• Question: Have you ever done anything dangerous in your work?

    Asked by kierakieraxd to Alexandra, Dean, Jess, Luisa, Sian on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sian Foch-Gatrell

      Sian Foch-Gatrell answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Yes. A lot of the substances we use can be very dangerous in the lab… not as dangerous as working very close with great white sharks tho!!! Which I was doing last year!

    • Photo: Luisa Ostertag

      Luisa Ostertag answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Well, probably not as spectacular as you might imagine.
      But yes, I deal with quite a few chemicals, which I would not like to get onto my skin or even clothes. I have actually got a hole in one of my trousers because of one small drop of a nasty acid I was working with … bad luck.

    • Photo: Alexandra Kamins

      Alexandra Kamins answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Probably the most dangerous thing I do is bike down to the lab…. Well, the roads in Ghana are even worse, so driving around in a 1976 Fiat van or whatever salvaged vehicle they use as “public transport” is probably not that safe. Plus there’s the whole “malaria, yellow and dengue fever, plasmodium” risk of disease in Africa…

    • Photo: Dean Whittaker

      Dean Whittaker answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Yes. I work with hydrofluric acid to clean out glass. This acid will kill you with 2% skin exposure and often you wont know you’ve spilt it on yourself until it’s too late and your bones are starting to disolve (it doesn’t hurt you immediantl like other acids, but it sinks through and it eats all the calcium. which is what makes it most dangerous). We have to dress up like biohazard people do on the TV. We have bright yellow suits and look pretty funny. It’s all safe.

    • Photo: Jessica Housden

      Jessica Housden answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      No, I’ve not. It’s a pretty safe job actually, particularly as I spend a lot of time behind a computer. I think the coolest job in my company are the people who load all the rocket fuel onto the huge rockets. They get to wear suits that look like astronauts.

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