From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of Carmen Nitsche
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 4:47 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Horror stories

So, please don't just question - add your valuable contribution. You can add to the notvoodoo pyrophorics list here:  http://chem.chem.rochester.edu/~nvd/pages/collective_wisdom.php?page=pyrophoric_reagents 

by clicking the ADD YOUR OWN button on top right 

Same goes for the Chemical Safety Library. If you have participated in/witnessed/ or otherwise encountered  laboratory reaction incidents that have lead to injury or death (or even a "near miss") by all means submit it!!  https://safescience.cas.org/

Our collective sharing of our experiences can help make everyone safer. Thanks, all! -Carmen

=EF=BB=BF

Just curious. Why would water reactive corrosive liquids like Titanium tetrachloride and Phosphorus oxychloride (POCl3 make a list for pyrophoric? They are not

 

Why did silane or disilane both pyrophoric not make this list? Numerous accidents and fatalities

 

Eugene Ngai

Chemically Speaking LLC

www.chemicallyspeakingllc.com

 

 

 

From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of Carmen Nitsche
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2020 12:20 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Horror stories

 

This seems a good time to remind everyone of the wonderful NOTVOODOO resource Alison Frontier (University of Rochester) has put together. There are several safety related pages - including the Rookie Mistakes section   http://chem.chem.rochester.edu/~nvd/pages/rookie_mistakes.php

 

And she also encourages community tracking of incidents - such as fires and explosions caused by pyrophoric agents - to highlight high risk/oft repeated incidents.

http://chem.chem.rochester.edu/~nvd/pages/reagents.php?page=pyrophoric_reagents

 

I am excited that she is planning on adding top reaction incidents from the Chemical Safety Library (CSL), with a similar page.

 

Speaking of the CSL, did you see the announcement about the next phase of the Chemical Safety Library? Pistoia Alliance and CAS have teamed up to offer a new platform for this community crowdsourced safety database of laboratory reaction incidents.  Check it out and please consider contributing for the safety of all!!!   https://www.cas.org/resources/press-releases/chemical-safety-library

 

Warm regards,  --Carmen

 

 

Carmen Nitsche

CCDC Inc.

 

 

 

On Monday, October 19, 2020, 01:41:49 PM EDT, Daniel C Herrick <herrickd**At_Symbol_Here**mit.edu> wrote:

 

 

How about the postdoc who was unpacking boxes and dropped the bottle of hydroiodic acid on the floor.  It broke, and since he was wearing sandals with socks (seriously?), the HI got on his foot.  He then ran down the hall to the men's room to rinse rather than use the safety shower in lab, because in that building the safety showers don't have drains and he didn't want to get water all over the lab.  This of course changed a "minor" incident into a "major" one.

The researcher was ok, but the floor in the lab has never recovered - it is permanently stained.

Thanks

Dan

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Daniel C. Herrick, CIH
Senior EHS Coordinator
Mechanical Engineering Department (MechE)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
77 Massachusetts Avenue, room 3-449g
Cambridge, MA 02139
Email    herrickd**At_Symbol_Here**mit.edu
Web    http://mecheehs.mit.edu
              http://ehs.mit.edu
Phone  617-253-2338 (MIT: x3-2338)

-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of davivid
Sent: Friday, October 16, 2020 10:08 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Horror stories

This thread about nitric acid distillation got me thinking.

One thing that I think would be useful, educational, and entertaining is a collection of laboratory "Horror Stories". I'm sure every experienced chemist has a few. These could be a means of motivating and educating the public as well as other chemists. Think of these as chemistry "morality tales". No obtuse jargon, no lengthy analysis. Just some good old fashioned story telling. Youtube channel anyone?

A couple of my favorites

A low boiling solvent condensed in a liquid nitrogen cooled trap. When the dewar was removed the twisted vacuum tubing flipped the trap upside down sending the cold solvent into the rotary vacuum pump that had been running overnight. The overpressure created by flash boiling when the solvent hit the hot oil split the pump casing at the casting seam.


Another one

There was an attempt to grind a material in a ball mill. Unfortunately the material was too soft. So the researcher added liquid nitrogen, sealed up the heavy ceramic ball mill and proceeded to grind as usual.
Fortunately they mentioned their cleverness to a supervisor who promptly had everyone get to safety before the inevitable explosion.


Cheers!
Dave Lane
Principal
Clavis Technology Development

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