More chemical splashes

I previously posed a question regarding chemical splashes. Below is a
summary of the few responses I received - I would like to get many more.
Please email to me directly; and I will update the responses.
 
Thank you.
 
Question:          If I define a "chemical splash" as "any incident in 
which
a skin/eye irritating or damaging chemical contacts the skin or eye,
regardless of how this occurs"  then ... how many such incidents does 
your
facility experience each year? 

 

The following responses were received.

 

Type facility

Response

Comment

Pharma Mfg

Unless it leads to a visit to the clinic or is part of an accident, we 
don't
know about them.  35 chemists on the bench last year, probably 3-4 
reported.

 

Regulatory Compliance Inspections

As far as I know, none.

No direct chemical handling

Pharma R&D

Typically 0 to 4 per year for the 250 lab workers in a pharmaceutical
research facility.   In 10 years there have been 5 small (a drop or a 
few
drops) splashes into the eyes. These were all pure solvents, so only eye
irritation (not damage) resulted.

 

Gov Lab

About 5 - 10 per year, with maybe one needing flushing more than a 
couple of
minutes and none needing any extensive first aid or medical treatment.

 

Academic Lab

We have less than 10 incidences per year reported to EH&S.  

 

Academic Lab

We had 17 reported incidents in 2004 and 28 in 2005.


 

 
------------------------------------------------------------
 
NEAL LANGERMAN, Ph.D.
ADVANCED CHEMICAL SAFETY, Inc.
7563 Convoy Ct, San Diego CA 92111
(858) 874 5577      (858) 874 8239 (FAX)
www.chemical-safety.com <http://www.chemical-safety.com/>