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Subject: Interesting "Proper Lab Clothing"
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:21:51 -0500
Author: "Yarrow, Gary" 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: Interesting "Proper Lab Clothing"
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:19:19 -0400
Author: Sammye Sigmann


Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:25:54 -0400
Reply-To: ILPI <info**At_Symbol_Here**ILPI.COM>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: ILPI <info**At_Symbol_Here**ILPI.COM>
Subject: Re: Interesting "Proper Lab Clothing"
In-Reply-To: <FCA5EF47F9BC694CBB4C58FEA042196348860BFDF4**At_Symbol_Here**SDSU-MBX.jacks.local>

I'd have to rule that one technically wrong.   Clothing is easily removed in an emergency.  I've responded to several accidents that required removal of affected clothing.  The best way of which, BTW, is scissors.  For example, in one accident the victim had glass sticking out of her arm and removing the shirt normally would have caused more damage.  Another case involved an acid splash, and taking an acid-soaked shirt over someone's head and face is not a good idea.

Now, it's true that in a genchem lab one would be unlikely to splash concentrated HF on his legs.  But a penetrating injury is easily imagined, unfortunately.  Cutting off someone's pants is fairly easy, removing duc_ tape (if applied to skin, particularly that of hirsute individuals) in a hurry would be fairly difficult and likely to exacerbate or even cause additional injury.

An absurd parallel to draw is - what if the student wore concrete shoes to lab?  That would also not be technically acceptable in my book because it would hinder egress/recovery in an emergency.  Hmm, guess that would have to be marine biology lab!

Here's an interesting one - workplace duc_ tape injury case: http://news.findlaw.com/andrews/em/emp/20080924/20080924_grabowski. html

Rob Toreki

On Sep 17, 2009, at 3:21 PM, Yarrow, Gary wrote:

We have a strict policy about proper lab clothing, i.e., non-perforated shoes, leg coverings, etc=85.the basics.
However, yesterday we had a new one!  One of the people in my office was doing general chemistry lab walkthrough, and found a fellow who duck (duct if you prefer, although technically it=92s duck) taped his entire legs to not let any skin be showing.  Yes, his entire legs. 
He said that he forget about the rules and figured well, technically it would follow the rules.  Never had seen that one before.  And yes, there is a picture, fuzzy (cell phone), but I really would hate to be him when he took that tape off.  Wonder how much hair was removed at the same time?
Gary
Dr. Gary L. Yarrow,  Director
Environmental Health & Safety
Shepard Hall 059; Bldg 2202
South Dakota State University
Brookings, SD  5700-7-0896
605-688-6332
 

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