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Safety Workshop SMD Scenarios
Safety Workshop SMD Scenarios
Accidents Happen
•Skin contact
•Accidental stabbing, cuts, other skin breaks, entry
into deep tissues, bloodstream
• Ingestion (object-to-mouth)
Contamination, deposition
on surfaces, foods,
smoking, nail-biting
Protective Clothing
At the time of her diagnosis and before she lapsed into a vegetative state,
Prof. Wetterhahn asked that her case be made known to others in the hope
of preventing a similar tragedy.
What Happened:
A graduate student used a sonicator to agitate a
mixture of zinc, ethyl ether, and
bromoethylacetate (a lachrymator) in a
sealed round-bottom flask.
The sonicator caused a rapid rise in
temperature which sent the contents of the
flask into the fume hood.
A graduate, was exposed to the lachrymator
vapours, causing intense irritation to the
eyes and lungs.
Solvent Wastes
Storage – chemical turn-around
Distillation – destroying the evidence
Sodium – in the distillation of solvents
Fire at UT Austin Chemistry Laboratory
The fire began when a post-doctoral researcher was disposing of some sodium
metal. The researcher was in the process of deactivating the sodium by exposing
the metal to alcohol. A small amount of residual metal, came into contact with
water as he poured the material down the sink creating a small flame.
The fire grew into a blaze when the researcher accidentally broke a container of
acetone into the sink in an attempt to remove the container from the sink area
where it was being stored.
The principal investigator characterized the laboratory as a total loss (0.5 million
dollars of damage). Many research records and notes for current projects were
destroyed, as well as a lot of archival material going back 10 to 15 years. In
addition, two adjacent laboratories were heavily damaged by smoke and water.
The Austin Fire Department primarily blamed the incident on poor housekeeping
of chemicals. Chemical inventories for the laboratory were kept electronically and
the responding fire fighters had no information on what chemicals were involved
in the fire. As a result, unlabelled containers and improperly stored flammable
chemicals were encountered during the fire fighting effort.
Real-life Events have Highlighted :