Speaking with my chemist&#x27;s hat on… <i>wimp</i>.<p>Seriously, there are any number of nasty things floating around a wet chemistry lab. Chromerge and piranha solutions (sometimes <i>aqua regia</i>) for cleaning glassware, various super acids and bases, pyrophoric organometallics, stuff that&#x27;s oxygen or water or shock sensitive… the list goes on. HF is certainly bad, but it tends to get the respect it deserves and so is handled safely. I&#x27;m more worried about chronic occupational exposure to &quot;safer&quot; things like chloroform.<p>Edit: the one that really scares me? Anything solvated with DMSO. It dramatically increases absorption through the skin. I bet every chemist has a secret chemical fear.<p>Edit 2: oh, and peroxides. One idiot postdoc had a habit of buying THF without stabilizers (no need for him to do so), and storing them in the back of the chemicals cabinet where they were frequently forgotten. At least he had the decency to store them on the bottom shelf. So admittedly I have two fears, but I&#x27;ll work with HF!