DCHAS-L Discussion List Archive

An incident I am aware of happened in a building remodel.  Someone had been using perchloric acid in a fume hood and the resulting fumes lined the hood's ductwork with perchlorates.  Luckily for the person wielding the cutting torch the force of the blast went away from him, but it did a good job of blasting out all the windows (frames included) in that former lab.  I guess if you are tearing down the building, it might hasten the project...You just never know what people have been doing for the last 80+ years in these buildings.  Lots of things used to seem quite safe.  

Another plumbing incident in a separate lab came from azide being flushed down drains and reacting with the lead in the piping.  Another big old boom.  Like I said, you just never know what someone has done in an old building.  

Good luck.

Lucy Dillman