Darkroom aprons & safety glasses

[Curt]

Lots and lots of great comments. Mostly old street clothes, some aprons, those of us who wear glasses pretty much consider that enough, gloves; some do and some don't. It depends on the chemicals and their level of comfort.

The acetone is used in Carbon Transfer as an alternative to alcohol in the sensitizer.

I've had two accidents, many decades ago, the first was from putting marbles in a glass jar to displace air, and the other was a split in a plastic accordion squeeze container. The bottom of the glass jar fell off when I picked it up and the plastic container, which was made for photo chemicals, split at an outside fold and the contents sprayed out. Both times I didn't see it coming.

It's difficult to cover every situation but common sense and appropriate protection seems right.

 

[Maris]

Specifically, deliberately, and in particular I use no safety glasses, no respirator, no lab coat, and no gloves. From years as a laboratory bound analytical chemist I reckon safety is the outcome of steady and systematic work practices. The only concession I make is to use bamboo tongs to avoid contact with chemistry not from fear of poisoning but to avoid cross contamination of processing solutions. BUT:

Some people should wear spacesuits in the darkroom. They are that messy. I remember a student darkroom that, after a year or so of activity, had selenium toner stains up the wall behind the sink and on the ceiling 6 feet above the enlarger bench. What the hell went on in there I don't know!

 

[winger]

Very good point, Maris. And I've seen some crazy things in chemistry labs (never mind the forensic lab). Being careful does make a big difference. And the more careful I am, the less cleanup there is.

The one accident I had was while making blood agar for microbiology. I wasn't wearing a lab coat and picked up a beaker to swirl it a bit and see if the powder on the bottom was dissolving. The beaker (1 liter) broke just above the bottom and all the agar got dumped down between the bench and me. It was a Perth Hockey sweatshirt, too. Not that it would have been saved by a lab coat.

 

[Maris]

Lab coat, goggles, gloves etc would not have saved me from my worst laboratory accident.

Operating an atomic absorption spectrophotometer with a nitrous oxide plus acetylene flame for titanium analysis involves starting with air plus acetylene and then quickly turning a valve to bring on the NO. When I did that the nebuliser chamber exploded and caught fire. But worse was to come. The nylon lines carrying acetylene and nitrous oxide caught fire and started burning back toward the high pressure cylinders. It is said that one must never run in a laboratory but I ran with the cylinder keys and shut the gases off just before the flames got to the regulators. Phew!

What cause? A colleague had emptied the water trap because it looked dirty. The watertrap supplies back pressure so the flame comes out of the burner rather than striking back inside and exploding. Moral? Work slow and steady, check everything, assume nothing.

 

[grahamp]

I normally wear older clothes in the darkroom. Safety equipment varies with what I am doing. I wear nitrile gloves for cleaning, for selenium toning, and for mixing solutions from raw chemicals. I have to wear glasses anyway, but if I am working with sodium hydroxide, sulphuric acid, or even strong acetic acid I prefer a visor or safety glasses. I use a black cotton apron. I prefer cotton over plastic since I can get that off quickly (snaps, not tied) and it will not dump liquids in my shoes if it all goes really pear-shaped on me.

I don't use gloves for general printing, but I do keep a supply of clean water and a clean hand towel available. I can feel chemical splashes and clean up that way - with gloves in the dark you don't always notice.

A dust mask is a good idea with some chemicals. It depends on the fineness of the power. A hot sweaty mask fogging up the glasses is probably more of a hazard than a safety measure!

I used to work in a geology lab, so I have a fair idea of what I am doing, and I have plans for spillages. I also have safety sheets for everything I use (and hope to never need).


I have no UV systems, so that is one less thing to worry about.