The first thing that comes to mind for me is the compatibility of the gloves. What is the breakthrough time for that specific glove with these chemicals? What does the manufacturer say about those gloves? This is one of my favorite charts to show when I talk about risk assessment and ensuring the correct glove is chosen: https://www.dartmouth.edu/~ehs/chemical/nitrile_gloves_chemical_resistance_guide.pdf. Nitrile gloves can be great. They should be used for incidental contact though, and changed immediately if they do contact the chemicals.

 

I would probably ask if the glove came in contact with the acids, how soon were they removed?

 

Brian Meschewski, CCHO

Research Safety Professional

Division of Research Safety

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

(217)333-2423

bmesche2**At_Symbol_Here**illinois.edu

 

 

Howdy folks,

Asking this question on behalf of a colleague from another university (so if there are follow-up questions, there may be a communications delay in answering them):

 

What kinds of delayed reactions are known for iodoacetic or concentrated sulfuric acid?

 

Here’s the background:

A graduate student was working with concentrated sulfuric acid to acidify wastewater (wastewater treatment plant effluent) samples, and spiking them with iodoacetic acid (small quantities, since it was a spike). An experienced student, who had done this before , she was wearing nitrile gloves (the typical disposable type). To the best of her knowledge, she had no skin contact with the chemicals she was using and used proper glove removal technique.

 

Approximately a day or so later, she noticed a blistered looking patch on the back of her hand, near the joint of the thumb and first finger bones – about the size of a nickel. It spread, and by about four days after the presumed exposure, covered approximately half of the back of the hand. On-campus medical referred to a more experienced doctor, who ended up referring the student to a hospital with burn expertise (including chemical burns). The campus EH&S felt the response was due to the sulfuric or maybe the iodoacetic acids; the hospital agreed it looked like a chemical burn. The assumption is that acid penetrated the gloves or fell off the gloves onto skin during removal.

Treatment ended up including cadaver skin transplant; the student seems to be recovering well and doing fine. However, all involved would like a better understanding of what might have happened.

 

Information related to the question above, or other ideas as to what else you might consider checking for possibilities, is welcomed.

Thanks,

Sue

 

___________________________________

Susan D. Wiediger, Ph.D.

Professor of Chemistry

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

swiedig**At_Symbol_Here**siue.edu          618-650-3088

 

 

--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas