Subject:
RE: [DCHAS-L] Extinguishers and gloves
Date:
September 5, 2009 8:01:04 PM EDT
To all,
As a
former volunteer firefighter, Medical Toxicologist,
20-year-Board-Certified Emergency Physician, etc. I might just chime
in.
My
disabled daughter who teaches science (including chemistry) just started
at a new school in a very rural area. I went with her as an Able
Bodied (whatever that means at age 60) person to set up her classroom.
What we
found were the old glass-doors locked with locks anything any
inquisitive freshman could open with a paperclip or a hairpin, and
inside was a collection of some chemical things I hadn't seen since I
was a sophomore high school student not intentionally breaking glassware
(I was later a TA in a quite fine chemistry lab and helped devise a
safer way to clean glassware).
I am helping her and the Superintendent get them properly
disposed of. It'll be
done properly.
The fire
extinguisher (far too small, too remotely located, and of the wrong type
for a chemical fire) is being replaced. The nearest Fire
Department is 15-45 miles away, so if they have a problem, they'll have
to deal with it themselves, but hopefully can evacuate to a safe
distance in time. But
for a small tabletop fire, a suitable fire extinguisher used by a person
who has been trained properly is clearly the sensible thing.
When a
structure is burning down, from whatever cause, we should let the
professional firefighters (or the volunteer firefighters who make up
around 60-70% in our country) deal with it and get the Hades out of the
way. That would mean
setting up a Command Post, and all the other stuff many of us teach on a
routine basis and the senior fire service official would nealy always be
the incident commander.
But a flash in a pan in a hood in a lab or lab table? There has to be some
persepective on these things.
You don't kill mosquitos with an elephant gun. (Begging your pardon, but
why would anyone want to kill an elephant?)
Best
Wishes to ALL.
Ostriches make good eating, are really quite dangerous while
alive to those would don't know about them and the dangers they present,
but are clearly not something to emulate.
So,
please don't be taking fire extinguishers out of laboratories. Let's spend our time
making sure someone present is trained and qualified to use one.
Alan H.
Hall, M.D.
President and Chief Medical
Toxicologist
Toxicology Consulting and
Medical Translating Services, Inc.
Laramie,
WY
