Flutterby™! : Why I don't write courses. 2007-12-05 22:06:09.675522+00

Why I don't write courses.

2007-12-05 22:06:09.675522+00 by meuon 5 comments

I'm reviewing the technical aspects of an online safety course. A page is about why MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets) are important. The scenerio is: A vendor leaves you a sample of a solvent on your desk without an MSDS. Another employee sees the jar, opens it, and is overtaken by fumes. The emergency responders don't know how to treat the affected person.

And the only response I can think of is: I need to submit this guy to the Darwin Awards. But alas, that is not one of the available answers. It should be.

I think that you and I are just a little bit more cautious in the "oh, look, random object on co-worker's desk, let's pick it up and play with it!" department than your average schmoe.

Not that MSDS's aren't useful at times, but some sanity in this area would be useful. I used to get very tired of seeing three page warnings on the dangers presented by reagent grade water in documentation meant for chemists.

Dan, I stopped keeping explosives on my desk and the only gun within reach at home is a .357/.38 with "raccoon-shot" :) But I do fondly remember the "Darwin Fan" - a desk fan with no grill. People would say: "You could stick your finger in that.." and I'd say: "It's a Darwin fan, you'd have to be that stupid".

Actor Dennis Quaid is suing a phama company over the overdose to his infant children. Apparently a more concentrated type of heparin was given to them, resulting on the overdose. The suit says that the drug vial should have been sufficiently different to immediately show the nurse that it was the strong stuff. So, who's more at fault: the company for not using another color label or the nurse for not reading the existing one. Apparently exactly this mistake happens a lot.

Maybe in medicine the stakes are a bit higher. This summer my wife needed a transfusion, and the precautions were remarkable. The blood came up in a tough bag with a plastic combination lock; the code was her patient number. Two nurses had to verify that the blood was typed and crossmatched only for her. PS, is the sample on your desk at least labeled with "Contains 5% Deadlypoisonal Sulphate"?

I had a friend who worked at a chemical plant where they stored and sold some less-than-interesting chemicals who would tell me about this old guy who opened containers and smelled them to find out what was in them. Chances are though, he'd been doing this since the 20's or so and knew every chemical in the place and what was or wasn't hazardous.

If someone bought in a much more dangerous chemical in a mason jar and left it on their desk, I could imagine some old geezer walking up and taking a hearty whiff just to see what it was, especially if that's what he's done since he started there 172,000 years ago.