Mind What You Put in a Furnace: A Case Study for a Laboratory Incident

Author(s): Emad Yousif, Wedad H. Al-Dahhan, Ali Abd Ali, Alaa Adnan Rashad, and Evon Akram

There is no doubt that laboratories are extremely dangerous places as many hazardous materials are dealt with. It is mandatory to take safety precautions in laboratories at all times with no excuses. Herein, we report an incident took place in a research laboratory at Department of Chemistry Al-Nahrain University as a result of dealing with some chemicals without knowing their risks in advance. We emphasize the importance of having all necessary information of the chemical that we wish to deal with, including the safety data sheet (SDS) and based on that we can make the risk assessment form. Also, we would like to recommend adding good and functional smoke detectors as well as some oxygen sensors to ensure safe working area.