CHEMICAL SPILLS CAUSES AND PREVENTION

Preview This section describes common causes of chemical spills and steps that can prevent or minimize chemical spills and their impacts. 

The resulting spill of the plutonium compound contaminated the area near the experiment. Subsequent actions of Worker 1 and the PI spread the contamination within the lab, onto their 

Tetrahydrofuran (C4HgO), GHS 2 Flammable - NFPA 3 Flammable [F.P. -17°C/rF], Irritant 

What lessons can be learned from these incidents  

Laboratory Safety for Chemistry Students, Second Edition. Robert H. Hill, Jr. and David C. Finster. 2016 John Wiley Sons, Inc. Published 2016 by John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

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Explanation Careless forklift drivers cause many chemical spills within the warehouse. The company s policy on chemical spills is in place to protect workers, the workplace, the community, and the surrounding environment. The company s policies work to maintain and protect the company s excellent reputation in preventing and mitigating spills, and workers are expected to follow those policies and practices to further the same goals. 

As the examples above show, chemical spills in the laboratory can become big problems that impact many people, not only those directly involved in the spill, but also those who respond to the emergency and those who work or live in the vicinity. So now that you have a little better understanding of the impact of spills and the most common causes of spills, let s discuss how we might prevent or minimize these spills. 

Demulsifiers (specifically, oil spill demulsifiers) can be applied to oil spills in low concentrations. They prevent mousse formation for significant periods of time and cause a large reduction in oil-water interfacial tension. The best of these was found to prevent emulsification at dosages as low as 1 part inhibitor to 20,000 parts of fresh oil at 20° C [273]. At dosages of 1 1000, at temperatures higher than 10° C, the chemical also results in significant and rapid dispersion of the oil. For very low temperatures or highly weathered oil, the performance of the chemical falls off sharply. 

A bromine spill would cause bromine vapor concentrations in the unventilated laboratory to reach IDLH values in less than 1 min, an instantaneously dangerous situation. Even if the laboratory were ventilated, the flowrate necessary to keep the concentration of the atmosphere below the TLV cannot be achieved by practical means. Procedures for the prevention of such spills must be carefully developed, and materials necessary to neutralize a bromine spill must be readily available to minimize the danger posed by the use of this chemical. 

Met-L-KYL [Ansul]. TM for a dry chemical that extinguishes fires caused by pyrophoric liquids such as triethylaluminum and adsorbs the spilled metal alkyl to prevent reignition. 

Chemicals that are spilled or accidentally released may cause damage to the environment, as well as injury to one s health and property. It is quite imperative, therefore, that certain procedures be taken in order to prevent the release from continuing, to prevent further damage to the environment, and to minimize exposure to the general public and emergency personnel. 

Section 2.1.3 presented an introduction to how to handle spills of solids and liquids in most academic labs associated with courses. Section 2.2.2 discussed the causes of spills and measures to take to prevent them. This section discusses the kinds of spills and chemical releases that are more likely to occur in advanced and research labs. 

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