SAFETY ALERT

This factual information sent from a local hospital administrator. Please be careful and let everyone know that this is a problem.

For those of you who like to grill it up during the summer, here's a safety announcement you should be aware of?

Please put this information out to ALL personnel. This message was sent to me and I thought it should be shared. For those of you who exchange propane tanks, this is something you definitely need to be aware of, especially in light of the recent news of 'Meth-labs' in our area.

The following came from an email sent to me:

'There was a meth training/workshop yesterday and there was a lot of great new information presented. I wanted to let you all know about one thing that I was not aware of.

Meth cooks are getting the propane tanks from the exchanges at Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc. and emptying t hem of the propane. Then, they are filling them with anhydrous ammonia (which they now have a recipe for by the way). After they are finished with them, they return them to the store. They are then refilled with propane and sent back for you and me to buy. Anhydrous ammonia is very corrosive and weakens the structure of the tank. It can be very dangerous when mixed with propane and hooked up to our grills, etc.

According to our presenter, you should inspect the propane tank for any blue or greenish residue around the valve areas. If it is present, refuse to purchase that one.'

I researched the information, and you should check out the following website for more details. They also have pictures you can show.

http://www.npga.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=529


Immediately contact your Fire Department, Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Unit or the nearest office of the United States Department of Justice's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for information on properly disposing of the cylinder. If these respondents are not sure what to do, for assistance call 1-800-728-2482, which is the contact number for PERS, an independent hazardous materials information resource.

Be careful out there!

Damn sick minds, is nothing safe! Ye gads.