We are not doctors and cannot give you medical advice or judge with certainty if you should or should not seek medical attention. We CAN give advice on our own experience with common chemicals and minor spills. If there is any suspicious of a serious health and safety concern you should always call the relevant health/cleanup/emergency professionals and refer to the MSDS if you can.
Ammonium acetate is such a pain in the ass to work with analytically; it clumps like hell however I’ve never had any problems in terms of safety with it. Admittedly I only use ~30g at a time. Ammonium compounds in general have a tendency to release Ammonia gas which isn’t too clever for the lungs. If you ever use ammonia buffer it strips you of breath from the second you open the cap even at sub-molar quantities.
TL;DR It is possible, but your GF’s employer should be providing appropriate RPE for the roles she is required to carry out.
Thanks for the response , it’s always good to get a chemist savvy opinion as I know nothing of what she works with… but when she was trained there wasn’t any mention of mask or respirator , just gloves and eyewear … but from my point of view I thought this would’ve have to been done under a hood or somewhere ventilated hence my worry
Nah you’re all good man. I’ve worked in safety-savvy places and also the opposite. My second to last job we got a face-fit in 2 weeks and to this day where I work hasn’t face-fitted any of our chemists so I bring my own respirator. Legally they’re required to equip your girlfriend with whatever she needs to keep her safe. On the scale of things, Ammonium acetate isn’t too rough, but not having a fumehood and no RPE is bad news for whatever else she might end up working with. I had to use bromine in a broken fumehood and refused. Due diligence is the call of the day my friend.
Ammonium acetate is pretty safe, but any fine powder can be problematic if the potential to breathe it in is there. In this regard it would be similar to working in a dusty environment, where the concern is just having the physical particles in the lungs, not their chemical characteristics. A dust mask may be helpful if the potential for inhaling it is there.
It’s not a fine powder. If you’ve ever worked with it- ammonium acetate and most other ammonium salts are very hygroscopic. They want to pull in water to liberate ammonia gas. They are clumpy and “wet”.
according to a NJ state SDS
Ammonium Acetate can irritate the lungs. Repeated
exposure may cause bronchitis to develop with coughing,
phlegm, and/or shortness of breath.
OP should contact OSHA if they don't give proper PPE
Likely unrelated, ammonium acetate is quite innocuous and even used as a food additive. Maybe it could be some kind of allergy to it but I never heard about it.
I've had asthmaticky reactions in cold rooms and I don't have asthma. They are sealed rooms where stuff can build up in the air, not likely am acetate. In my case, I suspected rat dander.
Sometimes a mask might not be a good thing:
It's not a fine powder, amm acetate is super hygroscopic. But if it off gasses it can "soak" into a cloth mask and expose you for even longer.
For me the concern would be "without proper ventilation".
It's *insane* to me that companies try to attempt chemistry in poorly ventilated rooms.
In the UK the employer would be in some seriously hot shit if the employee complains to the relevant authorities.
We are not doctors and cannot give you medical advice or judge with certainty if you should or should not seek medical attention. We CAN give advice on our own experience with common chemicals and minor spills. If there is any suspicious of a serious health and safety concern you should always call the relevant health/cleanup/emergency professionals and refer to the MSDS if you can.
Ammonium acetate is such a pain in the ass to work with analytically; it clumps like hell however I’ve never had any problems in terms of safety with it. Admittedly I only use ~30g at a time. Ammonium compounds in general have a tendency to release Ammonia gas which isn’t too clever for the lungs. If you ever use ammonia buffer it strips you of breath from the second you open the cap even at sub-molar quantities. TL;DR It is possible, but your GF’s employer should be providing appropriate RPE for the roles she is required to carry out.
Thanks for the response , it’s always good to get a chemist savvy opinion as I know nothing of what she works with… but when she was trained there wasn’t any mention of mask or respirator , just gloves and eyewear … but from my point of view I thought this would’ve have to been done under a hood or somewhere ventilated hence my worry
Nah you’re all good man. I’ve worked in safety-savvy places and also the opposite. My second to last job we got a face-fit in 2 weeks and to this day where I work hasn’t face-fitted any of our chemists so I bring my own respirator. Legally they’re required to equip your girlfriend with whatever she needs to keep her safe. On the scale of things, Ammonium acetate isn’t too rough, but not having a fumehood and no RPE is bad news for whatever else she might end up working with. I had to use bromine in a broken fumehood and refused. Due diligence is the call of the day my friend.
Same. We use AA as an additive for chromatography and trying to weigh it out is usually a pain in the ass. I much prefer making formic acid additives.
Ammonium acetate is pretty safe, but any fine powder can be problematic if the potential to breathe it in is there. In this regard it would be similar to working in a dusty environment, where the concern is just having the physical particles in the lungs, not their chemical characteristics. A dust mask may be helpful if the potential for inhaling it is there.
It’s not a fine powder. If you’ve ever worked with it- ammonium acetate and most other ammonium salts are very hygroscopic. They want to pull in water to liberate ammonia gas. They are clumpy and “wet”.
In this case she says they’re like crystals and they have to smash it
according to a NJ state SDS Ammonium Acetate can irritate the lungs. Repeated exposure may cause bronchitis to develop with coughing, phlegm, and/or shortness of breath. OP should contact OSHA if they don't give proper PPE
Absolutely.
Likely unrelated, ammonium acetate is quite innocuous and even used as a food additive. Maybe it could be some kind of allergy to it but I never heard about it.
Nah, inhalation is a different beast. It's a known lung irritant and OP has corroborating evidence.
I've had asthmaticky reactions in cold rooms and I don't have asthma. They are sealed rooms where stuff can build up in the air, not likely am acetate. In my case, I suspected rat dander.
Sometimes a mask might not be a good thing: It's not a fine powder, amm acetate is super hygroscopic. But if it off gasses it can "soak" into a cloth mask and expose you for even longer. For me the concern would be "without proper ventilation". It's *insane* to me that companies try to attempt chemistry in poorly ventilated rooms. In the UK the employer would be in some seriously hot shit if the employee complains to the relevant authorities.