The following are incidents that occurred at academic institutions around the country resulting from inappropriate footwear worn in laboratories. Always wear closed toe shoes as part of your personal protective equipment every time you enter a lab.
Accidents and Near Misses:
- An academic researcher was checking an inventory of supplies in a -20°C freezer, wearing long pants and sandals because they were not performing lab work that day. A plastic conical tube fell from the shelving onto the floor and shattered, splashing her exposed feet. Fortunately, the contents were not harmful and the researcher was not negatively impacted, but it is an example of how you can still be involved in a lab accident or exposure regardless if you are performing traditional lab activities.
- A student dropped a two-liter aspirator flask of hot agar out of an autoclave and bumped the bottom of the flask against the lip causing it to break. Boiling agar spilled over her bare legs and feet. She received second and third degree burns.
- A biology graduate student was mixing several solutions of nitric acid and alcohol into plastic bottles to use as a cleaning solution for glassware. He was wearing shorts and sandals. The pressure buildup in one of the bottles caused a rupture, causing severe burns to his lower legs, feet, and neck.
- A researcher wearing sandals accidentally kicked a piece of glassware, causing a six-inch laceration and requiring stitches on her foot.
- A graduate student dropped a four-liter bottle of sulfuric acid at his feet. Fortunately, the bottle only contained one liter of acid and the student was wearing appropriate footwear. If he had been wearing sandals, his feet would have been drenched in concentrated sulfuric acid.