I worked a couple of years in a chemical works. We used a chemical that is a cyanate.
Wet from college, but desperate for job, I mentioned to my shift manager that it might be dangerous the way we handled it.
He handed me the bucket of it that he was carrying and said "but they don't know that."
They being, my colleagues, production chemists, the labourers and operatives.
Within 2 years we had a system that required us to account for every kilo of the stuff. We used tonnes every week.
By then it was stored in vessels equipped with load cells in an airtight +ve pressure building.
Before any work could be done in the chamber the area had to be declared clean.
Shift chemists had to do this. Now you needed full protective +ve pressure suits. You entered the store chamber through an airlock and tested.
Knitting up, testing and post testing decontamination was up to 3 hours. A fail test meant you stayed there and reran the process.
All this time the shift manager, remember him, is in your earpiece chasing you to get the job done. Even suggesting it could be given things like a non negative failure.
Less well informed colleagues, mates and chums were unwittingly exposed to these risks.
That's why we need elfin safety
Not for the fatuous clip board wielding twerps but to protect honest hard working employees.
