Ed,

This is actually a common incident in General Chemistry labs.  Irrigating 
the exposure for 15 minutes is the only thing to do.  The student can wash 
it with soap and water in the rest room after the 15 minutes. The health 
center doctor or emergency room doctor would not do anything 
different.  The skin redness will go away in a few days. You should not add 
an acid to a hydroxide exposure.

Cynthia A. Runkel
Assistant Chemist/Preproom Manager
Chemistry Department, University of Arizona
Koffler 315        520-621-9979
crunkel**At_Symbol_Here**email.arizona.edu

"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you 
didn't do than by the ones you did"       -Mark Twain

At 05:12 PM 4/12/2007 -0400, Jo Wagoner wrote:
>We had a similar situation.  Neutralizing was not considered treating by the
>Health Center.  In our case, it was an acid burn that we neutralized with
>bicarb.
>
>
>On 4/12/07 2:52 PM, "Edward Senkbeil"  wrote:
>
> > Recently we had an accident in the general chemistry lad where a student
> > spilled some 4.0M NaoH on her wrist.
> > The protocol we have followed in the past is to wash with water for 15
> > minutes and then send to the University Health Center.  We. normally
> > follow the protocol to "Protect, but not treat".  The skin was slightly
> > red due to the spill.
> >
> > When the student reached (was escorted to) the Health Center, they said
> > they could not treat chemical burns.
> > They wanted to send her to the hospital emergency room, but the student
> > didn't go because of lack of insurance.
> >
> > Three days after the accident, the student's wrist still has a few pink
> > spots.
> >
> > The questions are:
> >
> > 1. Should we (lab instructors) treat by neutralizing the base with
> > something llike vinega, rather than just washing?
> >
> > 2. Who should be responsible (or maybe liable) for appropriate
> > treatment?  Howd do university health centers handle someting like this
> > incident at other universities?
> >
> > Thanks for any information,
> > Ed Senkbeil
> > Chemistry Department
> > Salisbury University

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