Chemical Shift

At work lately, I have taken on the role of “unofficial safety officer.” I remind people (constantly) to wear safety glasses when they are in the lab. I advised another person that a paper face mask won’t filter out and protect them from acid vapors from a dilute hydrofluoric acid solution, which can be some really nasty stuff if it gets on you. I had to tell another person that they should put their stir plate with a large vessel of oxalic acid in a fume hood, or other vented enclosure, before they did any experiments. When I started working in the lab here, I had to order a blast shield and proper flammable chemical storage refrigerator, which is just a few types of equipment needed to meet the minimal safety requirements of working in a synthetic organic (or other) chemistry laboratory, besides proper gloves, lab coats, and eye wear.

As a chemist, I’ve had safety training at every place I’ve worked. Most places have included instruction on the correct usage of fire extinguishers, with hands on time. When I was at the Mayo Clinic, many moons ago, I had at least three full days of Hazardous Materials Technician training to be on their Chemical Spill Team, which also included decontamination procedures, HazMat suits, and Self-Contained Breathing Apparati (an SCBA, not going underwater, so its not SCUBA).

Nearly every chemist with which I have worked has “war stories” of incidents that has occurred to them or, at the very least, someone they knew. I’ve had a few myself and with nearby coworkers, dealing with such things as: leaks of ammonia gas and even, phosgene; fires from sodium hydride cans; small fires from silicone oil (which when hot enough, autopolymerizes a short while before igniting); acid holes in clothing from hydrochloric, sulfuric, and polyphosphoric acid (a very strong acid with the viscosity of honey); and a while ago, a postdoc, behind my station, had a pressure reactor overheat and vent acrolein into his fume hood (shortly after I left the lab). In my inorganic lab class in undergrad, a friend had a little chlorosulfonic acid (a superacid) fall on his arm, and when he got water on it shortly afterwards, hydrochloric formed and burned him even more.

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