In my former Clinical life, I used the same analogy--it's funny to see 
someone else thinking the same way (sorry for you!) Mine was "If you're 
cutting wood, you're going to have sawdust".  
This was not amusing to the pregnant pathologist that fell. 
We used tacky tracks, tile with grit, stripping the wax off the floor and 
rugs.  We also used stainless steel scrub pads  on a stick to get the 
paraffin out of the grit in the new tile floor that was supposed to work so 
well.  The key is to clean it up when it falls as best you can.  Maybe your 
engineers should take a look at our Section Transfer System that allows the 
ribbons to flow down a ramp directly into the water bath.  No ribbons to fly 
away! and no cutting in a box!
Dawn M. Truscott, HT(ASCP)
Zeiss/Microm


In a message dated 10/07/1999 12:15:58 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
slw_histo@yahoo.com writes:

<<  Engineers
 wanted to figure a way to catch flying ribbons by
 building a box to cut in. I told them "you would not
 go to a sawmill and tell them not to get sawdust on
 the floor!" It is the nature of the work and  having
 good ventilation mean the air flows pretty good in our
 dept. S. Walzer St.Pete. Gen. Hosp. >>