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Subject: [DCHAS-L] Science of Safety Journal Club 10/20/2020 (featuring Dr. Mahesh Mahanthappa) Meeting Notes
Date: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 at 3:45:16 PM
Author: Jessica Martin <jessica.a.martin**At_Symbol_Here**UCONN.EDU> 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Horror stories
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:17:52 -0700
Author: Gyula Kangiszer

From: Yaritza Brinker <YBrinker**At_Symbol_Here**FELE.COM>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Horror stories
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2020 20:16:51 +0000
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: DM6PR05MB705239AA2B991DB211831183AD1C0**At_Symbol_Here**DM6PR05MB7052.namprd05.prod.outlook.com
In-Reply-To


Although Titanium tetrachloride and Phosphorus oxychloride are not pyrophoric, they do present an explosion hazard. Since there isn't a heading for explosive materials in the database, the pyrophorics list probably seemed like a good "bucket" to classify the information.

 

I do think that having materials that aren't pyrophorics in a pyrophorics list could cause confusion among the users.

 

Thank you,

 

Yaritza Brinker

260.827.5402

 

From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> On Behalf Of Jessica Martin
Sent: Wednesday, October 21, 2020 8:13 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Horror stories

 

** External Email **

Well said Carmen!

 

From the perspective of a graduate student still stumbling through, I have so often had the experience of people being stunned by what I "don't know" when it comes to chemical safety, yet when I ask for a citation or resource for the bit of knowledge, no one seems to have one. It is apparently just magical knowledge floating out there on the wind that I somehow missed.

 

Thank you so much for the work that you are doing with CAS and Pistoia Alliance to create an accessible database of this information so that we no longer have to rely on magic.

 

Best,

Jessica A. Martin

NSF Graduate Research Fellow

Joint Safety Team 

Pinkhassik Group, Department of Chemistry

University of Connecticut

323-327-3974

 

"To change a community, you have to change the composition of the soilÉ

If you want to meet with me, come to the garden with your shovel so we can plant some sh-t." 

Ron Finley

 

"Argue for your limitations 

and sure enough they're yours." 

Richard Bach

 

"You know, farming looks mighty easy

when your plow is a pencil, and you're

a thousand miles from the corn field."

Dwight Eisenhower

 

"When you start an administrative job, glean institutional memories and lore 

from prior leaders before it all dies in the black holes of their souls."

Peter Dorhout quoting somebody brilliant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



On Oct 21, 2020, at 7:47 AM, Carmen Nitsche <cnitsche**At_Symbol_Here**SWBELL.NET> wrote:

 

 

*Message sent from a system outside of UConn.*

 

 

The beauty of a crowdsourced resource is your personal agency to add things you feel should be on the list. 

 

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! ÑCarmen

 

Carmen Nitsche

CCDC Inc. 



On Oct 21, 2020, at 5:37 AM, Eugene Ngai <eugene_ngai**At_Symbol_Here**comcast.net> wrote:

?

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

 

 

 

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.

 

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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