Should I be worried? Potential chemical contact with eye?

[Vocchemist]

I work in a volatile organic compound lab (environmental analysis). Today while preparing a solution I accidentally wound up flicking a small drop of a chemical mix into my eye. I was flicking a 100 ul syringe containing 25 ul of a "super mix" of 70+ common volatile organic compounds (toluene, benzene, chloromethane, chloroform...etc) at a concentration of 20 ug/ml, or 20 ppm, or .002%. Somehow after flicking the syringe a drop of no more than .01-0.05 ml found it's way under my safety glasses and into my eye. Within a minute I flushed my eye for a few minutes and noticed only slight irritation; which might have just been from the water flush.

What I'm worried about is long term effects, either damage to my eye, or adsorption of any of those compounds in my eye and into my blood. The concentration was low but I'm very concerned about exposure to these. Is there any further steps I should take? How easy is it for chemicals to absorb through your eye? Or is the concentration too low to be of a concern?

Thank you, I will provide additional information if needed. I hope I'm not being to paranoid for nothing but I take safety very seriously and don't want to bring this up at work.

[HB of CJ]

Might be bad.  Might be nothing.  Probably somewhere in between.  BUT .... sorry to say you MUST go through the entire injury paper trail ordeal.  Document everything if possible.  Were you supposed to be wearing complete body protection?  Including eye protection?  Sounds like you are past the emergency protocols.  See a eye doctor ASAP. 

This might affect your employment?  Dunno that yet.  Probably not.    Did you break policy mixing stuff with no eye protection?  Bad situation.  Or just do what the eye doctor tells you.  Be sure to contact your boss. Document.  Communication.  Full discloser.  Sounds like over kill right now but years from now ... who knows.  Good luck.  Yikes!

[CharonY]

The concentrations seem low, but the usual steps to take are these:

- report your exposure to lab manager and/or health and safety. Make sure that it is actually documented. Not bringing it up at work is the wrong approach as you will not be protected from damages if it is not documented.  

- see an MD to check eye functions to ensure that there are no damages

[Vocchemist]

Thank you for the responses. I was using all appropriate safety precautions as I always do. We aren't required to wear full PPE at my lab; I was using nitrile gloves and safety glasses (not the full splash glasses used in true organic synthesis labs). I'm just angry that this stuff happens to me because I'm beyond careful.  I was using a half-fume hood without a full sash that is used for lower concentration stuff like this. Of course somehow when I was tapping an air buble out of a syringe a drop flicked upwards at an awkward angle and went underneath my glasses.....

 

I will bring this up with my supervisors; the reason I wasn't originally going too is because they usually shrug off stuff like this and tell me I'll be fine. Not exactly a safety fostering environment over here. Another reason I'm upset.

 

Anyways, my question was more on the science side of it rather than protocol.

Is that low of a concentration (20 ug/ml) even enough to be warranted a risk?

[MigL]

Low concentration organics are usually mild irritants.
See an eye doctor. He may prescribe lubricating eye drops if the irritation is still present.

This could have been a concentrated acid or a base.
Make a habit of wearing goggles that seal around your eyes, and if not working in a fume hood, wear a face-shield also

[hypervalent_iodine]

You’re probably at that concentration. Continue to monitor your situation, see a doctor, and start the paper trail. 

21 minutes ago, MigL said:

Low concentration organics are usually mild irritants.
See an eye doctor. He may prescribe lubricating eye drops if the irritation is still present.

This could have been a concentrated acid or a base.
Make a habit of wearing goggles that seal around your eyes, and if not working in a fume hood, wear a face-shield also

In my lab, as with many other organic labs, we only use full face shields when handling certain chemicals, such as strong acids. Doing so for everything is a tad excessive. It’s risk dependent, and something that the OP should be analysing with every new task they are performing. 

[CharonY]

51 minutes ago, Vocchemist said:

I will bring this up with my supervisors; the reason I wasn't originally going too is because they usually shrug off stuff like this and tell me I'll be fine. Not exactly a safety fostering environment over here. Another reason I'm upset.

Well, even when harmless it is or should be policy (to protect workers as well as the facility) to document all incidences. Being lax in that respect is not a good policy as at some point things may happen and suddenly everyone is utterly surprised as there is no paper trail that could have pointed out to issues before they happen. 

 

[Vocchemist]

Soooo, I brought it up with my supervisors; and everything I predicted would happen, happened. At first it was shrugged off and they said it would be fine (low concentration...etc), and that it was unlikely that anything got through my safety glasses to begin with.

Back to square one which is what brought me here. And unfortunately we don't even have splash goggles or face shields. I work in a volatiles department of a larger env. analysis company in a separate building from our wet chemistry rooms; hence much lower protection required.

Sorry to be annoying, I feel like I either take safety way out of proportion compared to my co-workers, or just worry to much (which I feel is a good thing :), maybe wrong profession though haha). Anyways, based on the fact that seeing a doctor isn't an option, and I've got minimal eye irritation, have flushed my eye, do you think that I have anything to worry about? As far as long term eye damage or VOC's absorbed through my eye? Considering the 20 ug/ml concentration?

21 minutes ago, hypervalent_iodine said:

You’re probably at that concentration.

At what concentration?

[CharonY]

A few things: we do not provide medical recommendations nor should you accept those from an anonymous board. It would be in your own interest to seek a medical professional to double-check.

That being said, I do not think you blow things out of proportion. Commercial as well as academic labs have a reporting system in place in which pretty much any potential exposure, even harmless ones are documented. There are basically two reasons for that. First, if you develop issues later in life, the documentation can serve as a basis to ascertain whether the exposure levels could reasonably be a cause. Thus, depending on the exposure it can protect you or the employer. For example, in a biological lab even minor cuts are documented in such a way that it is clear whether you may have been at risk (e.g. glass which was exposed to infectious bacteria) or not (e.g. cut on sterile glass).

In addition, it provides information for the lab safety officer (or equivalent) to make sure that measures are in place to minimize actual harmful exposures and identify risky procedures that may require modification or additional safety measures. If I were you I would look through your company policies regarding lab safety. In most countries there are certain rules that they have to uphold. 

Finally, in labs safety is usually held at a higher standard than many other workplaces (justified or not) but I think regardless of position ensuring that all measures ensuring personal safety is not worrying too much. It is just the right amount of worrying. Too often things happen because one gets too complacent. Especially in an environment that may be prone to lax safety, it makes sense to be extra vigilant (not to the level of stressing out, of course. That is not healthy, either).

[Vocchemist]

1 hour ago, CharonY said:

A few things: we do not provide medical recommendations nor should you accept those from an anonymous board. It would be in your own interest to seek a medical professional to double-check.

That being said, I do not think you blow things out of proportion. Commercial as well as academic labs have a reporting system in place in which pretty much any potential exposure, even harmless ones are documented. There are basically two reasons for that. First, if you develop issues later in life, the documentation can serve as a basis to ascertain whether the exposure levels could reasonably be a cause. Thus, depending on the exposure it can protect you or the employer. For example, in a biological lab even minor cuts are documented in such a way that it is clear whether you may have been at risk (e.g. glass which was exposed to infectious bacteria) or not (e.g. cut on sterile glass).

 

Thank you for the detailed response. The reason I'm bringing it up here rather via a doctor is because I only had mild irritation to the affected eye, if anything at all. And I was pretty certain any urgent care doctor would simply tell me there was nothing they could do outside of eye drops for irritation. I was thinking that only other chemists would have some knowledge about hazards of exposure based on the low concentrations of those specific organic compounds. Or someone might have had a similar experience happen to them. If I do see a doctor it's out of my own pocket because my work has already brushed it under the rug  and specialists can cost a small fortune.

Well, anyways. I guess I'll keep an eye (pun intended) on the situation and hopefully nothing happens. I just worry about absorption of some of the carcinogens rather than physical damage to the eye. But I suppose at 20 ppm and for a one time thing I'm likely in the clear.

This isn't the only safety concern I've had working here; there have been numerous. I'm evaluation my future working at this lab........