RE: give me your opinion

[Mike Dempsey <mdempsey@lanl.gov>]

This response is completely off the subject.  Joe is talking about a room
the size of a football field, which is vented and not airtight to the
outside.  THERE IS NOT IDLH ATMOSPHERE HERE!!

Mike Dempsey

My own opinion.

At 07:01 AM 1/26/99 -0600, you wrote:
>Same thing happened at the University of Missouri-Rolla a few years back.
>Worker "A" entered a large experimental digester tank and became
>unconscious; Worker "B" went in to rescue and also passed out; Incredibly,
>worker "C" entered the tank to help the other two and also lost
>consciousness.  All three lost their lives.  Bottom line, never enter
>confined spaces to assist or rescue an unconscious victim until you are
>absolutely sure there is a breathable atmosphere.  In this particular case,
>a respirator would have been useless.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Hulltmsr@aol.com [mailto:Hulltmsr@aol.com]
>Sent: Monday, January 25, 1999 11:08 PM
>To: Multiple recipients of list
>Subject: Re: give me your opinion
>
>
>If the radiological aspect of this hypothetical accident is the only
>concern,
>a respirator would just get in the way.  
>
>However,  I've always been told the toxicity of plutonium is the far greater
>hazard.  If this is true, we don't need any dead heroes.  Use the
>respirator.
>
>This reminds me of an occurrence in the 70's.  A new nuclear station was
>under
>construction across the parking lot from the one where I was working.  When
>a
>supervisor went to check on one of his workers, he looked into a manhole
>into
>an underground conduit where the worker was doing some cleanup using a
>solvent.  The supervisor saw his worker lying at the bottom and hurried down
>the ladder to check on him.  They lost two men that day.  The worker and the
>supervisor.
>
>Wear the respirator and whatever else you think you need to be safe.
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