Small chemical spill occurs at Center for Science and Technology, Life Sciences Complex
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UPDATED: Nov. 1, 2013 at 5:40 p.m.
The Center for Science and Technology and the Life Sciences Complex were evacuated at about 2:45 p.m. on Friday due to a chemical spill in a third-floor lab.
A female undergraduate student was trying to store a bottle of corrosive liquid when she dropped it, breaking the vile and cutting her hand, said Syracuse Deputy Fire Chief Mark Zoanetti. The liquid spilled on the floor and students in the lab took the student to the emergency shower to wash the chemicals off after she was exposed to it, he added.
The student has since been taken to the hospital for treatment, Zoanetti said.
“Corrosives are going to be hazardous to skin and can give you burns, so that’s the hazards with that,” he said.
The spill was small and contained, and the Syracuse Police Department, Syracuse Fire Department, Syracuse Haz-Mat Response Team, SU Department of Public Safety and the Environmental Safety Office responded to the scene.
Students and faculty were eventually let back into the building at 4:30 p.m.
Rodger Hahn, professor emeritus of chemistry, said the liquid was ethylenediamine.
Mike DeMauro, a senior studying biotechnology, was waiting to go to CHE 276: “Organic Chemistry I Laboratory,” when the fire alarm went off and the building was evacuated.
“We were told an emergency was reported at 2:50 pm, we all had to leave the building,” DeMauro said. He added that metal doors came down to block off parts of the building.
