----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 07 September 1999 14:50
Subject: Dry ice in airtight packaging
> TO ALL BIOCHEMISTRY LABORATORIES
>
> I would like to bring to your attention an incident which
> occurred in the specimen reception area of Hammersmith
> Hospital Pathology Centre on the afternoon of Friday 3rd
> September. A frozen sample was delivered by courier for
> assay in the SAS laboratory. It was contained in a blue
> plastic cylinder with an air tight screwtop lid (of the
> Hayes DX type). The cylinder was a little distorted and
> the lid was misthreaded. The lid could not be turned by
> hand. As reception staff attempted to remove the lid by
> application of force the package exploded and the lid
> shattered. The lid fragments and contents were spread
> across about 30 square metres of lab and the cylindical
> container shot up through the lab ceiling with enough
> force to puncture a perfect circle in a ceiling tile. We
> were very lucky that none of the lab staff were hurt.
> You will also be pleased to know that as a responsible SAS
> lab we rescued the sample for assay!
>
> In retrospect we realised the container must have been
> packed with dry ice - a fact confirmed by the sender with
> many apologies. As postal regulations are changing this
> type of packaging is becoming common place in the
> 'sendaway' section of labs. As senders of samples we
> would urge you to impress on your staff the danger of
> packaging dry ice in airtight contaners (especially if
> they are designed to withstand high pressure). If you
> are a laboratory receiving frozen samples we suggest
> extreme caution if such a sample is delivered to you. Our
> safety department is currently researching a policy for
> dealing with such a package should we receive another. If
> you have any suggestions or have had a similar experience
> I would be very pleased to hear from you.
> Dr Mandy Donaldson
> Principal Clinical Scientist.
>
>
>
>
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|