As an 18 yo I worked in the etching room of a TV and radio manufacturer (1970) operating a conveyer driven etching machine, I up to my elbows daily in Ferric chloride cleaning jets, with no safety gear available. Other nasties used to clean the copper pc boards included Sulphuric acid and arsenic. Absolutely no human or environment safety in 1970 spent chemicals were pumped out a window onto the ground outside.
On one occasion i dropped a 20 litre carboy of Sulphuric, that i was about to pour into a tank, as you can imagine when it hit the floor there was a fountain of acid, around 10 litres all over me and surrounding area there was a mad rush to remove the stuff that was being stored in the safety shower, as i waited my clothes slowly disolved, after having a shower someone from the production floor loaned me a dust coat and i was told to take the rest of the day off, it took many weeks for the redness of acid burn to grow out. Was most embarrasing getting a bus home wearing only a dust coat, every thing else includin shoes were gone.
To this day being within a few feet of Sulphuric acid makes my skin crawl and i can no longer wear Denim it causes a nasty rash, i was wearing jeans when the spill occured.
Damien