From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 02/22/03-03:32:40 AM Z
Actually, I'd watch out for that safey guy... but I think the problem with
safety "guidelines" as here outlined is raising all chemicals to the worst
case and/or as if they were all the same... which is why the existing
"hazards" books seem meaningless.
I doubt that generic outlines are what's called for -- couldn't most of us
recite them in our sleep? So are we going to use all those precautions for
stop bath? Yet, I've come into darkrooms where the stop and fix had been
in open trays for hours, and the stench, fumes, even eye burning were
overwhelming. Maybe not life threatening, but surely not good for the
lungs.
To my mind the first rule of safety in class and also home studio is TRAYS
get COVERED... That's so easy, yet the difference is amazing ... with no
respirators, space suits, or like that -- just covering the trays.
I've made my own assessments from reading and personal experience, and
reports of others (I had one student who went into anaphylactic shock, but
it turned out to be from her printmaking class, not my class, though
another couldn't enter a room where dichromate was being used.) In any
event, I don't think general safety rules are news or terrifically
helpful. (And in school situations I see them mostly honored in the
breach.) Plus they're already in print. Check the safety section of any
of a dozen current books.
What I myself would like would be a realistic assessment of INDIVIDUAL
chemicals... which don't all need the same treatment. They're different,
and behave differently. Yet what comes to us is very faulty. I once put
the safety precautions on the label of a jar of powdered gum arabic on the
list... Monty Python couldn't have written better.
I think for instance of the chemical in Dektol -- as I recall, the Metol
-- which is poisonous to some people, apparently not to others. But it
doesn't fume, and the risk is through skin... On the other hand, if you
let lots of developer dry on the counter, it leaves crystals which THEN
float in the air (and ruin your prints). These are individual cases
omitted from "guidelines."
And about doing things when you're home alone -- my own experience is
that's the only time I can get anything done... Not to mention that some
people live alone..
Which is to say, I don't think this discussion should be shut off at all.
That risks making the discussion as forbidden as the chemicals -- a double
whammy... And to my mind trivializes everything else. I doubt the
ability of Solomon given the givens here and now to find meaningful
"guidelines" for all (I mean on top of the difficulty generally), but I'd
also bet that shutting off discussion pending some super finding would be
the end of it... Should discussion of safety, even if contentious, be
taboo ??? Even, I say the forbidden word -- of aqua regia?
I also found Bernhard's comments intriguing... I want to know, for one
thing, WHICH chemicals he considers "of immediate danger" -- how and
why... He sounds like he's thought a lot about it... and even if we
disagree, his rules could be a sort of benchmark... or possibly extreme???
At least something specific in a sea of *belief.* I don't think details of
this or that process or procedure (even pyrocat) are more important.
Judy
On Fri, 21 Feb 2003, Bernhard Wittek wrote:
> Judy,
>
> > As noted, I think the attempt to make a hierarchy of danger is futile.
> > There's also the fact, as I noted in 1999,that folks may actually be more
> > careful with the officially XTREME chemicals than they are with "everyday"
> > stuff like silver nitrate and dichromate.
>
> I agree. Stuff like dichromate might even be much more dangerous to your
> health than a. regia if handled too sloppy. Its due to those nasty
> "creeping effects" over a long time of exposition to come with.
> Concentrated acids like a. regia are of course dangerous, too. There is
> a "sudden danger" with it but even a. regia won īt hurt you if handled
> properly. Each person dealing with chemicals should know for himself
> what he is doing.
>
> That is for me - never! eat and drink while working, always wearing eye
> protection, using proper clothing and equipment (one should know that
> nitric acid components are able to corrode rubber gloves), seperate room
> (open window) for the dirt work, trying to keep a strict cleanliness,
> first aid kit, eye showers and fire extinguisher within reach and last
> not least - I never handle chemicals which are of a immediate danger
> while alone at home..... I am doing this for about 10 years now and
> never! ran into trouble. People who might have access to a univertity or
> professional lab should of course consider to go (for whatever can be
> done) there.
>
> So I think, like Gordon suggested, setting up some safety guidelines for
> the chemicals normally used and to provide or distribute them would be
> fine.
>
> Cheers
> Bernhard
>
>
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