I DREAM OF HY-GENIE

Reprinted from the ACJ - March, 1998

Sometimes I wonder if I'm spending too much time at work. I say that because I had a dream the other night in which I was acting as an industrial hygienist in the business from Hades, assessing a facility with serious health hazards and dangerous situations.

Dream analysis can give us great insight into the things that worry us during waking hours. So pretend you are Sigmund Freud and join me, if you will, as I take you into that dream...

Squint your eyes so everything goes dark and fuzzy, like a dream sequence on a TV show. Make that twinkling noise like they do. Now slowly open your eyes and step into Dave's nightmare.

I am floating around the shop with a clipboard (you get to float in dreams; that's why they are so cool). I levitate over to a workbench area where I find cans of petroleum distillate (A) stored near the furnace. Sitting on a shelf is a pressurized gas cylinder (B), unsecured with a chain or other device as is required in a shop. Nearby, on the floor, is an open container of class B poison (C) regulated by California's Proposition 65. There is also a rabbit wearing a top hat, but I think that is an unrelated dream component.

Moving to a garage area, I find properly containerized flammable liquid (D) very near an ignition source (E). Another combustible blue colored liquid (F), listed as a poison and covered under Section 313 regulations, sits on a shelf. A large bag of "bomb making" material (G) is stored under a shelf containing several small bottles of viscous material (H) also used in fabricating crude bombs.

Shaking my head and hearing a rattling noise (I'm not sure if that is dream related or if my head actually rattles when I shake it), I float into the lunchroom/canteen area. I find food serving equipment grouped in a small enclosure being exposed to a corrosive material with mutagenic concerns (I). The Zombies in the area use the utensils without worry. Each pops a small pellet containing at least 3 Section 313 regulated chemicals (J) into their mouth, smiles and drinks some orange juice. They sprinkle a CERCLA hazardous substance (K) on a plate of eggs and dip their toast, unconcerned.

A thin walled (and uninsured) steam boiler unit (L) builds up pressure in one corner. One Zombie stares blankly at me (like Zombies do in a dream), tells me to put down the clipboard and eat my breakfast. Instead, I gaze through a closed storage cabinet door (I love that part of dreams) to see a poisonous, corrosive material (M) known to cause severe burns but intended to clean food incineration units.

Stored next to that are two more Section 313 regulated chemicals. One is mutagenic and considered dangerous to life in airborne concentrations as low as 50 ppm (N). The other, when mixed with its neighbor, releases a very poisonous gas (O). The Zombies purposely spread the stuff on the glass surfaces in the canteen. I point out the imminent danger, but the Zombies just stare blankly at me munching their food. In another cabinet used to store foodstuffs, I find a CERCLA listed acid (P), that is known to react violently with several of the other chemicals in the area.

The dreamscape changes and I find myself sitting in a lobby area. A pretty women asks me to get my feet off of the coffee table and let out the cat. She then proceeds to spray petroleum distillate/hydrocarbons (Q) wantonly about the room which is obviously not set up as a spray booth. I run for cover but, as always happens in dreams, I am running through molasses.

I struggle into the rest room and close the door, which greets me politely and tells me of more health concerns existing in the cabinet above the sink. Pressure vessels filled with chemicals whose names are longer than my arm (R) point accusingly at the 30 percent solution of Section 313 flammable liquid (S) with a lethal human dose of one liter. A bottle of oxidizer (T) dares me to cut myself so he can pounce on the cut. I spy hiding behind the porcelain throne (it did look regal in my dream) a very nasty corrosive, Section 313 mutagen (U) getting chummy with a brush. I flush because it seems appropriate and leave.

Careening down the hallway, I realize there are no MSDS, no gloves, no respirators, no exhaust systems, nothing that is required in an industrial shop utilizing these hazardous substances. I glance at the clipboard and though I don't remember writing anything, it is filled with test questions.

Since tests scare the devil out of me, I pop awake. Everything still seems dreamlike. Slowly, things begin to become familiar. The shop is my house, my kitchen, my garage, my workbench, my bathroom. I may not have been dreaming at all, but actually assessing the hazards in my own house, or in your house, or in anyone's house.

The hazardous items were all common household products: automatic dishwasher soap (bleach), oven cleaner (sodium hydroxide), house paint (mineral spirits) , mapp gas (pressure), gasoline, antiperspirant/hairspray (pressure), tea kettle, mouse poison (warfarin), vinegar (acetic acid), rubbing alcohol (isopropyl alcohol), toilet bowl cleaner (hydrochloric acid), rust remover (hydrofluoric acid), furniture polish (mineral oils), ammonium nitrate fertilizer, table salt (sodium chloride), vitamin pills (copper, zinc, selenium), glass cleaner (ammonia), hydrogen peroxide, an automobile, motor oil, and a windshield washer fluid (methanol).

Some of these are the same chemicals used in radiator shops with a great deal more safety equipment. They are regulated in industry but not in our homes. I try to link the items with the nightmar-ishly poor descriptions in the article. Give it a try if you have a little time on your hands.

But at least take a minute and think about the hazards that exist in your home as you would if you were at work. Use the same safety procedures and equipment. Make sure you guard young ones at home against getting exposed. Always remember to limit the acute exposures to guard against chronic problems.

Still groggy, I chuckle and decide it was all a dream. I wipe the sleep from my eyes. Just then my wife walks by, stops, gives me a nasty stare, and says, "So, when are you going to put that cat out?"

The above article was written by David M. Brown, Chief Engineer of Johnson Manufacturing Company, Inc. and is published by JOHNSON with the expressed approval of the National Automotive Radiator Service Association and the Automotive Cooling Journal. Other reproduction or distribution of this information is forbidden without the written consent of JOHNSON and NARSA/ACJ. All rights reserved.

JOHNSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY
114 Lost Grove Road / PO Box 96 / Princeton, Iowa 52768-0096
Phone 563-289-5123 or Fax 563-289-3825