What happened?
A graduate student working in a UC Berkeley laboratory needed a chemical from an overhead shelf. To reach the chemical, the student stood on tiptoe and leaned on the edge of a shelf. This pressure caused the shelf to shift and chemicals to fall. Among the bottles that fell were two that were covered with aluminum foil instead of the original screw-on caps. Those containers held strychnine powder and azure blue dye. The contents fell on the researcher, bench, and floor. The exposed researcher spent 15 minutes under a safety shower and then went to the Tang Center for medical evaluation. Fortunately, the researcher did not ingest any of the poisonous material.
Lessons Learned
- Chemical containers should always be properly capped when not in use.
- A step stool or ladder should be used to access overhead containers when they are even slightly out of reach.
- Chemical storage shelves should be properly secured and have adequately sized lips to prevent containers from sliding off.
- Know where your closest safety shower is located and ensure access to it is not blocked!
Resources
Safe Storage of Hazardous Chemicals Booklet
EH&S Fact Sheet - Clutter as a Laboratory Safety Concern
Safety Data Sheets