their swimming pools for the season.

Discharged pool water and waters containing chlorine or other chemicals can be detrimental to aquatic life if not handled responsibly. It is extremely important that these waters are handled correctly. Pool waters must not be discharged to any storm sewer or land in which a storm sewer is accessible. Runoff can cause fish kills and unsafe aquatic conditions.

“Pool owners and professional pool cleaners need to dispose of old water appropriately and conscientiously,” said Acting DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell. “Most of all, we need to make sure the wastewater is going into the sanitary sewer, where it may be allowed – and not into our storm sewers where it could harm aquatic life.”

When draining a swimming pool this year, make sure to protect Pennsylvania by following these tips: 

• Pool water may be disposed of through the sanitary sewer system ONLY with municipal permission.
• Never dispose of pool water through a storm sewer, which will discharge to a stream.
• If lowering the water level of the pool, let it drain to a lawn to prevent it from running off into a storm sewer.
• If a sanitary sewer system is not available, water may be used for irrigation if it does not run off the property or into a storm sewer.

The discharge of swimming pool water to any waters of the commonwealth without a permit is a violation of the Clean Streams Law. Property owners and pool companies that violate this law may be prosecuted and penalized for damages.

Chinese-made, 12,000 All Power Portable Generators Recalled by J.D. North America Due to Explosion, Fire and Burn Hazards

J.D. North America Corp., of Charlotte, N.C., is recalling about 12,300 All Power portable gasoline generators sold in the U.S. and Mexico.

The fuel tank can leak, posing explosion, fire and burn hazards.

The firm has received 21 reports of fuel leakage. No injuries or property damage have been reported.

This recall involves All Power portable gasoline generators with model numbers APGG6000 and APGG7500. The black and red generators have a black fuel tank on top of the units.

Model APGG6000 generators are rated at 6,000 watts and have UPC code 8 4676600055 3 and serial number JD29014S18035 through JD29014U020742. Model APGG7500 generators are rated at 7,500 watts and have UPC code 8 4676600056 0 and serial number JD42014S16027 through JD42014T210606.

The model number is located on both sides of the unit. The UPC code and serial number can be found on a silver plate on the upper right hand-side of the back side panel.

The generators, manufactured in China, were sold at Big Sandy Superstores, Family Farm & Home, Inc., Home Owners Bargain Outlet, Mills Fleet Farm Corp., Nexcom West Coast and other stores nationwide and online at Bluestem.com, BrandsmartUSA.com, HomeDepot.com, hoboonline.com, jbtoolsales.com and other online retailers from March 2014, through May 2016, for between $510 and $725.

What to do

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled generators and contact J.D. North America to schedule a free replacement fuel tank, including installation.

Consumers may contact J.D. North America toll-free at (844) 287-4655 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, by email at apggrecall@jdna.com, or online at www.allpoweramerica.com and click on the APGG Recall link for more information.

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Units:
About 12,000 (in addition, 300 were sold in Mexico)

Description:


This recall involves All Power portable gasoline generators with model numbers APGG6000 and APGG7500. The black and red generators have a black fuel tank on top of the units. Model APGG6000 generators are rated at 6,000 watts and have UPC code 8 4676600055 3 and serial number JD29014S18035 through JD29014U020742. Model APGG7500 generators are rated at 7,500 watts and have UPC code 8 4676600056 0 and serial number JD42014S16027 through JD42014T210606. The model number is located on both sides of the unit. The UPC code and serial number can be found on a silver plate on the upper right hand-side of the back side panel.

Incidents/Injuries:


The firm has received 21 reports of fuel leakage. No injuries or property damage have been reported.


Remedy:


Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled generators and contact J.D. North America to schedule a free replacement fuel tank, including installation.

Sold At:


Big Sandy Superstores, Family Farm & Home, Inc., Home Owners Bargain Outlet, Mills Fleet Farm Corp., Nexcom West Coast and other stores nationwide and online at Bluestem.com, BrandsmartUSA.com, HomeDepot.com, hoboonline.com, jbtoolsales.com and other online retailers from March 2014 through May 2016 for between $510 and $725.

Importer(s):


J.D. North America Corp., of Charlotte, N.C.

Importer:


Profeco's (Mexico) press release is available at http://www.profeco.gob.mx/Verificacion/alertas_nvo.asp

Distributor(s):


J.D. North America Corp., of Charlotte, N.C.

Manufactured In:
China