Recent Safety Notices
Access to Stratton Hall Chemical Stockroom
Date: 7/31/01
Effective immediately, and by
order of Mr. Jonathan Chase, Director, Drexel University Safety & Health
Department, new procedures are required for entry to the Stratton Hall Chemical
Storage Area (Stratton 134). Due to on-going problems with the quality of the
ventilation in this room, entry to this area is restricted to chemistry
department faculty, staff and graduate students only. No undergraduate
students are allowed in this area. Further, a “buddy-system” must be used for
entry; one person may enter the room to retrieve a chemical, while the second
must stand by at the entrance to run for assistance should a problem occur.
Please recognize that the nearest publicly available phone is located in the
lobby of Disque Hall next to the elevators. In case of an emergency Security (x2222)
should be notified immediately; Mr. Jonathan Chase (215-762-6506), Mr.
Phil Leo (215-895-2889), or Mr. Martin Bell (215-762-2318) of the
University Safety & Health Department should also be notified. In addition,
entry into the room must be noted in the new User Log located on top of the
ChemService Chemical cabinet immediately on the right as you enter the
stockroom. These procedures will remain in effect until further notice.
Your cooperation in this matter
is required and appreciated.
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Important Changes in Safety Related
Practices
Date: 7/27/01
This memo is to inform
you of several important changes in safety practices dictated by changes made
by the Department of Safety & Health at the University level:
1)
A new laboratory safety inspection system has been instituted. Members of
the University Safety & Health Department (usually Martin Bell and/or Phil
Leo) will now conduct quarterly inspections of our teaching and research
laboratories. They will fill in a Lab Inspection Checklist that will be copied
and provided to the Laboratory Supervisor of record. Any deficiencies noted in
the report will need to be corrected within two weeks, when a re-inspection
will occur. We have requested that these quarterly inspections occur during the
third or seventh week of each term (to avoid conflicts with the busiest
teaching times). The Safety & Health Department may, at their discretion,
also conduct “surprise” inspections to ensure that safety procedures are being
followed at all times.
2)
Spill cleanup kits have been provided by the University Safety & Health
Department and should already be distributed to all teaching and research
laboratories in the department. These “shelf-size” kits contain materials to
neutralize small acid, base and organic spills, as well as absorbent materials
and various personal protective equipment. These kits will also be checked and
replenished during the quarterly inspections; the department will be
back-charged for any materials found missing.
3)
All closed storage cabinets must be labeled completely if used for chemical
storage.
4)
Procedures to handle chemical spills have also been modified. Any spill of
less than 500mL of liquid (unless the material is acutely hazardous) is the
responsibility of the investigator. For a spill of greater than 500mL of any
liquid, or any amount of an acutely hazardous material, the University Safety
& Health department must be contacted and they will make the determination
of what procedures should be followed. This can range from requesting that the
investigator involved clean-up the spill following their recommendations, to
evacuating the immediate area (the research or teaching laboratory) and waiting
for an outside Hazardous Response Team to arrive on-site. Regardless of size
the Safety & Health Department should be notified of any chemical spill. A
contact list for the University Safety & Health department is found at the
end of this memo.
5)
Requirements for the laboratory chemical inventory have changed. Effective
immediately all reagent chemicals (no matter what size) must be included on the
laboratory inventory, which will be checked during each quarterly inspection.
Synthesized chemical products or analytical samples of small size do not need
to be individually inventoried; however, the containers do need to be
completely labeled with contents, name of the investigator, and enough
information to track back to a research notebook or sample list. As this is a
significant change from our previous requirements some leeway is granted in the
time-frame for this inventory to be generated. I have requested assistance from
the University Safety & Health department in the form of funding to
purchase a computer-based inventory system. In the absence of help on that
front I encourage you to use either a spreadsheet (Excel) or database (Access)
program to keep track yourself. Information that must be included is the
chemical name, container size and quantity, separated by laboratory (if you
maintain more than a single lab). You may provide further information such as
where in the laboratory each container is stored, if desired. A copy of the
inventory should be forwarded to Jonathan Chase, Director of the University
Safety & Health Department.
6)
Each laboratory (both teaching and research) is now required to have printed
MSDS sheets for each of the reagent chemicals found within the laboratory.
These must be filed in alphabetical order in a loose-leaf binder and be
accessible 24-hours a day outside the front door of the laboratory. MSDS sheets
will not be required for synthesized chemical products or analytical samples of
size 1 gram or less.
I expect that generating and
maintaining both the inventory and MSDS catalog will take a significant effort
on the part of the department researchers. I encourage each of the laboratory
supervisors in the department to track the amount of time required to meet
these requirements. Work-study help will be made available by the department to
help meet these requirements.
Note that these changes will also
be incorporated in the next revision of the Departmental Chemical Hygiene Plan
that will be ready by the end of August.
I thank you for your cooperation
in these matters. If you have any questions or comments about these issues you
can send them via e-mail or memo to me at your earliest convenience.
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Laboratory
Emergency Information Stickers
Date: 7/24/99
We need to update the Emergency
Notification stickers that are located on each of the chemistry laboratory
doors. Attached to this memo are blank copies for you to fill out for your
research lab, and for any teaching labs that are "assigned" to you. It is
easiest if the stickers are placed on the window of the door (one sticker for
each door to the lab). Note that these stickers need to have the name, office
location, office phone number, AND home phone number of the laboratory
supervisor (usually the faculty member assigned to the lab). It should also
have the name and home phone number of another individual (post-doc, associate
researcher, graduate student) familiar with the hazards in the laboratory.
Please remember these are for use in an emergency situation- the home phone
numbers ARE necessary.
I thank you in advance for your
cooperation in this important matter.
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Unattended reactions
Date:
2/13/95
Please
be aware that the
departmental Chemical Hygiene Plan specifies that a note should be left whenever
reactions are left unattended. The note should indicate what reaction is in
progress, who set it up and when, what class (or research group) it is for, who
to contact (with home phone numbers if after hours) and what to do in case of an
emergency. This is especially important if a reaction is left in a departmental
teaching laboratory accessible to many people after hours.
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Copyright © 2002-2004, Department of Chemistry, Drexel University, All Rights
Reserved.
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