Time for a quick quiz!

Which of the following subjects you to the loudest noise?

1. Electric drill
2. Tractor cab
3. A pig squealing just before lunch

You guessed it—the pig. Decibel ratings from this article are listed at the end of this post.

This doesn’t apply to me, mind you. I’ve acclimated myself to my workplace. That’s just the kind of swine I am.

But if you’re wheeling chow from one regular ol’ barnyard pig to another—for hog’s sake, use hearing protection!

Earplugs
Earmuffs
Noise Blankets

Image © Martina Berg - Fotolia.com

1. 87
2. 90
3. 100+

Here’s a video that serves as an illustration for my earlier post about accidents in academic and industrial labs. This looks like it takes place in the former type of lab, and it shows how quickly things can go south.

Watch in the final few second for the … um … fabrication in response to a question about a particular piece of safety gear. This comes from the person who was wearing something else.

There’s also a de-fabrication (you’ll see what I mean at the 1:25 mark) related to another piece of safety gear. It’s a reminder that fire-retardant (which this item almost certainly is) isn’t the same as fireproof.

LANGUAGE WARNING! SET YOUR AUDIO ACCORDINGLY!

LANGUAGE WARNING! PLAY AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Don’t try this activity in your home lab unless you’re properly trained and equipped with everything you need, including personal protective equipment such as the following:

Heat-Resistant Gloves
Safety Goggles
Faceshields
Eyewash Stations and Showers

I’m one up on the comic book geeks! I bet even a lot of them don’t know about Absorbing Man!

Yes, there really is such a character. He’s featured here and in Wikipedia, which says:

Carl “Crusher” Creel was a boxer and later jailed criminal who becomes the Absorbing Man when he drinks a liquid which the Asgardian god Loki laced with rare Asgardian ingredients. Discovering that he could absorb the properties of anything he touched, Creel escaped prison and went on to battle Thor.

Below, when Captain America whips his shield at him, Absorbing Man takes on the properties of the shield:

That’s just like how PIG® Absorbent Mat takes on the properties of anything that it absorbs. For instance, PIG® Mat saturated with a hazardous liquid should be treated as hazardous. That’s why you see this text on PIG® product cartons:

Please note: PIG® absorbent products must be disposed of
in compliance with local, state and federal regulations.
Because various fluids absorbed may be of toxic or hazardous nature,
New Pig Corporation does not recommend disposal procedures.

That’s always good to keep in mind. As is this tip from Wikipedia: If you encounter Absorbing Man, spray him with water. He’ll take on the properties of the water and flow apart!

In that way, he’s unlike PIG® Mat, which stays strong even when soaked because of its multi-layer construction:

Uh-oh! What would happen if you flung a bale of PIG® Mat Pads at Absorbing Man and then sprayed him with water? He’d be unstoppable!

Somebody get busy on a steel guitar so we can all sing:

Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be
technicians in an academic lab

That went through my head after I read this article claiming that accidents and injuries happen in academic labs hundreds of times more than in industrial labs. It says that safety regulations often don’t apply to student workers in academic labs, that academic lab chiefs are held less accountable for accidents, and that improvement will come only if it’s tied to research funding.

Eye-opening. I’d want to have this information if I were a student lab worker or had a child working in a college lab.

Image © elemental imaging - Fotolia.com

I also found healthy discussion about that article, some dissenting with it, at this blog post. The blogger recalls working in an industrial lab with intense safety procedures, yet “we still had explosions, due to varying amounts of cluelessness, stupidity, and just plain bad luck.”

One comment: “Very true … no matter how many times you remind people of appropriate safety measures, some fraction choose to ignore it.”

Another commenter mentions a professor who illustrated the need for safety by giving each new student lab worker instructions that would CAUSE a explosion (presumably benign), because it: “made the students treat all their compounds, regardless of scale, with the utmost care and respect, including personal safety.”

Ya gotta love voices of experience and practice. It would be great to hear from scientists and other lab workers who use PIG® HAZ-MAT Absorbents in laboratories:

PIG® HAZ-MAT Mat Pads & Rolls
PIG® HAZ-MAT Socks, Dikes, Pillows, & Loose
PIG® Acid Encapsulating/Neutralizing Mat Pads & Rolls

Give us a comment on them. Tell us how they do or do not come into play in your work. Give practical user tips. You might save someone time or money or even prevent an injury.

I’m starting to think that pigs are plotting to take over the world.

First swine flu dominates the front page, now it’s the comics page. I don’t know what comics you read, but of the twenty-one nationally-syndicated strips in our local newspaper today, three are related to pigs. None of these strips has a pig as a regular character, and National Pig Day was back on March 1, so it’s not that. Pigs are just hogging (yes, hogging!) the funnies today!

(The last one is set at a yard sale, in case it’s not clear.)

This feels like the beginning of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Remember? People start saying to each other “Have you noticed more birds than usual hanging around … ?” The next thing you know, they’re running for their lives and abandoning town.

Sparky isn’t commenting on my suspicions, which is suspicious in itself.

I’m just saying: Keep your eyes open, and report back here with anything related to this pattern.

This is some serious stormwater filtration: Man-made floating islands that remove ammonia, heavy metals, and other chemicals from bodies of water so plant and animal life can flourish.  The US Army Corps of Engineers recently launched one in an Oregon lake; it’s 22,000 square feet (close to half a football field) and made largely of recycled soda bottles.

If you’re interested in something a little smaller, here are our solutions for stormwater and inlet filtration:

Drain Inserts

Curb & Grate Guards

Stormwater Absorbents

Rooftop Filtration

Erosion & Sediment Control

Outdoor Decks & Pans

File this one under ”I have no idea if this story is true or not,” but it’s memorable either way and makes a good safety point.

The Cliffs Notes version goes like so: A man purchases a taser measuring about 5″ long for his wife and before he gives it to her, he decides he should test it to ensure that it works. He eyes up the cat, but his better judgment kicks in. Who else could he test it on? Himself, of course! He rationalizes that it’s only two AAA batteries powering the thing and aims.

He describes what follows: “I’m pretty sure Jesse Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, soaking wet with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs.”

The aftermath also includes the recliner he was sitting in being thrown about eight feet from its original position, a cloud of burnt-hair smoke hovering above him, and his cat hanging on a picture frame attempting to stay out of the melee.

Image © Stephen Coburn - Fotolia.com

Again, I do not know if this is true. I have seen videos of people getting tased, and it looks pretty insane. The reason for posting this is to show that there are instructions for a reason. Read them and follow them.

Learning safety through education is a lot easier than learning safety through bad experiences.

Researchers are making progress in mimicking the super-strong adhesives produced by snails and slugs.

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Here’s an alternative to power-washing for cleaning concrete. Very interesting and apparently green.

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This new company turns mushroom roots into foam-based material for packaging, insulation and more.

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Trench collapses just as worker exits at the urging of OSHA inspector.