TWO SECONDARY school pupils were taken to hospital in Co Dublin this week after coming into contact with sulphuric acid.
The incident occurred at the Old Bawn Community School in Tallaght on Tuesday afternoon, January 23rd.
A small amount of the acid splashed onto the faces of the students when a science teacher dropped a container of the corrosive substance in a class experiment gone horribly wrong.
Though both pupils were treated for their injuries, which were described as “minor”, authorities at the school nevertheless contacted the emergency services.
The classroom was also evacuated while the school waited for fire and ambulance services arrived on the scene.
Upon arrival, firefighters worked to ventilate the building using a fan while both students were taken to hospital. They received treatment and were later released.
Dublin Fire Brigade later took to Twitter to chronicle the incident and praise the work of both those at the school and the emergency services.
“Today firefighters and advanced paramedics were called to a school in Tallaght following a small chemical spill,” the wrote.
“Staff acted promptly to deal with the substance.
"Firefighters ventilated the building using a fan and two people were taken to hospital.”
Today firefighters & advanced paramedics were called to a school in #Tallaght following a small chemical spill. Staff acted promptly to deal with the substance. Firefighters ventilated the building using a fan & 2 people were taken to hospital #Dublin #fire #Ambulance120 pic.twitter.com/Ny3Q1UqTMg
— Dublin Fire Brigade (@DubFireBrigade) January 22, 2019
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Old Bawn Community School principal Paul Crone was keen to downplay the incident.
“By the time the fire brigade came, the teacher had cleaned their wounds, evacuated the class and neutralised the spillage with sand,” he said.
“Although there wasn’t a great deal of acid spilled, we felt that medical professionals should examine these students just to be sure.
“Thankfully, they were all right and everything returned to normal in the afternoon.
“The teacher is more embarrassed than anything else, but she reacted superbly and followed all the right protocols.
“We even received praise from Dublin Fire Brigade on how we handled the situation.”
