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Date: Thu, 18 Nov 2004 17:55:12 -0600
Reply-To: "Murphy, Dr. Ruth Ann" <rmurphy**At_Symbol_Here**UMHB.EDU>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: "Murphy, Dr. Ruth Ann" <rmurphy**At_Symbol_Here**UMHB.EDU>
Subject: Re: Goggles and Contact Lenses
Comments: To: chemcon**At_Symbol_Here**JUNO.COM
I require my students who wear contacts in lab to put a small, colored,
adhesive-backed "dot" on the side of their goggles, to identify
themselves as contact lens wearers. I would prefer they did not wear
contacts, but this does add a measure of safety. There are strong
arguments - and arguers - on both sides of the question.
Ruth Ann Murphy, Ph.D.
Chemistry Dept. Chairperson and Professor
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
900 College Street
Belton, TX 76513-2599
Phone (254) 295-4542
Fax (254) 295-4237
-----Original Message-----
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of
Jay Young
Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2004 1:55 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Goggles and Contact Lenses
EXACTLY!
THIS IS WHY I AM UNALTERABLY OPPOSED TO THE WEARING OF CONTACT LENSES IN
A LABORATORY ENVIRONMENT.
A hypothetical event that can become all too real:
How can the victim, in advance on the day of the incident, know whether
or not anyone nearby will remember that he or she was told by the victim
that contact lenses are being worn by him or her that day? Think about
it ---Something like a year or two ago, the victim signed a document
stating that he or she wore contact lenses and at that time, but not
since, have any of the new lab personal been told that the then future
victim wears contact lenses, and all but one of the old lab associates
have, by now, retired and the fellow who is still there has been
promoted to a non-lab position. No one has ever reviewed the "contact
lens"
folder since it was first established and that is where the victim's
file stating that contact lenses are worn is kept.
Further, no one in the lab has ever known how to properly remove contact
lenses (whether or not they are slippery) from an affected eye. No one
knows whether anybody in the nearby neighborhood, or any physician or
other para-med knows how to remove a contact lens in an emergency
environment while the victim is writhing in panic and or pain.
Daggone it! Contact lenses should not be allowed in a laboratory
environment. I have lost a big chunk of my eyesight in one eye from
disease; I know what it's like to not have full vision. Don't wear
contact lenses in the lab. Sure, the likelihood of an accident is very
low -- but when it happens, the cost is (may I say) out of sight.
Jay Young, November 18, 2004
On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 16:34:25 -0600 "BOTNICK, ERIC L [AG/1560]"
writes:
> I agree that contact lens use should be allowed in chemical and
> industrial environments, with one warning.
> Fellow workers and emergency personnel should be made aware of contact
> lens usage by other people in the area.
>
> I had an incident in a chemical laboratory where an analyst had
> contacts in, was wearing safety glasses with side shields and was
> working with a 50% caustic solution. The caustic splashed and went
> over the top of the glasses and dripped into one eye. The analyst did
> not tell anyone it happened, they just went into a restroom and tried
> to remove the lens and rinse out the eye. The caustic made the lens
> very slippery and it could not be removed easily or quickly. The delay
> caused a small burn on the cornea.
> Of course the person should have yelled for help and should have gone
> to an eye-wash, but even if they had - would anyone know to remove the
> contact lens? How do you grab a slippery contact lens without a
> suction cup?
>
> Eric L. Botnick, CIH
> IH Lab Director / IH Chemist
> 'B' Building
> 12501 South River Road
> P.O. Box 174
> Luling, LA 70070-0174
>
>
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