A close call is an “almost-accident:” if circumstances were slightly different, someone could have been injured or something could have been damaged.
Learn more about close calls in What is a close call.
Tag: Safety Notes
Related to general safety notes
Incident report: Remsen Hall, June 2013
A researcher was flame-sealing a glass tube using an oxy-gas torch. The tube had been dipped in liquid nitrogen to condense its contents before the sealing operation, so the researcher was using a lab wipe to handle the cold glass. The wipe ignited and fell into the laboratory waste box, which also ignited. The researcher extinguished the resulting fire using a dry-chemical extinguisher mounted in the hallway outside the lab. Neither the fire department nor Security was called, nor was the building fire alarm sounded.
See lessons learned and discussion questions in this Safety Note.
How to dispose of empty chemical containers
If you use chemical products or lab chemicals, you probably empty a bottle occasionally. What do you do with it?
Improperly-disposed containers can expose custodians and the public to hazardous chemicals, can create legal liability for you and the university, and can even explode at the disposal facility.
Find out what to do (and what not to do) in What do I do with my empties?
Lab air can kill you
Equipment, experiments, and people often get dirty—a lab bench covered with cement dust, a drill press clogged with metal shavings, wet glassware that needs drying, or even a researcher covered with sawdust after cutting a wooden part. Some people look to the compressed air tap or cylinder in the lab as a quick way to clean off.
Did you know this can kill?
Even a relatively low-pressure stream of air can propel chips, dust, and parts through the air at high velocity; the flow from a 20psi air line can be supersonic. If this material strikes someone, it can cause serious injury. If the injury is to the eye, the victim may be permanently blinded.
Even worse, a few tens of psi pressure can easily inject air beneath the skin, inflating body parts like balloons—and causing excruciating pain. If air reaches the bloodstream, it can cause air embolisms—blockages in narrow blood vessels—as well as clots & ruptures in vital areas such as the brain. Uncontrolled air injection can be deadly.
Read tips for safely handling compressed air at Compressed air misuse.