In the Laboratory edited by
Accident Anecdotes
Jay A. Young
Getting Students to Wear Safety Goggles
12916 Allerton Lane Silver Spring, MD 20904
Jay A. Young 12916 Allerton Lane, Silver Spring, MD 20904
Students taking laboratory generally express their reluctance for wearing safety goggles through a variety of clever complaints too numerous to describe here. In one freshman chemistry class such complaints were effectively silenced for the rest of the semester. It was the last lab meeting before Thanksgiving break. The assignment involved standard reactivity and synthesis exercises. One set of tests required that concentrated sulfuric acid be poured into a clean, dry test tube, with major emphasis on dry. This point was repeated during lab lecture along with an explanation of why dry was so important. It happened that during the lab session that followed, a trash can began to smolder, presumably from a glowing splint that had not been fully extinguished. While resolving this situation, the instructor heard a shriek and moved to intercept a hysterical student who was rushing toward the front of the lab where she had last seen the instructor. The student was led to a large sink where water was poured over her. She responded to this and began to apply water herself, thus indicating the affected areas and the extent of exposure to the acid. While the instructor was tending to this student, another class member, considerably calmer, walked up to the instructor and her colleague who had come to help. Holding his shirt at the collar so that it did not touch his back, he asked, “What did you do for her?”
As it turned out, the young woman’s lab partner wanted to get an early start on the holiday. So, to save time, he did not dry his test tube before adding the concentrated sulfuric acid. It boiled up and out of the test tube, spewing into his partner’s face. In terror, she tore the safety goggles from her face, dropped the test tube to the floor, and ran shrieking to the front of the lab room. The other class member had been working at his lab bench and had his back to the first victim. When she flung her safety goggles, acid was deposited on his shirt. He was unaware of this until his lab partner slapped him on the back pressing the shirt against his skin. The sting caused him to seek attention. The safety goggles were destroyed, and the young woman had only a tiny blister at the corner of her mouth as well as a wounded ego. The young man’s shirt had several tiny holes in it. Note We thank a contributor, who wishes to remain anonymous. Also, in publishing this incident, we are not endorsing the use of concentrated sulfuric acid in a beginning laboratory exercise; nor are we sanctioning the fact that in this instance, the laboratory space apparently had no safety shower or eyewash fountain.
Editor’s Note This column, which is reprinted from Chemical Health and Safety, provides stories about mishaps and chemical hazards that we hope will be interesting to readers and help them avoid accidents. Author Jay A. Young is a chemical safety consultant who has considerable experience in courtrooms as well as in laboratories. Jay taught at the college level for many years and has served as secretary of the Division of Chemical Education. JCE thanks Chemical Health and Safety, its editor, Harry Elston, and Jay Young for allowing us to reprint Accident Anecdotes with minor editing.
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Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 77 No. 9 September 2000 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu
