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Swede
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Registered: 4-9-2008
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Interesting thread, sorry for the bump, but it is a solid reminder to be meticulous and careful... NOT a trembling, irrational fool, but a cool and
methodical chemist.
Everyone has a story - here's mine, full of stupidities which makes it interesting. I was working with concentrated lye, bare-handed, and spilled
about 10 ml on my hand. My shop has a concrete floor. I reached down and grabbed a 1 gallon ploy jug of water, and simply began to pour it over my
hand. Non-dangerous solvents like water, I often use the floor to absorb small amounts - it evaporates, no problems.
As I'm rinsing the lye off my hands, I thought it odd that the concrete floor was melting, bubbling, and turning yellow.
I had grabbed a 1 gallon jug of 32% HCl pool acid and was calmly washing my hand in a steady stream of it. Probably a liter ended up over my hand and
the floor. I ran to the nearest major water source (my backyard pool) and began to "swish" my hand rapidly. Expecting a scarred stump, I withdrew my
hand to see... nothing. No pain, no blisters, nothing at all. MAYBE a slight redness developed after an hour, but it was a non-event, medically.
If it had been sulphuric or nitric, much different results. But 32% HCl on skin just isn't that big a deal. Not recommended, but no biggie. EYES,
always a biggie. Lessons learned and incorporated on lab orderliness.
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Rosco Bodine
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Registered: 29-9-2004
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Mood: analytical
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Every hobby chemist should have at a minimum a spa or more preferably an inground swimming pool nearby for emergency use as a "full body wash-station"
 These handy plumbing fixtures may also occasionally find more routine
usefulness as a babe magnets, soaking away sore muscles, ect. The utility of such emergency wash stations
along with informal attire like bikinis for young lab assistants of the stacked and packed female variety has been a too long neglected safety
necessity by the commercial and academic laboratories, resulting in an unnecessarily uncomfortable work environment, aside from the conspicuous safety
issue  
chemists of the world should be unified in demanding this minimal upgrade for all facilities where our talents are required.
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Swede
Hazard to Others
Posts: 491
Registered: 4-9-2008
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Couldn't agree more. My "body wash station" is heated to 85 degrees F, has 25,000 gallons of MMO-cleansed water awaiting any problem, such as a BBQ,
gaggles of female assistants with too-small bikinis, or yes, even a chemical spill. But for some odd reason, the female assistants leave when they
see my lab, or when I begin to talk about how the salt system turns chlorides in the pool into hypochlorites.
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