Hazardous Materials

Helping campus units manage their hazardous materials by providing assistance with shipping, waste pick-up and disposal, and chemical inventory needs.

Exposure to Bromine During a Laboratory Refrigerator Clean-up

June 30, 2008

Office of Environment, Health, and Safety

What Happened?

While performing a chemical inventory inside a laboratory refrigerator, a UC Berkeley graduate student observed the presence of condensate on the inside walls of the refrigerator. This student and two other graduate students proceeded to clean the refrigerator walls, assuming that the condensate was water. When one of the students noticed a bottle of 99% bromine had a small leak, clean-up was immediately stopped, a sign was posted on the door to keep away, and the Department Safety Coordinator (DSC) was notified of the accident. The DSC summoned EH&S clean-up...

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Exposure to Poisonous Chemicals Due to Improper Storage and Unsafe Work Practices

June 30, 2008

Office of Environment, Health, and Safety

What happened?

A graduate student working in a UC Berkeley laboratory needed a chemical from an overhead shelf. To reach the chemical, the student stood on tiptoe and leaned on the edge of a shelf. This pressure caused the shelf to shift and chemicals to fall. Among the bottles that fell were two that were covered with aluminum foil instead of the original screw-on caps. Those containers held strychnine powder and azure blue dye. The contents fell on the researcher, bench, and floor. The exposed researcher spent 15 minutes under a safety shower and then went to the Tang Center for...