Having trained and developed Specialty Gas Emergency Response Teams worldwide, this was a significant challenge, as a result I developed many Ngai Rules of Thumb with pictures, videos or demonstrations so that the teams in Asia, Europe and the US could communicate and immediately convey to others what the incident was. I then mentored at least one or two individuals in the country to train others. What was even more challenging was toxicology and medical treatment for exposures to the unique compounds like HF, TMAH, arsine, diborane
I still have people call me with issues. This is another reason I'm doing the blog
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 Andrew Nelson
Sent: Tuesday, June 22, 2021 1:56 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] [External] [DCHAS-L] Chemical safety communication challenges
At Sandia National Labs we work on chemical safety and security internationally-these two words are easily confused. In some languages safety and security are the same word.
Ralph, regarding the word "toxic", I remember a publication I worked on a while ago where I said something was not "acutely toxic" and the tech editor wanted to remove "acutely" to save space. Sometimes the modifier is just as important as the adjective-
The word "safety" itself is one of those words of different meaning.
S-
On 6/22/2021 11:23 AM, Ralph Stuart wrote:
One of the more interesting lab safety challenges I have run into over time is different "dialects" of lab safety terminology that arise in different sciences or within branches within a "single science" such as chemistry. For example, hazmat chemists speak a different language with the same words than research chemists or chemical educators or regulators (e.g. the words "chemical", "oxidizer" or "toxic"). While GHS has gone some distance in addressing this challenge, the reason GHS is needed is that daily language about chemical safety concerns can depend on the situation under discussion.
I wonder if anyone has examples of situations where language confusion turned out to be the source of safety confusion, or, alternatively, if you know of any literature that addresses this challenge in either EHS or other professional situations. (One reason this questions arises is that I just came out of a meeting a lawyer on personal matter and he had to re-define many of the words involved away from my professional / regulatory / semi-informed public understanding of those same words in a different context.)
Thanks for any thoughts on this topic.
- Ralph
Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Environmental Safety Manager
Keene State College
603 358-2859
ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu
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Samuella B. Sigmann, MS, NRCC-CHO
Immediate Past Chair, ACS Division of Chemical Health & Safety, 2020
Senior Lecturer/Safety Committee Chair/Director of Stockroom
Chemistry
Appalachian State University
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