Resources - Safety Info

STAO/APSO SAFETY COMMITTEE
Learning By Accident
The following is a list of some of the laboratory accidents or incidents reported to the STAO/ APSO Safety Committee by STAO/APSO members since March 2000 and published in Crucible. The Crucible articles also contain comments from the STAO/APSO Safety Committee with respect to the health and safety aspects of each real-life lab accident or incident and specific recommendations for appropriate action and/or future avoidance.

Crucible Article	Issue	Page
Accident with glass tubing	September 2003	29
Aqua Regia	November 2006	37
Batteries (dry cells) short-circuiting	January 2005	**
Blood type testing	June 2006	**
Burning of sulfur	June 2008	**
Electrical hazards	November 2004	30
Equipment misuse	January 2001	26
Exploding balloons	March 2008	**
Frog dissection	January 2006	**
Gas cylinder incident	June 2001	30
Improper use of laboratory gas supply	September 2004	33
Incompatibility of organic solvents and concentrated acids	March 2000	27
Liquid bromine spill	November 2003	28
Magnesium powder accident	November 2001	22
Methanol explosion	September 2001	31
Nitrogen tri-iodide explosion	September 2007	**
Plastic pop bottle rocket incident	March 2005	**
Reagent bottle disintegration	June 2003	25
Sodium hydroxide spill	September 2000	32
Solvent explosion in laboratory drying oven	November 2004	30
Students entering the workplace	June 2007	**
Tasting chemicals	September 2006	27
Theft of dangerous chemicals	June 2000	27
Unsafe waste disposal	September 2004	33
Using power tools	November 2000	20
White phosphorus	January 2007	29
Zinc powder incident	March 2007	**
Zinc/sulfur reaction	March 2006	**

** Crucible issue published electronically on STAO/APSO web site. Page #s not specified