Re: Rad Safety Training - HazMat Team

[Bob Wilson <bmwils2@pop.uky.edu>]

Joe,

I can think of some at random:

1.  The PI who, surrounded by real firemen in full turnout gear and Univ.
safety staff, DURING an actual lab fire, who had to be threatened with
arrest before he would leave his lab.

2.  The rupture of a high-pressure, natural gas transmission line on
campus.  An emergency order was carried out to kill all electricity and gas
to the threatened bldg to prevent an explosion.  Lab folks were lining up
with petitions as to why they HAD to get back to their labs (the rupture
was emitting a loud, high-frequency scream all the while).  One got
everyone's attention when he noted that his flame photometer was operating
with an open flame provided independently by a gas cylinder!

3.  The radiation spill where assistance was delayed because three
different facilities were identified with the same nomenclature.

4.  The ind. hygienist who was washing an emptied a gallon glass jug
labeled only as "Hazardous Waste", but which also contained a chunk of
metallic sodium.  He was working in a hood with a full face shield and was
essentially uninjured when he could have been blinded or worse.

5.  The hazardous waste manager who, after describing how animal carcasses
could be liquefied with sodium hydroxide, then told his rapt audience that
neutralizing the sodium hydroxide brought the carcasses right back!

6.  The Fire Chief, who successfully put out a major fire in a hazardous
chemical storage room, then said he would have left the building to burn
had he known what was in the room. 

Bob


At 12:25 PM 8/20/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>I'm updating rad safety training to be provided to our HazMat and security
>staff, and am looking for
>new material.   These guys love anecdotes and stories, which I've used in
>the past to get points
>across.  Do any radsafers have some good rad-related emergency response
>stories they
>can share, or other materials/data that they've found effective?  I'll even
>take semi-true or
>slight exaggerations.
>
>Thx in advance.
>
>Joe Greco
>jgreco@kodak.com
>
>
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Bob Wilson, Director
Radiation Safety Office
University of Kentucky
102 Animal Pathology
Lexington, KY  40546-0076
W:	606-323-6308
FAX:	606-323-4752
bmwils2@pop.uky.edu
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information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html