Improper storage of acrolein

A student needed to distill acrolein, and asked multiple labmates how the setup should occur. Multiple people told the student to add inhibitor to the acrolein to prevent polymerization during storage, but the student did not add inhibitor. This was unknown to the other members of the lab until the student asked a former safety officer how they should store acrolein. The safety officer asked them if they put inhibitor in their receiving flask. The student told the safety officer that they did not. The safety officer informed the student that acrolein should not be stored without inhibitor under any circumstances, and that they should go ask a different graduate student who had handled acrolein previously how to add inhibitor to the distilled material. The student then left the lab without adding inhibitor or speaking to the other researcher. Two days after the initial distillation of acrolein, two students discovered a solid had formed in the flask that the original student distilled the acrolein into. We believe this to be polymer formation. Since this is a potential explosive, the flask was moved into a secondary container and placed it in a back corner of a fridge, so as not to be in proximity to other hazardous chemicals in the freezer it was initially stored in. Regarding waste containment, the student as informed that all waste from the distillation should be put in a separate waste container and labeled appropriately with the hazardous waste labels. Despite this conversation, the student informed the safety officer that they put waste from the distillation in a commonly used carboy in the satellite area, without any label on it. Worried about potential exposure to other members of the lab as well as EHS personnel, a hazardous waste label was then placed on the carboy and it was stored in the hood until waste pickup came.