Emsl Analytical Inc: OSHA inspections and violations

Incident on Jan 20, 2017: Employee is struck in the face with nitric acid and suffers

At approximately 9:30 a.m. on January 20, 2017, Employee #1 was working in a chemical lab and performing a standard analysis of a sample material to determine lead content. She had put 5 ml of nitric acid (68-70%) in eighteen 50-ml polyethylene digitubes that were arranged in a holding tray. The nitric acid was dispensed under a lab hood from a glass lab container provided with a sealed pump. Employee #1 held the tray with the digitubes and started moving the tray to the right of the lab hood to place it onto the hot plate for a digestion reaction. She was wearing nitrile gloves, goggles and a lab coat. The tubes were not capped at this time. While walking towards the lab hood, she bumped the tray against the hot plate during the transition, which caused a few digitubes to fall over in the tray. As the tubes fell, some nitric acid splashed out past the lab hood and struck the left side of her face and neck. She then inadvertently used her gloved hand to touch the spot on her face where she sensed some burning and introduced additional nitric acid to her face and neck because it had also wet her glove. Employee #1 immediately proceeded to the sink to wash the acid off, but she had sustained chemical burns to her left cheek and some areas on the left side of her neck. Employee #1 was transported to a medical center, where she received treatment and was then hospitalized. then hospitalized.