Meeting Minutes

DEAS/Physics Safety Committee

Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Noon-1:00PM

1. Video - "Lab Bio Hazard Hoods" (13 minutes)

2. Lab Inspection Reports

A) McKay Basement to 2nd Floor - (John Chervinsky)

113 McKay (CIMS Facility)

Fume Hood: Unlabeled beakers of chemicals.

Waste in need of disposal.

Gas cylinder needs cap.

109 McKay (Golovchenko)

Unlabeled beaker in Fume hood

106E McKay (CIMS Facility)

Mixed inorganic and inorganic solvents under fume hood

221 McKay (Tinkham)

Broken Bell Jar and Broken Glass on Bench

225, 225A McKay (Tinkham)

In fume hood are full waste containers, they need to be dated and removed.

Hood needs to be recertified.

General clutter in room, cylinder tanks in pathway.

Sink not accessible and filled with dirty glassware.

Cylinder needs cap

Beaker with dried material on bench without label appeared to have been there for a long while.

Cords at head level, suspended from lights.

211 McKay (Westervelt)

Fume hood drawers not labeled

Dental floss on same shelf with chemicals.

Basement of McKay

Four 50 gallon trash barrels filled with dirty water from leak

Boxes on floor soaked with water

No eyewash tag

B) McKay 3rd to 5th Floor - (Danial Blair)

Third Floor McKay

304:

Emergency Form Update

Bike in Room

General clutter

Trip hazards

Hallway closet adjacent to room has haz-mat not stored correctly

303:

Hood inspection out of date

Eyewash station check form

Hallway closet adjacent, cylinders not tied down

312A:

Unlabeled bottles

HF kit not in plain sight

Eyewash not checked

Kimwipes in hood on a heating plate

Unlabeled materials on floor and shelf

314:

Bikes in lab

General clutter

Hallway closet adjacent has no placard for flamible materials in closet

318:

Secondary containment for acid not appropriate

Battery storage/waste

Bicycle in hall across the hall

In hallway adjacent chemical storage closet locked

320:

Goggles not present upon entry

Emergency form not up to date

326: Limited egress around laser tables

326: No emergency contact form

329:

Secondary containment for acids

HF antidote not visible or marked

330:

Goggles/glasses not present upon entry

Abrupt step over cables, possible trip hazard

Fourth Floor McKay

427:

Bottles not chained in cart

Goggles not present

421:

Methanol stored under sink

Hazardous materials not marked

417:

Hood inspection out of date

Acetone bottle open in hood

Sharps container full

Shower inspection tag not present

Bleach not in secondary containment

415: (Polishing room)

Large chemical container not labeled and on floor

Franks office: General Clutter!!

410:

Hazardous waste not well marked

General clutter

Hood out of date

418:

Oils stored under sink

X-ray room has trip hazards and limited egress

Hallway closet adjacent to room has shelf ready to collapse

424:

General Clutter

Pump oil left out without secondary containment

Fifth Floor McKay

525:

Sharps container overfull

Secondary containment problem needs immediate attention

Hood storage of chemicals

Hood inspection out of date

Emergency contact forms out of date

523:

Emergency contact form out of date

Ethanol storage under hood

517:

Emergency contact form out of date

Eyewash tag out of date

513:

Emergency contact form out of date

Hood inspection out of date

Hazardous waste out of secondary containment

Clutter in sink

Acids out of proper storage space

Biohazard plastic waste without lid

501:

Acid without secondary containment in hood

Hood inspection out of date

Improper secondary containment for waste

Food storage fridge in lab

502:

Emergency contact form out of date

Gas cylinder on counter

General Clutter

Hood inspection out of date

Limited egress to exit

Bottle of hazardous waste stored without secondary containment

506-502 Hallway closets: Gas cylinders not strapped

506-510 Hallway closets: Gas cylinders not strapped

518:

Emergency contact form out of date

Secondary containment device not acceptable

516-512:

Trip hazard near lab benches

Hood inspection out of date

Unlabeled containers under hood

510: Hood inspection out of date

C) Link Building - (Jeremy Munday)

Anderson Lab:

SB02: -Oily rags on floor and on barrels.

SB01: -Unlabeled and faded labels on bottle under laser and elsewhere in lab--laser
dyes?

1st floor entrance: -Sign says “Oxygen and non-reactive gas” storage, but hydrogen is
stored there.

125: -Unopened wine bottles in box.

Small NO2 bottle sitting on table: in use? storage?

Messy vacuum lines hanging down to ground above unused pump. Trip hazard?

Dirty rags in HF hood.

Expired HF antidote.

Safety shower blocked by chair, vacuum cleaner, and boxes.

General clutter.

129: -(Electronics room) pump oil and dirty rags in bucket on floor.

(Laser testing/manufacturing room) cables hanging at eye level that could be
easily tied up.

Expired HF antidote in all hoods.

Open Coke bottle, juice bottle, and 3 additional drink glasses.

(Entrance to 129) door tied open by attaching string to valve on tank.

(Near 129A entrance) vacuum pump missing belt guard.

124B: -(Machine shop) old, loose tank and glass bottle with faded label under desk.

Wofsy Lab:

G28A: - 1 small tank loose near door.

Under sink there is a plastic container with a dark fluid and no label.

D) McKay Cleanrooms - (Kristen Bearce)

222 - clean room

eye wash log not up to date

no safety goggles

TCE waste in plastic bottle without a hazardous waste tag

flammable solvents next to hot plate in hood

232 - service chase

fire extinguisher inaccessible from one end of room, blocked by liquid Nitrogen tank

unsecured gas cylinders – corrected

unsecured empty short gas bottle - protective cap was off and there was no visible strapping mechanism available for short bottles

3B – clean room

unspecified laser is being used for writing - the class of the laser should be noted and permitted - interlocks or more effective shielding should be put in place to prevent injury

no laser safety glasses

no safety goggles – safety goggles found

new hood that has not been inspected

no inspection sticker on hood

eye wash log last entry 1/29/04 – no drain

insufficient labeling of chemical storage areas

3. Follow-up Reports on Lab Inspections (Text in red indicates follow-up is needed; blue indicates a follow-up was reported.)

Cruft/Pierce Labs -

JEREMY MUNDAY reported:

Cruft 219 (Capasso) -

clean bench: no label or inspection - Only acetone is used there, so this is not a problem.

cords - All cords have been moved.

painfully bright yellow floor and walls

Cruft 115 (Hau Group) - CHRIS SLOWE reported

Cruft 116 (chem room)

hood needs to be inspected - OK

update emergency contact forms - OK

SAA unlabelled - OK

Cruft 110 - unlabelled squeeze bottle - OK

CARL GOTTLIEB reported:

Pierce B2-6 (Thaddeus group) - CARL GOTTLIEB reported

Fume hoods B4-A and B4-B out of inspection - Fume hoods have been checked.

many small gas cylinders not tied down, mostly in one room that seems dedicated for this purpose - Need to be chained down.

lots of unlabelled junk in one of the flammable cabinets - Cleaned up.

cylinder outside in loading area not secured - Need to be chained down.

cylinder on wall near laser setup not secured - Need to be chained down. There are many size-3 gas cylinders and all of them need to be chained down. Also, since they are owned by the Thaddeus Group and not rented, the Thaddeus Group is required to get them tested and label them with the date of testing (per D.O.T.). Lenny told Carl to email him about this, and Ed Jackson will look into making a rack for the cylinders.

SAA has containers without secondary containment - Containers fixed.

waste needs to be picked up - Hazardous waste picked up.

need high voltage signs

need better laser interlock signs

cords on floor and at head level - Cleaned up.

pile of dirty razor blades sitting out - Cleaned up.

general clutter - Cleaned up.

4. Follow-up Reports still needed!!

A) BEN PEIRCE - Maxwell/Dworkin Building - (not present to give a follow-up report.)

Rm-338 - The following items were found under the sink:

1.Red Biohazards collection bottle,

2.Silicon RTV6156A and B "product generates flammable gas on contact with acidic, basic or oxidizing agents"

Rm-B133:

Ethyl alcohol was in the fume hood. (It has been corrected)

An unmarked clear light blue bottle was in the fume hood (may be water), (being corrected)

Rm-313 - The fume hood was open, IPA, dIH2O, used tips were stored in the hood.

Rm-316 - An 110(C Oven was on the bench with paper next to it

B) Pierce Hall - ?

Pierce G16 (machine shop) - cluttered

Pierce G11:

update emergency numbers

cluttered/messy

compressed air on cart

some toxic chemicals temporarily out

Pierce G7C

need chem spill kit

some toxic chemicals not stored

C) THOMAS WARD - Pierce Hall (will report on the Stone Group at the next meeting.)

Pierce G6 (Stone)

cylinders secured with plastic ties

some toxic chemicals out and leaking

unlabelled squeeze bottles

general clutter

no emergency contact info

Pierce G7A

cords

general clutter

SAA not labelled, no secondary container

waste needs to be picked up

cylinders secured with plastic ties

sharps container overflowing

D) Lyman Labs - ?

Lyman 23

update emergency forms

hood 022 needs to be inspected

SAA has no secondary containment

Lyman 24 - cords

5. EH&S Report

There was a water main break in Cambridge at about 5pm last week. A mass email went out to the Harvard community to warn them about low or no water pressure. Mike Labosky asked us to be aware of how a drop in water pressure might affect our lab experiments or equipment.
A fire at the new BRI construction site on Divinity Ave. caused serious damage. Unfortunately, it took quite a while to get emergency contact info to the fire fighters. Please make sure your emergency contact information is up-to-date with Operations Control Center. Also, make sure this information is posted on the doors to your labs.
For labs needing cyanide antidote kits, please contact Cathy Thomas (EH&S) at 6-8285. Last month at this meeting, someone raised questions about needing cyanide antidotes.

6. Hazardous Waste Training Report - Rob Stanhope

Rob reported on several people needing retraining.

7. Old Business

Laser Safety Training Videos - Since we have been unable to find support within DEAS to finish the database for our online laser safety training project, Lenny decided to make the streaming videos available without keeping track of who views them. The videos were created and edited several years ago and combine two lectures that Professor Eric Mazur gave during our Safety Seminar Series in 1999 and 2000. Anyone can view the three short streaming videos if they need a quick refresher on laser safety. There is also a very short and optional quiz to give the viewer a way to self-test. The Laser Safety Training Videos can be viewed at: http://www-safety.deas.harvard.edu/movies/list.html.
Lenny gave a safety talk to the Westervelt Group recently. He is available to give safety talks to any lab group that needs them. Just contact Lenny to schedule a training talk.
Machine Shop update - Louis Defeo has met with Mike Labosky about improving safety in the machine shop. Changes will be made, such as installing guards for blades and milling machines. These kinds of safety improvements are important for all machine shops at Harvard.

8. New Business - None

Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 9, 2005, 12:00 noon, Maxwell/Dworkin 119

Send comments or suggestions to solomon@huarp.harvard.edu	Last Updated: Wed Mar 23 14:46:11 2005
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