Neal,
Thanks
for the
comments on “Pilots Gloves.” Can you provide a
link to what you mean
by these as it isn’t immediately clear? I assume you
are referring
to gloves that are Nomex or neoprene and go most of the way to
your elbow
covering the wrist and forearm including the closure to a lab coat
sleeve
if it is not gathered..
Referring to your
note and George’s, finding the balance point to when
non-syringe
techniques are appropriate in terms of scale is always a
concern.
She was transferring about 50 mL, as I understand, which is more
typically
done by cannula into a dropping funnel for subsequent measured
addition
rate. For sample sizes below 10 mL, few are familiar with
transfer
techniques that are not syringes. The use of a shut off
valve to
prevent drips, etc. and the use of inert atmosphere tubes are
improvements, but still involve syringes. Above 10 mL
becomes a
discussion point about techniques in a research environment vs the
same
questions in scale-up situations. The UC Riverside link on
the CA
FACE Alert page and the Aldrich page inserts with their
organometallics
provide a good set of instructions for small scale transfers
though it is
not as complete as I would like to
see.
As a
direct
outcome of this accident, I am putting together a training session
on
organometallics handling and transfer techniques to be required
for all of
our synthetic chemists. While it will be a refresher for
all, being
sure to cover it will catch a few who may not have gotten all the
lessons
in graduate school as well as reminding all of our safety measures
and
requirements.
Please
continue
to contribute comments in this area so we minimize the chances of
repeats.
Lee.
Below
is the content of an email I just sent to the people who published
the
pyrophoric alert.
As
a chemist and an expert in handling reactive materials, I have
reviewed
your pyrophoric chemical ALERT and strongly disagree with the
gloves shown
in the figure. The gloves being used protect against the
much less
severe chemical hazard, not against the significant fire
hazard. The
figure shows the result of an inadequate hazard recognition and
risk
assessment, translated into an inappropriate PPE
assessment.
“Pilots
Gloves” with thin mil nitrile under them, if wanted, is the
appropriate
PPE. In addition, a device such as a Unishield should be
used to
protect the face, and fire retardant clothing, such as a Nomex lab
coat,
not the cotton one shown, should be
used.
There
is a lot of mis-information both about the incident and the
correct way to
handle pyrophoric chemicals.
Neal
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