Hi All.
Had a small accident in one of our Histopath Labs as follows: -

Two liters of used chloroform was removed from the tissue processer and
placed into a thick walled brown glass bottle and placed in the passage
outside the Lab, along with some metal containers of used formalin, to be
collected for disposal within 1 hour.
After about 1/2 hour, the Lab manager heard a loud bang, and on
investigation, found that the bottle had exploded, and there was glass and
chloroform all over the place.
There was no one in the passage at the time, the bottle had not been shaken
up prior to being placed on the floor, and the ambient temperature was 22C.

We are at a loss to explain the incident and would appreciate any
suggestions.

Mike Kirby
Johannesburg
South Africa.