Recently, I had an interaction with some persons in a training programme. During the discussion, a person narrated his experience with HF handling three decades ago.
The person was asked to take a plastic bottle from one place to another. He held the bottle at the top and it crumbled and in the process, he had splashing of some contents on his thumb. Not knowing what it is, he washed and continued his work. Later, in the evening he had swelling and pain for which he consulted the doctor.
On enquiry, it came out that the bottle contained some HF.
After a week of exposure to HF, the injured could see the bone of the thumb and it took a long time for recovery.
Though, I could not make out the injury from the normal appearing thumb, but the pain underwent is visible, when he narrated the incident to the audience.
Search from internet shows incidents, wherein, innocent persons just washed off the spillage with some water and continued their work, but were found dead in the sleep.
As per standard practice, in case of any chemical splash, remove the clothing and wash the affected organs for atleast 15 minutes and consult the doctor. Even after 15 minutes wash, only about 95% of the chemical is removed and thus care is very much required. One should not ignore the advice by experts.