How to prevent a worse-case scenario in the darkroom

I live in Japan, so I am no stranger to earthquakes. Yet fortunately most of the places I've lived in were not very earthquake-prone. One of those places was Kumamoto, where I lived for 4 years. Needless to say, I'm in shock over what's happening there, and while everyone I know is safe, they are clearly in a bad situation sleeping in their cars or on the floors of school gyms, unable to go home or travel out of the prefecture. So now I'm thinking about what I would be going through too, if I was still there. Which made me think about my darkroom (then and now), and what would happen to it in the event of a huge natural disaster like this one.

Of course, the most important thing is to be safe, but I've often wondered what would happen if all the chemicals got knocked over and bottles burst or packages of dry chemicals were cut open. I don't have any glass bottles, and most of what I do have is either in plastic bottles (both liquid and dry chemicals) or in sealed packages (mostly dry packaged developers or Farmer's Reducer). Most of the time I would think that the sealed bottles would mostly be alright, but I have had bottles leak when they were knocked over (Ilford Ilfostop was one - already opened - I still have some stains that I can't get out). I mostly have pretty average film and paper developers, stop, and fix; selenium and sepia toners and bleach, and dry chemicals like potassium ferricyanide (and others). I know that most darkroom chemicals are no more hazardous than household chemicals, but what would happen if (in a worse-case scenario) the bottles and packages burst and the chemicals got mixed together and could not be cleaned up for some time (in the event of evacuations)? Fire? Explosions? Acid eating through the floor? Nothing?

I've only ever had dry darkrooms, and my current one is in the second bedroom of my apartment, which has a carpeted floor and no sink (I wash prints in the kitchen). I store most of the chemicals in a cabinet, with larger accordion bottles on the floor (usually for print developing). Half the darkroom floor is covered in with a tarp to protect it from chemical spills from normal developing. For the most part, I know that probably nothing will ever happen, but if it does, possibly while I'm away (I often travel during my long holidays between university semesters), I'd like to know that I've done my best to minimise the possible damage of having significantly more chemicals in the apartment than most people - my probable solution would be to keep chemicals in plastic storage tubs and to find a way to prevent the enlarger and/or cabinet from falling over and causing bottles to burst.

Rachelle:
My chemical storage area is in a carpeted hallway closet. I keep everything in small to medium sized plastic totes (tubs), so if anything breaks or leaks there is a thickness of fairly robust plastic protecting the carpet and the floor beneath.

Concentrated stop bath is probably the strongest chemical among the standard darkroom stuff. In an earthquake prone area, it might be best to put it in a separate, inner plastic tote.

The sepia toner would stink if spilled. I'm sure it would not be good if everything else got mixed together, but odour and stains would be the likely damage.

I also like the totes because they make it easy to transport stuff back and forth to my temporary darkroom.

I'd say the most important thing is to separate those chemicals that will interact badly with one another if accidentally mixed. I think I would have two or three steel cabinets for storage and have the bottoms lined so they don't leak and fill the bottoms with an absorbent material.

One simple way to minimize damage is to store the more hazardous containers directly on the floor. Although they might still tip, they can't possibly fall any further than that. Keeping the most hazardous items in a bucket gives an additional layer of protection for highly corrosive stuff. My glacial acetic is stored in a separate bucket on the floor.

I also store some of my most frequently used and less hazardous glass bottled solutions on a shelf above the sink. I know you said dry. But as a general principle for those with wet, if they fall and break, they do so into exactly the best place.

Ken

'Mostly just bravo to responders for *good* help. Every best wish, Moose for the continued safety and recovery of you and yours.

I think that mixing a strong acid (concentrated stop) with potassium ferricyanide creates a poisonous gas HCN.

I actually have one of those yellow chemical lockers that you see on production floors that I use for storage. Got it cheap when a local manufacturer was liquidating surplus equipment.

I was living in an apartment in San Francisco when the Loma Prieta earthquake happened in 1989. I was out of town and could not get back to my apartment for almost a week. Top-heavy things tipped over and got smashed: a 50 gallon glass aquarium and a television made the biggest mess, but the rest was odd and unpredictable: some bookcases looked like nothing happened while others in the same room spilled their books onto the floor. I don't think you can predict what will topple over and get jolted... just that there could be a big mess with things jumbled on top of each other.

I try to leave my enlarger head down so it won't tip over in an earthquake, but don't always do it. Right now it is up because I knew that the next time I used it would be for pre-flashing paper, and I use it all the way up for that. ( WPPD is only a week away! ). But losing my enlarger would be the least of my worries in a big quake... it's not a health or safety hazard, and it's only a 23c.

I have a heavy workbench in our garage, and keep chemicals that could be hazardous in a clean-up or fire in a heavy plastic milk crate on the concrete floor underneath the bench, where it would be protected from falling debris. I put some other non-hazardous bottles in the crate ( e.g. LPD stock solution ) to fill up the gaps so the crate is full with less room for things to rattle around, and I filled the gaps between bottles with crumpled black plastic poly so the glass bottles can't jostle against each other and break. The glacial acetic acid and KRST are the only two that I make sure to store there. The bottles are all clearly labelled. It could be a fireman or someone else that encounters them first in an emergency; I might not be home. I also store gallic acid and silver nitrate waste in plastic gallon jugs along the wall under the workbench... partly to keep them safe in an earthquake but also because the concrete floor could be cleaned if they spill ( everywhere else in the house has wooden floors ). Those are clearly labelled as well.

Your post is a good reminder not to get complacent about it. I just realized that my 500ml glass bottle of KRST working solution is sitting on top of the workbench from my last use... I didn't put it away properly. Also our "earthquake box" with some emergency supplies needs attention... and we haven't been rotating as much canned food, beans and rice through our pantry as we should...and I don't have any gasoline for our generator ( needed for our well, assuming the well itself isn't damaged )... it's easy to let preparedness slip away!

Hi
There is a web video of the preshake before the big one that took out the reactor.

The bullet trains have geophones trackside for quakes.
Train was going fast when the geophones detected a pre shock.
The dead mans handle lifted automatically and the brakes were applied hard for a full emergency stop.

The smart phone video starts at that point...

I'd not worry about chemical spill.

Store sealed drinking water to hand everywhere in case they have to dig you out over several days.

The quakes don't always meet the building regulations.

Not only have plastic bottles in a sealable plastic tub (and maybe even have some bottles inside a smaller plastic container inside the tub), but label everything as well in both Japanese and English.

spijker said:

I think that mixing a strong acid (concentrated stop) with potassium ferricyanide creates a poisonous gas HCN.

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I also think that this is the most hazardous combination. Most other chemicals, although not healthy , wouldn't cause any direct danger.

Karl-Gustaf

K-G said:

I also think that this is the most hazardous combination. Most other chemicals, although not healthy , wouldn't cause any direct danger.

Karl-Gustaf

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The ferricyanide moiety [Fe(CN)6 is pretty tough to crack. Sulphuric acid (conc. hot) will bust it and the gas that comes off is carbon monoxide - not so good. Sulphuric acid dil. won't react in the cold but will when boiled and the gas that comes off is hydrogen cyanide - danger!. Hydrochloric acid will liberate HCN in the cold - danger!. H2SO4 and HCl are about 1000 times stronger than acetic acid.

Back in a previous career as a "white coat" analytical chemist I heated Potassium Ferricyanide K3[Fe(CN)6] with glacial acetic acid (in a fume cabinet) and looked for evolved Hydrogen Cyanide HCN with a drop of silver nitrate solution on the end of a glass rod. I expected a white precipitate of silver cyanide but I didn't get it. Which proves what? Pretty certainly there was no HCN, but maybe the reaction was slow, maybe the test was insensitive, maybe an appropriate catalyst was absent. But no "civilian" should try this. The fumes of hot acetic acid can cause devastating and agonising damage to eyes, mucous membranes, and lungs.

I reckon the most fearsome chemical (on the basis of acute injury potential) that could turn up in an amateur darkroom is glacial acetic acid. I won't have it in my darkroom. I use odourless citric acid stop instead. As for the rest, stored chemicals go in plastic tubs and like is stored with like to prevent cross reactions: developers in one tub, stop in another, toners in another, fix elsewhere.

Thanks everyone, for the information so far, it's been really useful. I hadn't thought of labelling everything in both languages (!) but of course that makes total sense. I'll need to make some time to do a proper inventory of what's in the darkroom so I can better separate the chemicals who shouldn't be near each other. I know that it's extremely unlikely that the worse-case scenario will ever happen, but I'll certainly feel better if I've taken the most realistic precautions I can. And, as Ned mentioned, I also need to update and refresh my emergency supplies. The hard thing is that here in Japan, most places do not have a lot of storage space, so there is always a real limit to how much can be stored.

Los Angeles is earthquake country, so I keep all the liquid chemicals in plastic bottles and those bottles are in large plastic containers.

I had to cope with earthquakes in Japan and on Okinawa among other places. I never did anything special but never had problems either with normal care against such problems.

PE

I lived about 40 kms north of Kumamoto prefecture. I lived through quite a few shakers, the strongest being about 5... which was enough to make this prairie boys hair stand on end! I kept all my mixed chemicals in plastic bottles in a box, on the floor under a table. I was more worried about my precious enlarger toppling over!

Yeah, I think a 5 is probably the strongest I've been through as well, although I'm no stranger to smaller quakes. Over the years I've had to worry more about typhoons than earthquakes, to be honest.

I have two tables in my darkroom that I use for developing prints, below is a storage area for things I don't use much of: extra blackout sheets, larger trays, empty bottles, etc. Although my storage space in the rest of the apartment is extremely limited, I'm going to have to find some room for these items so I can keep bottled chemicals in a box, on the floor, under the tables.

Maris said:

The ferricyanide moiety [Fe(CN)6 is pretty tough to crack. Sulphuric acid (conc. hot) will bust it and the gas that comes off is carbon monoxide - not so good. Sulphuric acid dil. won't react in the cold but will when boiled and the gas that comes off is hydrogen cyanide - danger!. Hydrochloric acid will liberate HCN in the cold - danger!. H2SO4 and HCl are about 1000 times stronger than acetic acid.

Back in a previous career as a "white coat" analytical chemist I heated Potassium Ferricyanide K3[Fe(CN)6] with glacial acetic acid (in a fume cabinet) and looked for evolved Hydrogen Cyanide HCN with a drop of silver nitrate solution on the end of a glass rod. I expected a white precipitate of silver cyanide but I didn't get it. Which proves what? Pretty certainly there was no HCN, but maybe the reaction was slow, maybe the test was insensitive, maybe an appropriate catalyst was absent. But no "civilian" should try this. The fumes of hot acetic acid can cause devastating and agonising damage to eyes, mucous membranes, and lungs.

I reckon the most fearsome chemical (on the basis of acute injury potential) that could turn up in an amateur darkroom is glacial acetic acid. I won't have it in my darkroom. I use odourless citric acid stop instead. As for the rest, stored chemicals go in plastic tubs and like is stored with like to prevent cross reactions: developers in one tub, stop in another, toners in another, fix elsewhere.

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Thank you for the information.

Karl-Gustaf

There are a lot of good ideas/recommendations here. One thing I'll add is make up a binder of the MSDS sheets for the chemistry you have.

bdial said:

There are a lot of good ideas/recommendations here. One thing I'll add is make up a binder of the MSDS sheets for the chemistry you have.

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I just bought a binder today to do that exact thing!

Interesting post...it's very hard to see what's going on in Japan at the moment. I sincerely hope you haven't been greatly affected...I saw a documentary on the areas nearest the nuclear site affected by the tsunami...heart-breaking to see the homes where clearly everyone left in a hurry, dishes of food still on the tables and such. It's times like these when you see people at their very best though.

I lived in Japan for 17 years. Area I lived included some of areas that recently experienced strong quakes. I also had a make shift darkroom back then as well.

Despite the fact they had a spate of strong quakes recently, the chances of a particular area experiencing devastating quakes are actually small. Other than securing tall furniture and refrigerators, we did not do anything special. As far as darkroom is concerned, if the quake is strong enough, hit the light and get out....! As far as chemicals are concerned, I'd just make sure anything "bad" is stored in safe way regardless of quakes. I'd think, accidentally knocking over something is far greater than quake or other natural disaster situation. I am not aware of any photo chemicals that are THAT dangerous though....

Other than those that knock down houses causing mass casualty, I recall most injuries and death resulted from moderate quakes were furniture falling over (was very common), breaking window glasses, and people running outsides and hit by something. Another one was fire caused by people panicking and leaving houses leaving gas stove on....

I think, everyday precaution is the best way for personal safety.

CropDusterMan said:

Interesting post...it's very hard to see what's going on in Japan at the moment. I sincerely hope you haven't been greatly affected...I saw a documentary on the areas nearest the nuclear site affected by the tsunami...heart-breaking to see the homes where clearly everyone left in a hurry, dishes of food still on the tables and such. It's times like these when you see people at their very best though.

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Thanks. If it hadn't been for the toxic environment at my last workplace, I'd probably still be in Kumamoto, dazed, shocked, and sleep-deprived. Well, I'm those things right now, but at least I have a secure roof over my head, with plenty of food and water. It's funny, I've been gone for 2 years now, but I have feelings of survivor guilt, if that makes any sense. When a place you know gets broken to pieces, the devastation becomes so much more personal. Luckily, no one I know was hurt, but I imagine the aftershocks that will continue over the next year or two will cause some stress and sleepless nights.

Ya...it's amazing how one house or building can be spared and another leveled. My area in SoCal has had two
major wildfires since 2003...I watched the fires literally take a right turn and go from an empty field and cross a street and take out a house.
The world is a smaller place now with media and communications making it easier to get info
and help out from a distance via donations to Red Cross or other avenues...like I said, the best comes out
of people in times of trouble...whether it's through financial donations or direct involvement.

tkamiya said:

I lived in Japan for 17 years. Area I lived included some of areas that recently experienced strong quakes. I also had a make shift darkroom back then as well.

Despite the fact they had a spate of strong quakes recently, the chances of a particular area experiencing devastating quakes are actually small. Other than securing tall furniture and refrigerators, we did not do anything special. As far as darkroom is concerned, if the quake is strong enough, hit the light and get out....! As far as chemicals are concerned, I'd just make sure anything "bad" is stored in safe way regardless of quakes. I'd think, accidentally knocking over something is far greater than quake or other natural disaster situation. I am not aware of any photo chemicals that are THAT dangerous though....

Other than those that knock down houses causing mass casualty, I recall most injuries and death resulted from moderate quakes were furniture falling over (was very common), breaking window glasses, and people running outsides and hit by something. Another one was fire caused by people panicking and leaving houses leaving gas stove on....

I think, everyday precaution is the best way for personal safety.

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i think you are right TK
be safe every day and you won't have to worry about 1 day in particular.
with regards to some of what you said about photochemistry not being all that dangerous
i think depending on what sort of photography you are practicing: modern black and white, modern color/chorme, antiquated processes.
probably modern black and white photography is the least problematic, a lot of people use 3,
maybe 4 chemicals ( dev, stop, fix and fix remover )
developers can range from kind of sketchy-dangerous ( pyro ) to benign ( caffenol ) ...
fixer is like swimming pool chemicals and preservatives, and fix remover
can be stuff found in the ocean. im not familiar with colorwork but from what i remember
they are not as benign as black/white chemistry and use bleaches and
whatnot that might not be be too good. antiquated processes and emulsion making
silver nitrate from what i remember reading is caustic ( i might be wrong ? )
collodion is an explosive, and KCn when mixed with the devleopers used for developing
wet plate stuff liberates poison gas, and unless you are doing the Becquerel variation
of the daguerreogype process, you have mercury to worry about.

its best to keep things safe no matter what variation of photography you might be doing,
and as you said, if you keep things safe on a daily basis you probably
are all-set when other things happen.