When a person finds out that I work in an Infectious Disease Laboratory their face usually turns pale and they ask in whispered tones, "Doesn't that make you nervous?". Usually I just smile and explain all the safety precautions that are taken in the lab. I mean would I ever eat in my lab? of course not, and it's not like I'm licking the counter tops or floor! Work has been pretty exciting events have unfolded last week-on that has made me reconsider my response to this question.
Event Number 1:
We have tons of paperwork that has to be filed away in these large metal file cabnets. Placed ontop of the file cabinets are the metal trays that are pretty big. Well A.C. (my co-worker) was filing and she had 2 of the filing cabnet draws open, at the same time J.C.(another co-worker) was sitting on a chair working at a computer with her back facing the filing cabinets. As A.C. continued to file she realized that the cabinet was slowly tipping. She tried to stop it, but realized that it was way too heavy. She moves out of the way and realizes not only will the cabnet will fall on J.C but the metal trays are sliding off. She yells, "J.C. move!" J.C. tries to push her chair out of the way, but is trapped by a small floor filing cabinet on the left and a wall on the right. At this point the look on A.C. face can only be described as pure horror. The cabinets end up fall on J.C. shoulder and the trays miss her head and land to the side of her. The noises causes 2 guys from other labs to come rushing in and it takes both of them to lift the filing cabinet off J.C. Fortunately J.C. only has a large bruise on her shoulder.
A few days later Safety put signs on all the filing cabinets that read, "WARNING: TIPPING HAZARD" "ONLY OPEN ONE DRAW AT A TIME." The signs are in red and we have all decided that they remind us of the warning labels on hair dryers that say "Do not use in the bathtub." A.C. says the signs are her mark on the lab, and that when people wonder why those signs exist the story of the falling filing cabinets will be told.
Event Number 2:
This next event is will not be quiet so long. It was a pretty quiet night, and all of sudden we hear in a calm voice, "Um, J.C. The MNR machine is on fire." And sure enough when we look over we see a small sample that has caught on fire in the machine. J.C. closes the lid, which puts out the fire. I suppose if it hadn't been midnight of a ten hour work week we would have been more panic, but we all just sat there and laughed in relief that the fire was out. The next day, while eating dinner, we saw firemen and a firetruck in parking lot. We joked that they were standing by because they heard about how destructive we had been this week. Later we found out a water pipe had broken in the parking lot and that was the reason for their presence.
So now I suppose that when people ask me if my job is dangerous, I can answer, "Yes, we have filing cabinets tip on people and machines light on fire."
