I need some advice on a safety issue. I manage an university micro and
nano Fabrication facility. This facility is for use by the whole
university, which means I have about 50 part time and full time users.
Presently, I'm going thru our safety proceedures and the one area where
I can't get a satisfactory answer is what to do if one has both trauma
and a chemical spill.

  The first aid courses and the safety videos cover what to do if there
is a chemical spill on someone or if there is trauma (and we have
implemented these proceedures), but if I ask about chemical spill and
trauma that occur simultaneously, the only answer is: " Deal with the
more serious problem first". To me this isn't a great answer. I would
like to have the proper equipment available and train a few of the full
time users and my staff on how to at least approach these sorts of
accidents. Learning how to deal with an accident during the accident is
not something I want to deal with.

  The type of trauma I'm worried about is deep cuts/wounds and deep
cuts/wounds with the patient is unconscious. The chemicals I'm worried
about are concentrated acids and bases and Piranha (H2SO4/H2O2). The
volumes are 500 ml to 4 litre.

  So, my question is: what should you do if you hear an explosion or
shout, and you find someone lying on the floor unconscience with (or
without) wounds in a puddle of 1 litre of H2SO4 (or whatever) ?

In the academic processing world, this is not an outragous scenario.
There are a couple of stories floating around sci.chem were exactly this
scenario has occured and I have heard of others. So, I want to be
prepared.

  Thanks for your help.

     Ken Westra
     Manager/Staff Scientist
     MicroFab at the University of Alberta