Transcript Hydrogen Fluoride Pyridine Incident - EHS

Hydrogen Fluoride
Pyridine Incident
25-June-2010
EHS Coordinator Meeting
14 December 2010
Basic Information
24 June, 6:30 PM
 Biological research
 Three individuals work in lab

◦ Heard a loud bang
◦ Saw under-hood chemical storage cabinet
doors fly open
Sensed acid-like odor
 No visible smoke or haze

Basic Information
Waited about five minutes after hearing
bang to investigate area
 Donned nitrile gloves and safety glasses
 Looked into cabinet and containers within
to determine if any were damaged
 Found metal canister with a dislodged
cover and bowed-out bottom (likely
ruptured and caused noise, door
movement)

Basic Information

Label on container indicated
◦ 70% hydrofluoric acid
◦ 30% pyridine
◦ Mixture is called Olah’s Reagent
Lab occupants were not trained in HF use and
were not aware HF was in lab
 Occupants moved damaged container into
nearby fume hood
 Powdery substance coated other containers
within cabinet
 Moved many coated containers to fume hood
 No other containers were damaged

Reporting

Lab occupants did not report at time of
incident
◦ Did not want to cause alarm or building evacuation
at time of incident, so did not report

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Contacted lab EHS Rep the following day
EHS Rep contacted Coordinator after that
Coordinator contacted EHS Office at
approximately 10:30 AM the next day
IHP on-call representative arrived on-scene
at approximately 10:45 AM
Response & Initial Investigation

IHP rep examined MSDS for HF pyridine
◦ Appeared to mimic effects of HF

Tested residue within ruptured canister
and on surfaces of other canisters in
cabinet (now in hood) for HF with
Spilfyter strips.
◦ Fluorine present
Response & Initial Investigation

IHP rep contacted EMP on-call rep to help
with clean-up
◦ Triumvirate called in

IHP rep spoke to lab occupants about
potential effects of HF exposure
◦ Recommended that they visit MIT Medical
Urgent Care – all did, but weren’t seen right
away
◦ Contacted Occupational Health Nurse &
Physician at MIT Medical via email to alert
them to incident
Response & Initial Investigation

Occupational Health Physician contacted
Chemistry professor (R. Danheiser) for
additional info on HF Pyridine
◦ Determined that pyridine binds HF and is not
as biologically active as HF
◦ Physician transmitted this info to IHP rep via
email the next day
◦ Medical did not directly relay this information
to lab occupants - timing issue?
Initial Lessons Learned

Don’t store what you don’t need
◦ Incident may have never happened
◦ Many, many containers became contaminated
and complicated clean-up
Know what you are storing in your lab
 Report incident right away

◦ Although no one was hurt, results could’ve
been more serious if HF compound was more
biologically active
Initial Lessons Learned
Communication between EHS, MIT
Medical, & involved individuals needs to
be better
 Do not clean up spills without proper PPE

◦ Lab occupants wanted to do the right thing by
handling spill/rupture themselves, but this
may have required more PPE than they had
available
Things Done Well
Lab used opportunity to get rid of
unneeded chemicals and improve
housekeeping
 Communication lines, once established,
were very strong between lab occupants,
EHS Rep, & EHS Coordinator

Questions? Comments? Discussion?