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> (...) Apple engineer “accidently” turning on lethal fluorine gas. Similarly, another incident, the TEOS leak, was root caused to an Apple engineer accidently

> (...) Apple engineer “accidently” turning on lethal fluorine gas. Similarly, another incident, the TEOS leak, was root caused to an Apple engineer accidently installing the gas for a tool “backwards.” Further, less than two weeks following the April 30 2021 phosphine leak, Apple’s manifests included sixty pounds of “vacuum filters contaminated with glass dust,” implying there may have also been a phosphine explosion. What the absolute @#$% is this??? Would I be wrong in assuming this should've made national news but was probably kept low thanks to Apple's deep pockets/connections?

Afforess 2y ago
I like how Apple got the city HazMat to tip them off to the EPA inspectors, personally. Is that a new “best practice?” I am taking notes.
- happosai 2y ago
  Having "contacts" in important places does pay off.
AdamN 2y ago
Inside industrial settings I would presume stuff like this happens all the time. In fact, people even die sometimes. Even when a refinery blew up in Texas a few years back it barely made the news. On a side note, Fluorine is bad stuff but I believe it doesn't have a long lifespan so any impact would be immediate or not at all
- user_7832 2y ago
  I'm not surprised that such stuff happens often, I myself know people who've worked in such factories and lost colleagues. What I find odd/unusual is more about how this occurred (occurs?) in an urban area where regulations should've done something. Factory workers working in dangerous conditions and losing their lives is unfortunate, but their effects hurting/killing the general population (a-la Bhopal Gas Tragedy) should not be legally possible.
- youngtaff 2y ago
  My brother works in a oil refinery lab… One of the test samples he opened (unexpectedly) had a flourine compound in it that strips calcium from bones… he jumped in the lab shower which sets of an alarm when activated, which leads to lab evacuations and an emergency team in hazmat gear arriving
  - Brananarchy 2y ago
    Hydrofluoric acid. Nasty, nasty stuff.
- p4ul 2y ago
  This is correct, sadly. I've done some work with the public data from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA does a great job of making detailed data on inspections and accidents public. If memory serves me correctly, it turns out there are about two deaths per day from work-related causes in the US...
  - shotnothing 2y ago
    just two? given how massive the US and its industrial capacity is, I'd expect it to be way more
fxtentacle 2y ago
I think not because all the concentrations were pretty low. The problem that Ashley faced was that she was exposed 24/7. But to me it looks like almost all of the gas concentrations would have been considered an A-OK working environment for up to 8 hours of exposure. And while it's not wrong that fluorine is a lethal gas, it is heavily used in many industries and in medicine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorine#Inorganic_fluorides https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorine#Inorganic_fluorides Her documentation shows a careless attitude on Apple's side. And there are enough independent parties documenting accidents that she can sue and win. But overall, this doesn't look worse to me than how many other industrial companies operate.
- disillusioned 2y ago
  Isn't a bigger factor here, in addition to their careless attitude, the fact that they've started manufacturing semiconductors on land specifically only zoned for light industrial use, when, at least per her article, fabricating semiconductors is work that is required to be zoned heavy industrial? The issue being, of course, the proximity of residential to a "light industrial" vs. "heavy industrial" plot sure changes things for the people moving into those residences...
  - infecto 2y ago
    I would be surprised if they are not operating within the correct zoning but you never know. I think the bigger untouched issue is this is already contaminated land. Unclear if it’s apple or the residential built on top of contamination. These cleanups seem to almost never work well.
  - osnium123 2y ago
    That part of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara used to have many silicon fabs in the 1980s and 1990s before they all shut down.
    - amelius 2y ago
      People did many things in the past that are now not OK.
joe_the_user 2y ago
Has the linked article changed? It is currently an EPA report that doesn't seem to contain the quoted text? It's a bit weird that most of discussion seems focused on the person sharing the report rather than it's contents. Edit: OK, dang's comment sort of clears things up but the "thread consolidation" really results in some confusion.

Afforess 2y ago

I like how Apple got the city HazMat to tip them off to the EPA inspectors, personally. Is that a new “best practice?” I am taking notes.

happosai 2y ago
Having "contacts" in important places does pay off.

AdamN 2y ago

Inside industrial settings I would presume stuff like this happens all the time. In fact, people even die sometimes. Even when a refinery blew up in Texas a few years back it barely made the news. On a side note, Fluorine is bad stuff but I believe it doesn't have a long lifespan so any impact would be immediate or not at all

user_7832 2y ago
I'm not surprised that such stuff happens often, I myself know people who've worked in such factories and lost colleagues. What I find odd/unusual is more about how this occurred (occurs?) in an urban area where regulations should've done something. Factory workers working in dangerous conditions and losing their lives is unfortunate, but their effects hurting/killing the general population (a-la Bhopal Gas Tragedy) should not be legally possible.
youngtaff 2y ago
My brother works in a oil refinery lab… One of the test samples he opened (unexpectedly) had a flourine compound in it that strips calcium from bones… he jumped in the lab shower which sets of an alarm when activated, which leads to lab evacuations and an emergency team in hazmat gear arriving
- Brananarchy 2y ago
  Hydrofluoric acid. Nasty, nasty stuff.
p4ul 2y ago
This is correct, sadly. I've done some work with the public data from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA does a great job of making detailed data on inspections and accidents public. If memory serves me correctly, it turns out there are about two deaths per day from work-related causes in the US...
- shotnothing 2y ago
  just two? given how massive the US and its industrial capacity is, I'd expect it to be way more

fxtentacle 2y ago

I think not because all the concentrations were pretty low. The problem that Ashley faced was that she was exposed 24/7. But to me it looks like almost all of the gas concentrations would have been considered an A-OK working environment for up to 8 hours of exposure. And while it's not wrong that fluorine is a lethal gas, it is heavily used in many industries and in medicine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorine#Inorganic_fluorides https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluorine#Inorganic_fluorides Her documentation shows a careless attitude on Apple's side. And there are enough independent parties documenting accidents that she can sue and win. But overall, this doesn't look worse to me than how many other industrial companies operate.

disillusioned 2y ago
Isn't a bigger factor here, in addition to their careless attitude, the fact that they've started manufacturing semiconductors on land specifically only zoned for light industrial use, when, at least per her article, fabricating semiconductors is work that is required to be zoned heavy industrial? The issue being, of course, the proximity of residential to a "light industrial" vs. "heavy industrial" plot sure changes things for the people moving into those residences...
- infecto 2y ago
  I would be surprised if they are not operating within the correct zoning but you never know. I think the bigger untouched issue is this is already contaminated land. Unclear if it’s apple or the residential built on top of contamination. These cleanups seem to almost never work well.
- osnium123 2y ago
  That part of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara used to have many silicon fabs in the 1980s and 1990s before they all shut down.
  - amelius 2y ago
    People did many things in the past that are now not OK.

joe_the_user 2y ago

Has the linked article changed? It is currently an EPA report that doesn't seem to contain the quoted text? It's a bit weird that most of discussion seems focused on the person sharing the report rather than it's contents. Edit: OK, dang's comment sort of clears things up but the "thread consolidation" really results in some confusion.