From sci.chem Fri Dec  6 13:52:28 1996
Subject: Re: Lab Accidents
From: rwpick01@ldd.net (R W Pick)

After being laid off at the dynamite plant I went to work as Asst. Chemist at a 
 large midwest power plant. Of course, we had bulk storage tanks for the 
sulfuric acid and 50% liquid caustic used to regenerate the demineralizers. The 
laboratory was directly under the 50,000 gal tanks which were on the second 
floor. The ceiling tiles were all holey from where they'd had a leak (or ran 
the tank over) in days past. 

One Christmas eve I had to call in one of the lab techs to do a regeneration. 
It was SOP to refill the day tanks after the regeneration. The 500 gal acid and 
caustic day tanks were right next to each other inside the containment area. 
The lab tech was in a hurry to get out of there and was headed for the door 
when the excited shift supervisor came running up asking what the hell was 
going on. 

When I walked around the laboratory I saw that the lab tech had forgotten to 
close the fill valves on the day tanks and the acid and caustic were 
overflowing. The result was a violently spectacular popping and splattering as 
a huge column of steam rose all the way up through the 25 story boiler room.

Before I could even think, the lab tech ran over to the day tanks, waded 
through the acid/caustic/boiling water and closed the fill valves, all this 
with absolutely *no* protective gear. When he walked back his socks were gone 
above his shoes, as were his pant cuffs. He insisted on heading home but I told 
him to go straight to the emergency room. (Good man, but I wonder about his 
judgement). He was off work for six weeks from the burns on his ankles. Of 
course, the smart thing to do would have been to run upstairs, close the outlet 
valves on the bulk tanks, and wait till things settled down before isolating 
the day tanks and cleaning the area up.

Another time we had truck driver deliver a load of acid. The truck is 
pressurized with compressed air to lift the load to the second floor bulk tank 
through a 4 inch line. After the load is blown off, the driver is supposed to 
close the valve at the loading connection, take his hose loose, and hose the 
area down, etc.

This driver forgot to close the valve so, when he popped the cam-locks loose on 
his hose, 50 foot of fill line hit him full in the  chest with a 4 inch solid 
stream of sulfuric acid. Luckily, we had insisted he put on a full acid suit 
and he was laughing as we hosed him down. 

I was so shook up at what could have happened I had to go sit down for a while.