I'd be very interested in anything you find on this, James. And when the chemical the glove is made from does not also include the mil thickness, that is pretty useless information. If you doubt this, look at Kimberly Clark's thin mill nitrile charts. Most of those solvents go through in a minute or two.
Monona
-----Original Message-----
From: James Kaufman <jkaufman**At_Symbol_Here**LABSAFETYINSTITUTE.ORG>
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Sent: Tue, Mar 22, 2022 10:25 am
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] OSHA materials on Karen Wetterhahn's mercury exposure
Can anyone share a copy of the MSDS that was from the actual DMM supplier? ... Jim
PS. The CSB video said that MSDS recommended latex gloves. I have been unable to locate the MSDS. I did get one from Strem Chemicals from that timeframe but it did not say that.
James A. Kaufman, PhD
Founder/President
Emeritus
The
Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI)
A Nonprofit Educational Organization for Safety in Science, Industry, and
Education
>And wondering about Karen's gloves, were they standard dry-box gloves or did she double glove them inside of the glove-box with another type of glove, as we sometimes double glove with our disposable tactile gloves.
I believe that Dr. Wetterhahn was working in a fume hood rather than a glove box on the occasion of her mercury exposure. I assume that she was using the fume hood to control the fire hazard associated with the dimethyl mercury (flashpoint = 5 degrees C), but the fume hood does not add value with regard to dermal toxicity hazards; and latex gloves add minimial protective value as well. OSHA reports that the dexterity value of the latex gloves led to that choice. I believe that the OSHA presentation on this event suggested that Silvershield gloves were the only appropriate choice at that time.
One of the learning points I take from this story is the challenge of working with chemicals that present multiple hazards while balancing chemical and human factors.
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