Be careful

[Scott Ryan]

Just a friendly service reminder. BE CAREFUL

I was out in my shed late, shorts and t-shirt. Just checking things. Somehow the thermometer on the windowsill fell, bounced, hit the counter, bounced again and went right into the lye tank sitting on the floor. Of course it splashed all over. including my legs. Within seconds I was in the house in the shower rinsing off. Seems I got lucky, no burns. So please people, be careful, sometimes the people who deal with Haz-Mat materials get careless as can everyone.

[Cheryl Watson]

And why was did the lye tank NOT have a cover/lid on it??? ::)

The lids on my lye bath do not come off unless I am suited up and prepared...  :)

PS... I always have an active garden hose within reach for on site 'shower'.. 8-)

[Scott McCarrick]

i stick my hand right in the lye tank to put in/remove pieces. i wash immediately though. never had a problem. if you neutralize it in a minute or less no burning will occur

[Jeff Friend]

Don't you get a slippery feeling on your hand for a while?

[Scott McCarrick]

My hand does get slippery, kind of like when you rinse chlorine bleach of your hands. Right after i rinse i start scrubbing/cleaning a piece and my hand is wet/soaked/in water for the next 10 minutes or so. So it dilutes more in that time. Also, i only dip my left hand as i am a righty and hold the iron in my left hand and its under running water. I do know i should not do this. Biut, im a stubborn old man 8-) The burning is the PH in the lye trying to match the PH in you.

[Jonathan Sutton]

This reminds me of a post-doc I knew when I was an undergraduate working in a chemistry lab. He would pour concentrated hydrochloric acid out of the beaker into the test tube for our experiments without wearing any PPE (i.e., gloves, safety glasses, etc.) at all.  :o

Then I did some time in a clean room environment working with silicon wafers, photoresists, etc. Some of the people were using hydrofluoric acid (HF) to clean the wafers (thankfully I never did). If you're not aware, HF is about the nastiest stuff on the planet. It's used to etch glass and will go straight through your skin and dissolve your bones (among other things). The worst part is you don't feel it until it's too late. And did I mention that the only neutralizing agent for HF has a very short shelf life?

Then I went to grad school and decided I wanted to be a computational modeler instead. I have only one body (and a family depending on me), and I have a healthy respect for what chemicals can do to you if you're not careful. Life is too short to take shortcuts with safety.

[Mark R. Smith]

As an RN working in an ER, I saw patients where they had a pinhole in the glove and Hydrofluoric acid would leak in. We would immediately soak the affected area with Maalox. The Calcium Carbonate would buffer the HF and neutralize it.

As for not wearing proper safety equipment when handling hazmat. My wife is Dean of math science dept in one of our local community college campuses. If students aren't in proper attire for labs they aren't allowed into the lab, no excuse. If the employees don't follow proper safety guidelines as for safety equipment being worn, they might find themselves without a job, if behavior is not corrected.

[Scott Ryan]

And why was did the lye tank NOT have a cover/lid on it??? ::)

The lids on my lye bath do not come off unless I am suited up and prepared...  :)

PS... I always have an active garden hose within reach for on site 'shower'.. 8-)

Lid was off to check on one. Was outside not planning on doing anything and one thing led to another. And yes, the hose was there, but this needed more.