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Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2003 09:02:07 -0400
Reply-To: SAFETY approval account <approval**At_Symbol_Here**esf.uvm.edu>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: SAFETY approval account <approval**At_Symbol_Here**esf.uvm.edu>
Subject: Re: safety and nomenclature
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2003 00:02:27 -0700
From: Joanne Myers
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] safety and nomenclature
I ran into a situation as an Industrial Hygienist working as a consultant
with an insurance company. A policyholder was engaged in electroplating.
One step involved pickling the substrate metal with hydrochloric acid. The
next step involved neutralizing excess acid with sodium hydroxide before
moving the substrate metal to the cyanide bath for plating. This is pretty
routine for electroplating. But one day, the shop filled with chlorine gas
during the neutralizing step. The problem was that the drum labelled sodium
hydroxide (50% solution) actually contained sodium hypochlorite solution.
This drum had been obtained from a reputable supplier, and the supplier
accepted responsibility for the error in labelling. Fortunately, the shop
was pretty well ventilated and personnel were evacuated promptly. There were
no serious injuries.
I recommended to the policyholder that a pilot mix be done whenever a new
drum was started. There is no way to be sure that a similar error could not
happen again. Better to find out on a small scale than a large scale.
Joanne Myers, CIH
BSK Associates
Fresno, CA
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