From sci.chem Wed Nov 27 13:59:22 1996
From: Paul Gunn <gunnp@fri.cri.nz>

Hmm... I've luckily never had a real "good" lab accident, and the only ones I know of are 
industrial ones. I think there would be a few "grand" tales from the process chemists from 
any field.

The nastiest one I ever heard of was one that led to a friend getting a summer job. The 
previous worker had been told to mix that 20kg bag of NaOH with water. Two mistakes 
followed.

First : She tipped the NaOH into the tank before she added the water.

Second : In the large factory she was working in, there was a wide range of water supplies. 
Instead of using the cold water, she used the hose connected to the steam condensate line 
(the water that has just turned into water from steam).

The result can be imagined. She was taken to hospital with a face full of alkali burns. 

The other was in a meat works. Too much nitrite (or was it nitrate?) was added to the curing 
tank, while attempting to cure a load of beef. This overheated and got a bit violent. The 
last thing my friend saw before she left the room was the brown fumes of NOx boiling out of 
the now defunct pumps. All in the area got a trip to the hospital and a course of serious 
steroids for lung damage.

Paul Gunn
gunnp@fri.cri.nz

[These opinions are mine, and mine alone.]