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NEWS
| february 12, 2004
Science
Lab accident leaves student uninjured
He says an instructor wouldn’t
allow him to use the eye wash after he got non-toxic chemicals in
his face.
By Brandon
Pope
Contributor to The Shorthorn
A nursing junior says a teaching assistant
prevented him from using an eyewash station after exposure to chemicals
in a Life Science Building laboratory. He says his safety was put
at risk because the teaching assistant did not want to risk flooding
the lab.
The lab supervisor says the chemicals used in the general microbiology
lab experiment were harmless and that the incident was “hyped
up.”
The student, David Green, said he accidentally dropped a bottle
of crystal violet stain used to make bacteria visible under a microscope,
and the chemical — indelible but not toxic — sloshed
in his face.
“The chemical splashed all over my face — it got into
my hair, my eyes, my mouth. And to top it off, my shirt was ruined,”
Green said. When helped by friends to an eye-flushing station, Green
said the teaching assistant interceded and directed him out the
lab door into the hall toward a drinking water fountain.
“She said something about the room would be flooded because
there is no drain,” he said. “[She] did not even ask
if I was okay or if I was hurt and would not let me use the eyewash
machine.”
The commotion in the hall drew the attention of the lab supervisor,
Michelle Badon, who was working in her office.
“Apparently, there was some sort of confusion about being
able to use the eyewash machine. I directed him back to the eyewash
machine and helped him use it,” Dr. Badon said.
Neither Green nor two other students in the class knew the teaching
assistant’s name. Badon said she would not release it.
Badon said she asked Green if he needed medical attention and he
declined. She heard later he had visited the Health Services center.
“I asked him if he was okay and if he needed to go to the
health center several times, but he refused,” she said. “I
wanted to make sure I did everything by the book, so when I found
out he went to the doctor after class I made sure I faxed the material
safety data sheets.”
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration requires workplaces
to keep a copy of the data sheets within easy access of anyone working.
The violet stain is harmless beyond Green’s purple-splotched
face, and the color should fade in “two to three days,”
Badon said. “It’s just dye.”
Biology junior June Chung was in the class and said the stain seemed
benign.
“I think he was just more upset than anything,” Chung
said. “It’s not like anything that’s going to
kill him.”
Nevertheless, she said, it could have been injurious if it had been
a different chemical and the teaching assistant had reacted the
same way.
Green said, “It could have been hydrochloric acid.”
— Brad Rollins contributed to this article.
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| David
Green, nursing junior, says he accidentallly
dropped a bottle of crystal violet stain. |
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