From: "Teresa Robertson"Date: November 30, 2005 4:48:32 PM EST Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] safety shower location > >I'm going to be a lone voice in the wilderness of this discussion and > insist there are safety showers in the hall. Put them in the labs > if there is space and the intended use will require it, absolutely, > but put them in the hall as well. > > >The reason is this - if that lab goes up in a conflagration you > aren't going to want to stick around. I have PERSONALLY witnessed > such an incident - three coworkers hit by an explosion of > concentrated acid waste and flaming organic waste that were > accidentally mixed. A 12-foot double hood going up in flames so > fierce that smoke rolled back down every hood on the entire floor. > Well now, I guess we should have showers both in the labs, and in the halls! We had a drill that would support Dr. Toreki's experience. We had a "fire" in a storage area of the Science Stockroom. The County Fire Dept. set up a smoke machine for the "reality effect." The exhaust fan in our flammable storage area pulled the smoke in such a manor as to fill half the rooms of the Stockroom with smoke, one of which was the area where the shower is. We had a "victim" on the floor in an area that became smoke-filled, unconscious, and splashed with a corrosive and toxic liquid. When our Public Safety responded, they took the "victim", not deeper into the smoke, but to the out-of-doors, where (eventually) she was washed off with one of the hoses on the fire truck. Teresa Teresa R. Robertson, B.S., NRCC-CHO Certified Chemical Hygiene Officer Instructional Support, Chemistry Department Natural Sciences and Mathematics California State University 9001 Stockdale Highway, Bakersfield, CA 93311-1099 Member of: The Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI), The American Chemical Society (ACS), The National Registry of Certified Chemists (NRCC), The National Association of Chemical Hygiene Officers (NACHO) The National Association of Scientific Materials Managers (NAOSMM) Confidentiality Notice - The information contained in this communication and its attachments is intended only for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed and may contain information that is legally privileged, confidential, or exempt from disclosure. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.
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