-
Asked by ohheycyd to David, Helen, Ian, rhysphillips, Sarah on 14 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by raspberry13, dani22, malikawh, blackberry12.
-
Sarah Cook answered on 14 Jun 2011:
Not for me, i’m desk/office based rather than using toxic chemicals in a lab – I suppose I could get a nasty paper cut 🙂
-
-
Ian van der Linde answered on 14 Jun 2011:
My area isn’t really dangerous for me, or the people that volunteer for my experiments. We are very careful to create a safe environment, otherwise our volunteers wouldn’t come back!
-
David Corne answered on 14 Jun 2011:
I fly a lot to conferences and to do work with colleagues overseas – flying has its dangers (although it’s safer than driving), but thanks to Rhys I feel safer on a plane. Traveling to other countries has its dangers, but thanks to people like Helen, I don’t need to worry overmuch about disease. Traveling also has environmental impacts, but thanks to people like Sarah, lots of initiatives are in place to reduce these. One of the worrying things about air travel is hoping than no-one has brought anything dangerous on board, but by combining the sort of thing that Ian does with the kind of things that I do, we have systems at airports that can detect naughty things. The most dangerous thing about my job is just sitting in front of a computer for long hours. But I mitigate that by jogging most nights. Actually, one of my colleagues works with robots, and very badlly damaged her back when rescuing an expensive robot that was about to fall of a table.
-
Rhys Phillips answered on 14 Jun 2011:
No nothing I do is particularly dangerous for me – all of the lightning tests are done in controlled laboratory conditions and I’m not allowed anywhere near the actual lightning bolt!
-
Helen Fletcher answered on 14 Jun 2011:
I sometimes work with blood infected with HIV or grow M. tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes TB, in the lab. This work is potentially dangerous so has to be done under careful containment conditions in a category 3 laboratory facility. There is a double “airlock” type door into the cat 3 lab and the lab is under negative air pressure so that no contaminated air can get out. We work with the bacteria in a class 1 hood which is like a big perspex box. Air out is filtered to remove any bacteria and viruses and we wear 2 pairs of gloves, full length disposable lab coats, clogs and eye protection. It’s potentially dangerous but as long as you are careful and follow correct procedure it’s fine!!
Comments