Employee sustains Finger Laceration While Working in Glovebox

Radiological Safety Training for Plutonium Facilities

DOEHDBK11452001

Handouts

Lessons Learned 4

Employee sustains Finger Laceration While Working in Glovebox

An employee at the Plutonium Processing and Handling Facility at Los Alamos National

Laboratory was disassembling a sample cutter in a glovebox when he accidentally cut his

left little finger (ALO-LA-LANL-TA55-2000-0005). The lid of the sample cutter was made of

plastic which had become brittle from irradiation, and when the employee folded it in half, it

shattered into small pieces. When the employee passed the lid through a transfer box, a

small piece pierced his lefthand glovebox glove, his protective glove and the skin of his little

finger.

A survey of the employee's finger indicated 1,000 dpm alpha, but wound counting of the

puncture area after decontamination indicated no detectable radioactivity. Nasal smears

were negative.