o Splash goggles are required whenever a splash hazard
exist. Safety glasses are only suitable
in situations where physical hazards exist.
Proper eye protection is required whenever working with UV light. The use of lasers requires special eye
protection.
o Closed-toe shoes, preferably leather, that cover the
entire foot are required for everyone entering a lab. Shoes with high heels or made with woven
material do not provide adequate protection.
Open toe shoes and sandals are not acceptable.
o Gloves are chemical specific. Gloves suitable for one chemical may not be
adequate in protecting against another.
When working with a highly toxic substance be sure you are using the
proper gloves.
o Lab coats and aprons are available for employees. Heavy duty aprons are available when using
concentrated acids and bases.
o
The contents
of the container i.e. the common name of the chemical. Chemical formulas and
structural formulas are not acceptable except for small quantities of compounds
synthesized in the laboratory.
o
Date of transfer
o
Physical and
health hazards (labels available in SIMS 107 and 306)
o
Indicate the
strength or concentration of the substance where applicable
o Faculty members name is needed if the chemical is
being used for research and not class use.
o
Containers used
to accumulate waste must be in good condition (no severe rusting or apparent
structural defects)
o
Use a container
of appropriate size with a screw caped lid. Containers with glass
stoppers or corks are not acceptable.
o
The container
used to store waste must be compatible with the waste.
o
A container that
begins to leak must have its contents immediately transferred to another
container or the leaking container can be packed into another suitable
container.
o
The contents of
the waste must be clearly marked on the container.
o
For hazardous waste,
the words "hazardous waste" must be clearly marked on the container.
o
Waste containers
must remain closed except when it is necessary to add waste to the container.
o
When disposing of
chemicals, keep each different class of chemicals in a separate clearly labeled
disposal container.
o
Do not completely
fill a waste container.
o
Waste will be
stored in the chemical storage building until it is picked up and removed from
campus.
o
Disposal of waste
from campus must occur every 180 days or 270 days if the waste is being
transported to a facility more than 200 miles away.
o
The Office of
Environmental Health and Safety is responsible for the removal of waste from
campus.
o
Accumulation
points must be inspected weekly. Areas where containers are stored must
be inspected for leaks and deterioration caused by corrosion or other
factors. Inspection records must be maintained on site for at least three
years from the date of inspection.
o
An inventory of
all waste stored in the chemical storage building must be maintained.
o
All hazardous
waste containers must have a yellow hazardous waste label on the bottle before
being transported to the chemical storage building.
o The satellite accumulation point must be under the
control of the operator of the process that generates the waste.
o All containers of hazardous waste stored in a
satellite accumulation point must be labeled with the words Hazardous Waste
and the contents of the waste.
o All satellite accumulation points must be identified
as such.
o Containers must be in good condition
o Waste cannot be transported from one satellite
accumulation point to another.
o Container holding hazardous waste must always be kept
closed during accumulation except when it is necessary to add or remove waste.
o No single satellite accumulation point may hold more
than 55 gallons of hazardous waste or more than 1 quart of acute hazardous
waste at any one time.
o
The faculty
member in charge of the lab generating the waste is responsible for properly
labeling the waste with a University hazardous waste label and then notifying
the laboratory chemist that they have waste that needs to be disposed. The
laboratory chemist will then inventory the waste and transport it to the proper
waste accumulation point in the chemical storage building.
o
Faculty must
ensure that research students properly label and dispose of waste.
o
Faculty must ensure
that all waste has been removed form their laboratories at the end of each
semester.
o
All employees
must be thoroughly familiar with waste handling and emergency procedures
relevant to their responsibilities.
o
New employees that
work with hazardous waste must be trained within 6 months.
o
All employees
must take part in an annual review of the training program.
o
Broken
thermometers may contain mercury in the fragment and should be disposed of in a
glass container designated for broken thermometers.
o
Never put
chemicals down the drain unless they are neutralized and allowed by local
regulations, i.e. neutralized chromic acid contains chromium, a health hazard,
which must be disposed of as a hazardous waste.
All waste must have a preprinted University waste label on it before waste is transported to the accumulation point. The following information must be added to the label:
o
Generator
o
Department
o
Phone number (office number for generator)
o
Room number and building
o
Contents: The name of the chemical/s (do not use formulas or
abbreviations) and percentages
o
The health or physical hazards
o
The date the
waste was moved to the accumulation area (i.e. the storage building outside)
For tabletop
centrifuges, make sure that they are properly securely and anchored in a
location where vibration will not cause bottles or equipment to fall.
Never leave the centrifuge
until full operating speed has been obtained and the machine appears to be
running safely without vibration.
If a vibration
occurs, stop the centrifuge immediately and check the counter-balance load.
Check swing-out buckets for clearance and support.
Regularly clean
rotors with noncorrosive cleaning solutions.
For larger
centrifuges, ensure regularly schedule maintenance has been performed and has
been recorded in the logbook.
All radiation
shorter than 250 nm should be considered dangerous.
Protective safety
glasses with UV-absorbing lenses should be worn when the eye may be
accidentally exposed to light in this wavelength region.
It is advisable
to operate such UV systems in a completely closed radiation box.
Skin areas
exposed to UV can receive painful burns, so precautions to protect skin should
be taken.
Handling of
mercury arc lamps will deposit oils from the skin onto the outside glass
surface causing local overheating of the lamp. Over time deposits on the inside
of the glass may absorb UV and cause overheating.
Whenever
possible, UV sources should be adequately cooled and operated within an
enclosure designed to prevent damage by explosion of glass fragments and
leakage of mercury vapor.
General Cold Room
Procedures
o Keep the time working in the cold room to a
minimum. If prolonged periods of time
must be spent in the cold room, please wear appropriate PPE (gloves, hat,
jacket, etc.)
o Do not place any objects outside the cold room
door. This could prevent the door from
opening and trapping someone inside.
o The cold room floors are metal and will conduct
electricity. Use extreme caution when
working with electrical equipment. Use
rubber-insulating mats on the floor to avoid shocks.
o During normal working hours, students must either
enter the cold room with someone else, or there must be other people in the
biochemistry 303 suite. If there is no
one in the biochemistry area, the student must find another faculty member on
the floor and inform them that they are entering the room.
o Students are not allowed to enter the cold room after
hours alone.
o Turn the light to the cold room off when you exit the
room. The light is connected to a sign
in the hallway informing others that the room is in use.
Emergency
Procedures
o If an alarm sounds, leave the room immediately and
call Facilities Management at 323-2261.
o If you experience dizziness or lightheadedness while
working in the room, push the panic button and leave the room immediately. In a life-threatening emergency, call 9-911
or -3333 immediately. For non-life
threatening incidents, employees will need to notify the chair and call the
Office of Environmental Health and Safety at -2328 or 242-9545 so that they can
be medically evaluated. If a student
experiences dizziness or lightheadedness, call public safety at -3333.
o Pushing on the door from inside should open the
door. If you cannot get the door opened
from the inside, push the lever down to open the door. If that does not work, there is a black knob
by the door. If you turn the knob 90 counterclockwise, it will remove the lock so that the
door can be opened.
o The cold room is wired to the back-up generator. Thus, if the electricity were to go out in
the building, the cold room and its oxygen sensor would still have power.
Safe Chemical Use
o Do not use flammable or toxic chemicals, corrosive
acids, asphyxiants or open flames in the cold room. The room does not have ventilation to exhaust
such chemicals resulting in possible personal overexposure.
o Volatile flammable chemicals can cause fires or
explosions. The cold room has exposed
motors for circulation fans and thus, it a potential ignition source.
o Corrosive acids can corrode cooling coils in the
refrigeration system leading to refrigerant leaks.
o Asphyxiant gases can displace oxygen in the room. Do not use liquid nitrogen or dry ice in the
cold room.
o Compressed gases cannot be stored in the cold
room. When using compressed gases, be
sure connections are secure to minimize leakage. If the oxygen sensor alarm sounds when using
a compressed gas, leave the cold room immediately. Be sure to turn the gas off when you are
finished using it.
o Dry ice cannot be stored in the cold room. The release of carbon dioxide can lower
oxygen levels in the room.
Preventing Mold
Growth
o Keep the door firmly shut to avoid condensation on
interior surfaces.
o Do not have open containers of water or aqueous
solutions.
o Clean up all liquid spills immediately.
o Report any water leaks or dripping faucets to Facilities
Management @ 323-2261 immediately
o Store paper products in closed plastic
containers. Do not store cardboard or
other porous organic materials in the room.
Maintenance
o The oxygen sensor in the room must be inspected and
tested to ensure it is working properly.
The Chemistry department will test and calibrate the oxygen sensor every
3 months.
o The oxygen sensor will be replaced every two
years.
o The cold room should be inspected yearly by facilities
management for leaks, temperature control, and piping integrity.
The American
National Standards Institute has established safety rules and ratings for
lasers.
Lasers with a
power of less than 1 mW are classified as class 2 lasers and are
the most appropriate for use in the teaching laboratory.
Use of class
3 and class 4 lasers require protective eye goggles and
other safety precautions. These lasers are generally too powerful for use by
beginning students, but are often necessary for advanced physical chemistry and
analytical chemistry laboratories. In such cases, a separate set of safety
guidelines will be published for work with these lasers.
Vacuum
desiccators should be protected by
covering with cloth-backed friction or duct tape or enclosed in a box or
approved shielding device for protection in case of implosion.
All vacuum
lines should be trapped, and shielding should be used whenever the apparatus
is under reduced pressure.
Water
aspirators for reduced pressure
are mainly used for filtration purposes; they are sometimes used for reduced
pressure for rotary evaporation equipment.
If vacuum
pumps are used, a cold trap should be placed between the apparatus and
the vacuum pump, so that volatiles from a reaction or distillation do not get into
the pump oil or out into the atmosphere of the laboratory.
When ice water is
not cool enough for use, salt and ice may be used. For even lower temperatures,
dry ice may be used with an organic liquid.
Cryogenic
coolants should always be used
with caution; cryogenic liquids must be handled in properly vented containers.
Dry Ice should be handled with caution:
When hot
oil or sand is used for heating, extreme care must be taken to avoid:
Whenever possible,
use sand baths for heating rather than oil baths;
when using oil baths, consider the following:
Research is an important part of undergraduate education and requires special safety considerations. Each research mentor is responsible for ensuring that all research they carry out or mentor is conducted in accordance with the policies, principles, and procedures outlined in the Departments Chemical Hygiene Plan
Working hours are
o The proper personal protective equipment must be used
and all laboratory procedures must be carried out in accordance with the CHP.
o Research students are responsible for informing their
research advisor that they are in lab working.
o A faculty member must be present on the floor in which
a student is working and the student must notify the faculty member as to where
they will be working. This rule also
applies to students using computers in a laboratory.
o If a faculty mentor is going to be out of their office
for the day, they must arrange with another faculty member to supervise their
students for the day. Research students
must be notified of your absence and are responsible for reporting to the
designated faculty member.
Laboratory work
after hours
o No laboratory work can be conducted by students
outside normal working hours if the students research mentor is not present.
o Exceptions must be approved by the
o Unsupervised after hours computer use in laboratories
is discouraged due to the hazardous nature of the laboratory. Students can use laboratory computers for
data analysis after hours if there is a faculty member on the floor, and the
faculty member is aware of the students presence.
o When entering Sims after hours, you must bring someone
with you not only for laboratory safety reasons, but also for your own personal
safety.
Any student conducting research for academic credit will be required to submit to the research course instructor, as part of their grade, the following:
1. A list of chemicals that will be used
2. The hazards associated with the use of each substance
3. The proper personal protective equipment that must be used
4. A detailed description of any operations that will be performed outside normal working hours, including whether or not such operations require supervision
Students must have access to MSDSs and be made aware of the hazards associated with the substances they will be working with.
The departments safety officer will train research students in general laboratory procedures and individual research advisors will train their research students in the specific chemical and physical hazards that exist in their lab.
Once students are adequately trained, they must demonstrate competence in the techniques they will be using before being allowed to carry out these independently.
Some techniques must only be done under direct faculty supervision.
Students must be trained on the chemical disposal procedures to be used; on labeling requirements for all chemicals or solutions they prepare; and on guidelines for laboratory storage, housekeeping, and cleanliness requirements that must be met before they can depart each day.
Students are not allowed to work in lab alone.
Students must know and must demonstrate competence in the specific prudent safety practices necessary for the work being done.
The research course director and faculty research mentors will not assign satisfactory final research grades to students until they have:
o Returned chemicals used to their proper location
o Returned all equipment
o Properly labeled all waste and taken it to a location identified by the lab chemist Properly disposed of all calibration solutions
o Removed and properly disposed of all materials stored in refrigerators and freezers
At the end of each academic year, each faculty
member will inventory their research chemicals, identify materials that are no
longer necessary, and properly dispose of excesses. This includes any
substances stored in refrigerators or freezers.
Chemicals will be ordered in the smallest
possible quantities that are prudent, even at the expense of higher long-term
costs. The goal is to minimize on-hand chemical inventories.
8. Faculty Research Project
Summary Requirements
Each research advisor must submit to the Department Safety Committee a project summary. Project summaries are due as follows:
An updated summary is due the Friday of the first week of classes in January.
If you are starting a new project, a project summary is due the week before the start of classes in the semester in which the research will take place.
If you are starting a new project for the
summer, a project summary is due May 1, so that the
Each project summary should address the following:
o Particularly hazardous chemicals include corrosive,
flammable, highly reactive or explosive chemicals, or toxic chemicals such as
carcinogens, reproductive toxins, embryo toxins, chemicals of high chronic
toxicity, or materials exhibiting a high degree of acute toxicity
Clearly indicate
what activities students can and cannot perform alone
Will any
unsupervised activities need to be performed outside working hours (
o Returned all chemicals to their proper location
o Returned all equipment
o Labeled all waste properly and has notified stockroom
personal for proper disposal
o Disposed of any unused chemicals and/or solutions that
will no longer be used for this project
o Removed
and properly disposed of all materials stored in refrigerators and freezers
Also, any student conducting research for academic credit will be required to submit to the research course instructor, as part of their grade, the following:
o A list of chemicals that will be used
o The hazards associated with the use of each substance
o The proper personal protective equipment that must be used
o A detailed description of any operations that will be performed outside normal working hours, including whether or not such operations require supervision