SAFETY ^HAWS
7700 Series ^Γ'™ 7 i n n Series 7100
HAWS SAFETY FOUNTAINS Wash harmful fuels and chemicals from eyes and facial areas, instantly! Pre vent discomfort and serious injury. Units may be wall or pedestal mounted; with hand or foot operated quick-open ing valves. 7900 Series—Maximum coverage eye/facewash. 6 spray outlets in extra large stain less steei bowl set up soft, drenching mist for positive first aid. Large hand valve. 7100 Series—Eye-wash sends pressure-con trolled streams from chrome plated brass heads. Acid-resisting enameled iron bowl. 7700 Series—Eye/face-wash simultaneous ly sprays water from perforated copper ring and fountain heads. Stainless steel bowl.
HAWS SAFETY SHOWERS Instantly flood the body with torrents of rushing water to wash away injurious contaminants. Your choice of single head or multiple nozzle showers; available with hand or foot valves. Model 8590 — Multiple Nozzle Shower instantly drenches victim from all angles. Large hand valve. WRITE FOR HAWS DETAILED SAFETY CATALOG TODAY!
HAWS
SAFETY EQUIPMENT
HAWS 1443 Fourth Street Export Dept.: San Francisco Circle No. 17 on 72 A
a product of DRINKING FAUCET COMPANY · Berkeley 10, California 19 Columbus Avenue 1 1 , California, U.S.A Readers' Service Card
INDUSTRIAL A N D
ENGINEERING
SAFETY may also occur from overexposure. However, all effects observed in humans have been temporary, and complete recovery has occurred in all cases. An MAC has not been assigned for this material, but it is probable that it will be less than 1 p.p.m. (similar to pure boron hydride from which it is made). A few cases have been documented where people have been exposed to concentrations up to 10 p.p.m. for 5-minute intervals without discernible effects. Only recently has a monitoring device been available to help document conditions. There is now available a portable hand-operated device and a continuous recording-type instrument, both of which measures down to 200 p.p.b. Manufacturing experience indicates that the main hazard in making the material re sults from properties of the inter mediates involved. A specific test to indicate the degree of exposure is described in Technical Report No. 59-123 from Wright Air De velopment Division, USARDC. HiCal will cause deterioration of all plastic materials generally used in protective garments, but any material which sheds liquid offers a good degree of protection, if such garments arc routinely decontam inated upon known contact. Foot protection should also be provided. Rubber or ncoprcne has been satis factory in our operations. Decontamination, accomplished by forming a water-soluble amine compound which can be removed by washing with water, is effective on men, equipment, and spill areas. A 1 to 10% solution of triethanolamine is generally used, although a 3 % ammonia solution or other amine solutions are effective. It has been reported that ammonia-addition compounds can be impact-sensitive and must be kept wet until complete hydrolysis has occurred. The use of ion exchange resins made up into a salve or emulsion also has shown some promise. As for antidotes for exposures, there are none. All exposures are treated symptomatically. Anticonvulsants such as Robaxin are suggested for use if the pa tient has convulsions or severe trem ors, but should be given only on doctor's orders. Based on avail able data on Gallery personnel, re
CHEMISTRY
covery from exposures is complete and no permanent damage has been recorded. Published information regarding boron hydrides contains some very specific do's and don'ts. Don't use carbon tetrachloride with dccarborane or its derivatives. Solu tions more sensitive to shock than nitroglycerin can be formed. Car bon dioxide should not be used as an inert gas with certain boron hy dride materials. An adiabatic shock wave will cause detonation of car bon dioxide-diborane mixtures under certain conditions. Diboranc is listed in the Liquid Propellant Safety Manual as spontaneouslyflammable. It may be considered as such because decomposition prod ucts are almost always present. However, rupture-disk failures have caused venting of up to 30 pounds of diborane to the air without ig nition taking place. In one case, less than 1 pound of diborane, con taining traces of alkylated materials, exhibited delayed ignition character istics and finally exploded in the air, setting up a shock wave felt nearly four miles away. It is surprising how fast a labora tory curiosity can become a benchscale, pilot-scale, or testing head ache. Many bits of information must be fitted together to make a coherent and safe operation pos sible. When information is incom plete, it is like building a Roman arch with one stone missing, which under certain conditions may be the keystone that brings the whole operation down in rubble around your ears. Physical protective bar riers are necessary to protect against mistakes and misoperations, but they are not a substitute for adequate knowledge of the operation to be performed. There is no operation impossible to perform safely, but safety depends on information chan neled to persons who use it to make the operation safe.
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