Case study – A two liter pyridine spill in an undergraduate laboratory

A pyridine bottle broke in an undergraduate stockroom, spilling two liters of pyridine onto a student, a bench and the floor. Details are discussed about the safety of the student, the subsequent evacuations of laboratories and finally the whole science building. Remediation of the spill is also discussed. A faculty member with an auto-immune disease was affected by their involvement in the spill cleanup, and the consideration of chemists with auto-immune diseases and their interaction with chemical spills is discussed.