What protects the maker

The one page in this property where the advice is not a trade-off.

A caustic, every batch

Sodium hydroxide is corrosive. It burns skin and permanently damages eyes, and the solution is worse than the dry beads because it is hot, invisible in water and splashes.

Which is a routine industrial hazard with routine controls, and the controls are cheap.

The handling, storage, first-aid and exposure information comes from the substance's own safety data sheet, which is a document you should have from your supplier.

What to wear

Splash goggles, not glasses. This is the one that matters most: safety glasses do not stop a splash from below or the side.

Gloves resistant to the chemical rather than the washing-up ones.

Long sleeves and closed shoes.

Ventilation, since the solution gives off fumes for the first minute or two. An open window and not leaning over the container.

And no bare arms reaching across, which is how most splashes actually happen.

The two moments of risk

Mixing lye into water, when the solution heats rapidly and fumes.

And carrying that container, which is when it gets knocked.

Mix where you will use it. Mix in something stable and heat-tolerant. Never the reverse order, water into lye, which can erupt.

And clear the space of everyone who is not making soap, particularly children and animals.

If it goes wrong

Follow the first-aid direction on the safety data sheet, and have read it before you need it.

Flush with plenty of running water for a long time, for skin and especially for eyes, and get medical help for eye contact or anything more than a trivial skin exposure.

Keep the sheet accessible so it can be shown to a clinician.

And do not use vinegar as a neutralizer on skin: water, in quantity, is the answer.

References