"Dr. Shigeru Omi, the WHO's Western Pacific regional director, told reporters in Manila, the Philippines, that the Taiwanese scientist was working without protective gear, such as gloves and a gown."
Taiwan Lab Worker Contracts SARS
What are some violations you have seen or situations that have bothered you that should be addressed but never are until someone gets hurt? I'll start:
- Most safety goggles don't seem to slant down far enough, especially on school children. An exploding liquid could easily shoot up under the glasses straight into your eyes.
- Safety showers are often built without drains, making one reluctant to use it when they should at the price of flooding the building. Also, you're supposed to strip contaminated clothing off of you... although I am the sexiest scientist I've ever known and don't mind being naked in public, I knew one elder gentleman past his physical prime who was too modest to remove his shirt soaked with corrosive chromium-something. He got burned.
- I know professors who pick up ethidium bromide stained gels with their bare hands. They get huffy when I suggest they wear gloves.
- There are fanatical fans of mercury thermometers over alcohol-based. They rant that the EPA is out to get them, while the agency unfairly allows mercury-vapor headlights.
- Some tasks must be done under a fume hood. Unless it's slightly awkward, then they just don't bother.
My point is that the doctor who died may have been breaking the safety rules, but there are many places where you have to break them or they won't want you working there. Except once a year when government inspectors come through, and then you're supposed to memorize MSDS and practice all the safety rules you never use.
(*This is all based on my distant past experience, not my current employer who is really a monolith of safety. God, don't fire me.)
Taiwan Lab Worker Contracts SARS
What are some violations you have seen or situations that have bothered you that should be addressed but never are until someone gets hurt? I'll start:
- Most safety goggles don't seem to slant down far enough, especially on school children. An exploding liquid could easily shoot up under the glasses straight into your eyes.
- Safety showers are often built without drains, making one reluctant to use it when they should at the price of flooding the building. Also, you're supposed to strip contaminated clothing off of you... although I am the sexiest scientist I've ever known and don't mind being naked in public, I knew one elder gentleman past his physical prime who was too modest to remove his shirt soaked with corrosive chromium-something. He got burned.
- I know professors who pick up ethidium bromide stained gels with their bare hands. They get huffy when I suggest they wear gloves.
- There are fanatical fans of mercury thermometers over alcohol-based. They rant that the EPA is out to get them, while the agency unfairly allows mercury-vapor headlights.
- Some tasks must be done under a fume hood. Unless it's slightly awkward, then they just don't bother.
My point is that the doctor who died may have been breaking the safety rules, but there are many places where you have to break them or they won't want you working there. Except once a year when government inspectors come through, and then you're supposed to memorize MSDS and practice all the safety rules you never use.
(*This is all based on my distant past experience, not my current employer who is really a monolith of safety. God, don't fire me.)
Some of our showers have "modesty" curtains around them, but most don't. Our employees are instructed to strip the clothes off a person without asking their permission (more or less).
