Heavy Metal

[XFool]

A Vanished world.

Heavy metal: how Janine Wiedel captured the filth and glory of Britain’s industrial 70s

The Guardian

The photographer travelled the West Midlands in a campervan to document the workers risking their lives to toil in steel mills, coal mines and blast furnaces

I have my own memories from the 1960s. On a school trip I went round, presumably, Bilston when it was still operating. "Health & Safety" What's that? I remember stumbling around the site, nearly treading on a large red hot bar lying on the ground, it suddenly raining bursts of scintillating white hot metal from above, and seeing a blast furnace being tapped.

Later, when I was in hospital for an eye operation in central Birmingham, there was a hot metal explosion of some kind in a local works and people were brought in to the hospital.

[stevensfo]

A Vanished world.

Heavy metal: how Janine Wiedel captured the filth and glory of Britain’s industrial 70s

The Guardian

The photographer travelled the West Midlands in a campervan to document the workers risking their lives to toil in steel mills, coal mines and blast furnaces

I have my own memories from the 1960s. On a school trip I went round, presumably, Bilston when it was still operating. "Health & Safety" What's that? I remember stumbling around the site, nearly treading on a large red hot bar lying on the ground, it suddenly raining bursts of scintillating white hot metal from above, and seeing a blast furnace being tapped.

Later, when I was in hospital for an eye operation in central Birmingham, there was a hot metal explosion of some kind in a local works and people were brought in to the hospital.

"Health & Safety" What's that?

I don't think that much changed till the late 90s.

We had small electrical fires, chemical spills and huge water leaks in the London labs where I worked. No door safety bars on the walk-in -20'C room, so if the door didn't open, you had no chance! AIDS was all over the news, yet nobody made us use lab gloves when handling blood samples.

The next lab I worked in had a 'Safety Officer' who used to walk around the corridors smoking a pipe and he did absolutely nothing! My boss's office was part of the lab and he used to come over, smoking, and chat to me while I had large beakers of ether, chloroform and ethanol in front of me. One of my first tasks was to be responsible for the radioactive waste room. For our biological analyses, we mainly used tritium and P32. The room was disgusting: broken waste bags, fluid on the floor etc. If that happened today, I would run a mile and call the police, but I was younger then and more naive. People who worked with P32 had perspex screens on the bench to protect them, but nothing for the poor sods close by.

By the time I left, it was all changing. But like many things, H&S seems to have gone from one extreme to another.

Steve

[DrFfybes]

My boss's office was part of the lab and he used to come over, smoking, and chat to me while I had large beakers of ether, chloroform and ethanol in front of me. O

You do know Cloroform is non flammable

I once took a bottle out of a fume hood and caught it on the lip which neatly removed the entire base in one slice and dumped 2L on my feet and the floor. It wrecked the flooring mind.

But yes, a lot of the rest of it sounds familiar.

Paul

[XFool]

A Vanished world.

"Health & Safety" What's that?

I don't think that much changed till the late 90s.

By the time I left, it was all changing. But like many things, H&S seems to have gone from one extreme to another.

I still remember the science lecture on radioactivity I attended as a schoolboy (at a science fair?) at Birmingham University. One of the exhibits handed round was a nuclear reactor fuel rod (not a dummy). I still recall the weight of it... (Heavy Metal indeed!)

I next recognised them decades later during a BBC 4 documentary on Sellafield*, inside a long shut down reactor** when cameras were lowered inside for an inspection.


* Not currently available on iPlayer

Britain's Nuclear Secrets: Inside Sellafield

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b065x080

Jim Al-Khalili uncovers the story of Sellafield. He encounters some of the most dangerous substances on earth, reveals the nature of radiation and even attempts to split the atom.


** But it looks as if there is a clip available of this:

Prof Jim Al Khalili goes inside Calder Hall for his first look inside the core of a nuclear reactor

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02yq9dj

Jim Al Khalili joins the inspection team as they check the radiation levels of the fuel rods inside the core of Calder Hall nuclear reactor.

[stevensfo]

My boss's office was part of the lab and he used to come over, smoking, and chat to me while I had large beakers of ether, chloroform and ethanol in front of me. O

You do know Cloroform is non flammable

I once took a bottle out of a fume hood and caught it on the lip which neatly removed the entire base in one slice and dumped 2L on my feet and the floor. It wrecked the flooring mind.

But yes, a lot of the rest of it sounds familiar.

Paul

Yes, it wasn't flammable but chloroform used to pass straight through the powdered latex lab gloves that we wore in that lab. I ended up with two problems. Chloroform numbing my skin and the powder giving me an allergic reaction. These days, labs use powder-free Nitrile gloves that are more resistant.

This work wasn't actually under the fume hood, or Chemical hood. The Fume hood was reserved for when I had to add Phenol and Mercaptoethanol. In large quantities! Mercaptoethanol (I'm sure you remember) was that really smelly chemical that could make the whole place stink. Phenol was dangerous because it could numb the skin so people wouldn't be aware that they had contact with it.

You dropped 2L on the floor? Brings back memories.

These days, H&S requires that all chemicals are ordered and stored in smaller quantities. No powders or mixing. Most solutions are already prepared, ready to use.

Steve

PS Remember the Chemistry sets from the 60s/70s? But we all survived. Sort of.

[XFool]

PS Remember the Chemistry sets from the 60s/70s? But we all survived. Sort of.

Yes. I wonder how we ever got out of the 1950s/60s! I once gave a list of things I had, from memory, been exposed to in childhood in ascending order of worrisomeness.

Going through, gunpowder, burning magnesium (chemistry sets), benzene, mercury, cyanide compounds, strong acids, hydrogen cyanide gas, blue asbestos, mercury, lead (tasty!), X-rays (feet/shoes), radioactive Curium (luminous watch) and culminating in "enriched uranium".

The latter being the above nuclear fuel rod.

(Plus visiting steelworks...)

[DrFfybes]

These days, H&S requires that all chemicals are ordered and stored in smaller quantities. No powders or mixing. Most solutions are already prepared, ready to use.

Steve

PS Remember the Chemistry sets from the 60s/70s? But we all survived. Sort of.

I just about remember ready mixed acrylamide coming in - we had probably a couple kilos of the powder so as it was safe when polymerised I dissolved it in a large bucket and added APS and TEMED and went for lunch. Polymerisation is exothermic, the gel actually polymerised into the shape of the bucket, which then softened and slumped to the bench.

And yes, beta mercaptoethanol - wasn't that used for phenol/chloroform extractions? I used to rrace to see if the new person could do 12 Magic Minipreps as quick as I could do the old fashioed method

I went to the US circa 2002, over there they were years behind in safety, people eating sandwickes at the bench next to the gel tanks, etc.

Thermite demonstrations in chemistry class, teachers chucking a lump of sodium into the sink, 32P waste bags for goalposts. Happy days.

[Dicky99]

PS Remember the Chemistry sets from the 60s/70s? But we all survived. Sort of.

Yes. I wonder how we ever got out of the 1950s/60s! I once gave a list of things I had, from memory, been exposed to in childhood in ascending order of worrisomeness.

Going through, gunpowder, burning magnesium (chemistry sets), benzene, mercury, cyanide compounds, strong acids, hydrogen cyanide gas, blue asbestos, mercury, lead (tasty!), X-rays (feet/shoes), radioactive Curium (luminous watch) and culminating in "enriched uranium".

The latter being the above nuclear fuel rod.

(Plus visiting steelworks...)

Still amazes me when I think back to the early 70s of the nasties that were in the Chemistry set I got for Christmas aged about 8yrs. Memories include being told off by dad for burning sulphur over, the included, meths bunsen burner because it made a pretty purple flame, unbeknown to me sulphur dioxide too. Also a friend of mine making a small gunpowder "genie" in his bedroom by mixing sulphur and iron fillings and lighting it by using a strip of magnesium as a fuse
Never did us any harm

[stevensfo]

These days, H&S requires that all chemicals are ordered and stored in smaller quantities. No powders or mixing. Most solutions are already prepared, ready to use.

Steve

PS Remember the Chemistry sets from the 60s/70s? But we all survived. Sort of.

I just about remember ready mixed acrylamide coming in - we had probably a couple kilos of the powder so as it was safe when polymerised I dissolved it in a large bucket and added APS and TEMED and went for lunch. Polymerisation is exothermic, the gel actually polymerised into the shape of the bucket, which then softened and slumped to the bench.

And yes, beta mercaptoethanol - wasn't that used for phenol/chloroform extractions? I used to rrace to see if the new person could do 12 Magic Minipreps as quick as I could do the old fashioed method

I went to the US circa 2002, over there they were years behind in safety, people eating sandwickes at the bench next to the gel tanks, etc.

Thermite demonstrations in chemistry class, teachers chucking a lump of sodium into the sink, 32P waste bags for goalposts. Happy days.

We used acrylamide powder an awful lot, but it was found that it could damage nerves, so these days, it's supplied as a ready-to use liquid. Even the polyacrylamide plates can be bought ready made now.

Yes, Mercaptoethanol is incredibly smelly, though we only used small amounts so I didn't bother with a fume hood. It was used to break the disulphide bonds that holds proteins together, so they could be pulled through the polyacrylamide by electrophoresis. The first ones were very big and I remember the sparks flying when it leaked!

I also used large amounts of phenol/chloroform many years ago and our lab still uses it, but there are kits available now that make everything faster and safer.

Oh yes, we also used to eat sandwiches in the lab! My boss walking over, fag in one hand, a beer in the other.

I don't think they had the Darwin awards in those days.

Steve

[staffordian]

When I was a sixth former I had the keys to the biology lab as I volunteered to feed a couple of terrapins (or similar) which were kept there.

But so we're various chemicals, including mercury and benzene amongst others...

My chemical knowledge has faded but one of our favourite little tricks was to make up a paste of potassium tri-iodide which we would spread on the filthy wooden floor by the door and under the legs of stools.

Lovely bangs when dried and trodden on or when stools were moved or sat on

[XFool]

When I was a sixth former I had the keys to the biology lab as I volunteered to feed a couple of terrapins (or similar) which were kept there.

But so we're various chemicals, including mercury and benzene amongst others...

My chemical knowledge has faded but one of our favourite little tricks was to make up a paste of potassium tri-iodide which we would spread on the filthy wooden floor by the door and under the legs of stools.

Lovely bangs when dried and trodden on or when stools were moved or sat on

Oh, the old ammonia and iodine trick! (Do you mean nitrogen triiodide?)

[staffordian]

Quite probably - I told you my chemistry knowledge was fading

[stevensfo]

When I was a sixth former I had the keys to the biology lab as I volunteered to feed a couple of terrapins (or similar) which were kept there.

But so we're various chemicals, including mercury and benzene amongst others...

My chemical knowledge has faded but one of our favourite little tricks was to make up a paste of potassium tri-iodide which we would spread on the filthy wooden floor by the door and under the legs of stools.

Lovely bangs when dried and trodden on or when stools were moved or sat on

Our labs weren't locked. I remember sitting with a friend in a small room just off the lab, chatting after lunch. On the table was some kind of barometer containing mercury. I vaguely remember fiddling with it and thought nothing more till later that afternoon when I saw our Chemistry teacher looking very worried and rushing to the staff room. It turned out that they all assumed somebody had taken some mercury.

I was far too scared to admit the truth and for decades, wanted to contact the guy to put his mind at rest, but I never did.

Just don't get me started on the rat dissections and what happened to their body parts!

Steve

[bungeejumper]

Thermite demonstrations in chemistry class, teachers chucking a lump of sodium into the sink.

Oh yes, that was a traditional end-of-term special, as our teachers tried desperately to think of things to do with us in the long final days before the summer holidays arrived. On one such occasion, the lump of sodium skittered about entertainingly upon the surface of the water, before taking a leap into the unknown and landing in the teacher's lab coat pocket. Oh how we laughed. Oh how fast he got that smouldering lab coat off.

Mind you, there was fun to be had with even the simplest of equipment. My mate and I were bawled out once for fighting in the physics lab, and we were both made to stand at the side of the classroom with our backs to the class. Not a wise move on teacher's part, really. On the bench in front of us was a 12V car battery and a screwdriver, so my mate started making sparks across the terminals. Which was all right until the screwdriver welded itself to the terminals and couldn't be removed.

And then the battery gave a hideous gurgling, bench-shaking rumble, and the air started to fill with god knew what gases, and we both ran for it. They had to evacuate the lab. I was permanently banned from physics after that, mostly for laughing. Whereas my mate who'd done the actual deed got a telling off and continued his studies, and eventually ended up as a senior scientist at a nuclear research lab. I don't imagine he recorded that early experiment on his CV.

BJ