DEAS/Physics Safety Committee

Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, March 10, 2004
Noon-1:00PM

1. Video - "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome" (14 minutes)

2. Winter Lab Inspection Reports 2004:

A. Lyman Labs (Andrew Howard)

• Andrew Howard was not present at the meeting. The report will have to be given at the April meeting.

B. Jefferson Labs (Steve Cronin)

• Prentiss Lab
  • Jeff 150 - They have a spill kit for solvents only. They need one for acids.
• Golovechenko
  • Jeff 164 - There is a screen box that has many unlabeled jars with chemicals and test tubes and many syringes with needles lying around the room. This should be cleaned up.
  • Jeff 158 - CD power supply is sitting precariously on a stool.
• Gabrielse
  • Jeff 160-162 Solvents are stored on shelf rather than in a cabinet. Gold plating solutions stored in hood.

C. A.R.T. (Lenny Solomon)

• Lenny inspected the ART Scene Shop on Tuesday, January 27 and found it to be in very good shape.
• The only major issue was lack of fire alarm pulls:
  • personnel did not know exactly were they were
  • one fire alarm pull was finally located in the office area but since the ART space is so large and since the possibility of a fire is probably the greatest potential life hazard in the shop, Lenny felt that two more pulls should be installed, one each in the two shop areas. Lenny urged them to talk with the landlord about installing these pulls (The shop is located on leased space on Faucett Street, off Concord Avenue).
• Other issues were:
  • 2 small bottles of compressed gas, one with an attached regulator, were not tied down.
  • While solvents are used only once or twice a year, there weren't any code compliant eyewash stations. Lenny suggested that they purchase one.
  • There are several breaker panels in this leased space and many of the breakers weren't labled. They should talk with the landlord to ask that they do an inventory that would define these breakers.

D. Cruft/Pierce - Laser/radiation violations (John Budney)

• Lyman 23 (Hau)
  • The laser light was on, but the laser was not in use. This can create confusion.
  • Laser was not registered with EH&S
• Pierce B12 - There was a laser sign present, but there is no laser.

3. Lab Inspection Follow-up Reports

A. McKay Floors 1-3

• McKay 1st floor hall - the Microscope lab needs to present a follow-up report
• Rm. 122
  • no emergency access form from 120 to 122 - This has been fixed.
  • oil not in secondary container - New oil doesn't need a secondary container!
  • exposed high current wire - No longer there.
  • boxes obstructing cabinet use/fall hazard - This has been fixed.
• Rm. 121
  • emergency access form - This has been fixed.
  • gas cylinder secured with plastic ties?
• Rm. 121c - oil not in secondary container - This has been fixed.
• McKay 2nd floor hall
  • dolly rolling around in hall - This has been fixed.
  • access to shower obstructed - This has been fixed.
  • ethernet cable trip hazard
• Rm. 221 - loose wires obstructing access to circuit breaker
• Rm. 225a
  • no eyewash or shower - The shower is right outside the room. There is no eyewash station.
  • waste bottle in sink of hood - OK. New hood.
  • flammable and volatile chemicals stored in open - There is a new cabinet there now.
  • fire extinguisher needs to be serviced - Ed Jackson will handle this.
  • control box of hood open/exposed wiring
  • no sharps or glass container/ broken glass on floor - There is a new sharps container.
  • chemicals in office space
  • no satellite accumulation area - They use the SAA in the Cleanroom. An SAA is needed. They should contact EH&S.
  • CLUTTER!!!!!! - Due to construction, the clutter is getting worse, but it will be cleaned up.
• Rm. 225
• wire trip hazard
• evidence of food/beverage
• unlabeled beakers
• Rm. 219
• update emergency access form - This has been updated.
• clutter obstruction power supply shut off - This is not a problem because the power supply is not used.
• Rm. 213
• waste and usable chemicals stored together - They are now in secondary containers.
• oil not in secondary container - This is new oil so it is ok.
• Tinkam storage - oil not in secondary container
• Rm. 229 - update emergency access form
• Rm. 227
  • update emergency access form
• evidence of food/beverage
• Rm. 220
• access to electrical panels obstructed
• evidence of food/beverage
• bike
• Rm. 217 - update emergency access form
• Westervelt storage - secondary containment needed
• Rm. 211
  • update emergency access form - This has been updated.
• shower need to be inspected
• Rm. 209 - update emergency access form - This has been updated.
• Rm. 212 - hoist - The hoist is not labeled, but is used for only one purpose and everyone knows it functions well for that purpose
• Rm. 210 - update emergency access form - This has been updated.
• Rm. 208
  • open blades - This is not dangerous because it is not used.
• eyewash needs tag - This has been done.
• Rm. 207 - bike - The bike is now gone.
• Rm. 204
  • trip hazards - This has been fixed.
• pump vented outside - This is ok.
• Rm. 202
• electrical cord in sink - Removed.
• clutter - This has been cleaned up.
• McKay 3rd floor hall
• wires hanging low from ceiling
• bike in hall
• Rms. 301, 302, 304 - emergency access form
• Rm. 304 - Nobody was present at the meeting to give a follow-up report on this area.
• waste bottles not labeled
• evidence of food/beverage
• trip hazards
• clutter in sink
• unlabeled beakers in hood unlabeled
• refrigerator unlabeled
• Rm. 303
  • clutter in sink
• emergency access form
• Rms. 310, 311- emergency access form
• Rm. 329 - Failed hood in use - (Mazur Group) - Nobody was present to give follow-up report. This must be looked at.
• Rm. 328 - cord trip hazard
• Rm. 326 - cord trip hazard
• Rm. 320 - update panel B
• Rm. 312 - update emergency access form
• Rm. 312a - update emergency access form
• Rm. 314 - Nobody was present to give follow-up report.
  • clutter
• unlabeled open drum on floor - oil?
• Rm. 317 - emergency access form
• Rm. 313 - emergency access form

B. McKay Floors 4-5 (Roberto Martinez)

• McKay 4th Floor
  • Rm. 406 - (Aziz/Spaepen) N2 cylinder cap missing. - This has been fixed.
  • Rm. 409 - (Aziz/Spaepen) Cluttered, difficult egress - Storage room not used.
  • Rm. 410: (Aziz/Spaepen)
    • Glass coming out of "sharps" container - This has been fixed.
    • Cluttered, difficult egress - No longer cluttered.
  • Rm. 411 - (Aziz/Spaepen) Solvents and chemicals not in secondary containers - Squeeze bottles do not need a secondary container.
  • Rm. 413 - (Aziz/Spaepen) Solvents and chemicals not in secondary containers - Squeeze bottles do not need a secondary container.
  • Rm. 417: (Aziz/Spaepen)
    • Unlabeled chemicals not in secondary container - Fixed
    • Corrosive acid (Phosphoric acid) not in secondary container - Ok. They are in an acids cabinet, which is the secondary container.
    • Strong ammonia odor from "bases" container - Odor is no longer there.
    • Hydrofluoric acid in wrong secondary container – "flammables" - This has been fixed.
    • Glass coming out of ‘sharps’ container - This has been fixed.
  • Rm. 418 - (Pershan) N2 cylinder with regulator not chained down
  • Rm. 421 - (Spaepen) Unlabeled chemicals under sink - No longer there.
  • Rm. 424: (Aziz/Spaepen)
    • Ar cylinder not chained down - This is chained down.
    • Glass coming out of "sharps" container - This has been fixed.
    • Unlabeled chemicals not in secondary containers - This has been fixed.
    • Ambiguous "Laser On" sign - New light bulb has been installed.
  • Rm. 427: (Aziz/Spaepen)
  • O2 and N2 cylinders not chained down - This has been chained down.
  • Unlabeled chemicals not in secondary container - This is OK.
• McKay 5th Floor
  • Hallway - CO2, N2, He2, Ar cylinders not chained down - They have been chained down.
  • Rm. 501 - (W. Paul) Ammonium/Potassium hydroxides in wrong secondary container – "acids" - This has been fixed.
  • Rm. 502 - (Aziz) Unlabeled chemicals not in secondary containers - None there. All OK.
  • Rm. 513 - (Weitz) "Chemicals Only" refrigerator label missing - No one was present to give follow up report!
  • Rm. 517 - (Weitz) Unlabeled chemicals not in secondary containers
  • Rm. 518 - (Weitz) Cluttered, difficult egress
  • Rm. 519 - (Weitz) Unlabeled chemicals not in secondary containers
  • Rm. 520 - (Weitz) Cluttered, difficult egress
  • Rm. 525: (Weitz)
    • Unlabeled chemicals not in secondary containers
    • No "sharps" container
  • Rm. 531 - (Weitz) Unlabeled chemicals not in secondary containers; no secondary containers

C. McKay Cleanroom (Marc Durand)

• Basement Cleanroom:
  • Labels with list of chemicals are missing at the entrance door - This has been fixed.
  • Need a tag on the eyewash station indicating the last time the tap had been opened for at least 3 minutes - This has been done.
  • 2 unknown glasses with chemicals on a table - This has been done.
  • Corrosive liquids should be stored in a separate cabinet - This has been done.
  • There is no fire extinguisher in the cleanroom - There is none there--this will be fixed.
  • There is a laser, protected by tinted glass, but there is no sign or light to indicate if the laser is in use or not. Is there an automatic shut down of the laser when the window is opened? - This is being worked on.
  • In the corridor, there is a bottle of oxygen without a tie or chain. - Not yet fixed.
• 2nd Floor Cleanroom:
  • Labels with list of chemicals are missing at the entrance door - This has been done.
  • Need a tag on the eyewash station indicating the last time the tap had been opened for at least 3 minutes - This has been done.
  • Need to put labels on all the cabinets indicating what kind of chemicals are in there, or that it is an accumulation area. - This will be done--need 3 labels for cabinets to be designated as SAAs.

D. Cruft/Pierce (Matt Eisaman)

• Cruft 115/116 (Hau)
  • Acid and solvents should be kept separately. ... It was done while we were inspecting.
  • Room 116 - It was unclear if the red fire extinguisher was charged. - This has been done.
  • The written fire emergency plan was outdated. - This has been fixed.
• Cruft 109/110/111 (Hau)
  • Room 110/111 - The high voltage switches were labeled but the outlets were not labeled. - This has been done.
  • Room 110 - Emergency access plan was out of date (L. Vernac)
• Lyman 22/23 (Hau)
  • Doesn't have a spill kit. - A spill kit has been ordered.
  • Waste acid and solvent should be stored separately. - It is OK to store them together.
  • Fire extinguisher was located behind a coat rack. - The coat rack is not used.
  • Lyman 23 - The fire extinguisher was not inspected in the past year.
  • Need goggles for photoresist spinner. - The goggles are there.
  • No broken glass containers in either room. - This has been done.
• Cruft 312 (Capasso)
  • The written fire emergency plan was outdated. - Ed Jackson will handle this.
  • No eye wash station. - This is being worked on.
• Cruft 219 (Electronics shop) - No one was present to give a follow-up report.
  • Update emergency access sheet (Bill Walker's info).
  • Need sharps container.
  • Some old glues and chemicals need cleaned out.
• Pierce B2-B7
  • The gas cylinders are not arranged properly. Some of the cylinders are kept on shelf. These are to be removed and chained properly. Unused cylinders need to be capped.
  • Empty bottles of chemicals need to removed.
  • There are unused cans of chemicals sitting in the cabinets, need to be removed.
  • No eye wash and safety shower in the lab; definitely need one for a big lab like this one.
  • There were no high voltage warning signs for 220V and 2kV power supplies.
  • The fire extinguisher was not inspected in the past year.
• Pierce B7, B7b, B7c - There was no written fire emergency plan. - This has been done.
• Pierce B12 - OK
• Pierce G7A
  • Separate space for satellite accumulation needed.
  • Separate cabinets for acid and solvents needed
  • Chemical spill kit not available.
  • The circuit breaker was blocked by a toolkit.
• Pierce G6
  • Refrigerator needs to be labeled.
  • Lab in the process of being built.
  • There is no emergency shutoff or breaker box
• Pierce G11,G12A (Senior project lab),G13 - OK
• Pierce G16 (machine shop) - Only 1 pair of goggles

4. Spring Safety Seminars 2004

Lenny presented the following schedule of up-coming safety seminars:

NOTE: Seminars are held in Pierce Hall (P), Maxwell/Dworkin (MD) or Fairchild (F).

Apr 13	Iron Age Safety Shoe truck	11:00-1:00pm	behind P & MD	Iron Age Shoes
Apr 13	Laser Safety	10:00-Noon	F 133	Bill Irwin (EH&S)
Apr 14	Laboratory Safety (includes Hazardous Waste Disposal, Right-to-Know Law, Chemical Safety)	1:30-3:00pm	MD 323	Charles Lichtenwalner
Apr 15	Compressed Gas Safety	2:00-3:00pm	MD 319	Lenny Solomon
May 3	Shipping of Hazardous Materials	2:00-3:00pm	P 223	Lenny Solomon
May 11	Avoiding Repetitive Strain Injury	1:00-2:00pm	MD 319	Lenny Solomon
May 12	Laboratory Safety (includes Hazardous Waste Disposal, Right-to-Know Law, Chemical Safety)	1:30-3:00pm	MD 323	Charles Lichtenwalner
May 20	Laser Safety	1:00-3:00pm	F 133	Bill Irwin (EH&S)
May 25	Hazards in the Lab - Training For Custodial Staff	12:00-1:00pm	MD 221	Lenny Solomon
Apr 22	CPR Review- pre-registration required!	9:30-11:30am	Pierce 100F	Red Cross
Apr 29	CPR Review- pre-registration required!	9:30-11:30am	Pierce 100F	Red Cross
May 3	Adult Standard CPR - pre-registration required!	9:00-Noon	Pierce 100F	Red Cross
May 10	Adult First Aid - pre-registration required!	9:00-1:00pm	Pierce 100F	Red Cross

5. EH&S report - Mike Labosky

• Mike Labosky handed-out a paper copy of a new web page under development at the EH&S website. It is intended to provide information to laboratory personnel. EH&S would like people to give them feedback on the new webpage. The URL address is: http://www.uos.harvard.edu:8080/ehs/lp.shtml. Alexis Sablock is developing the webpage. To provide feedback, you can send email to Alexis at alexis_sablock@harvard.edu.
• Mike reminded everyone that EH&S can do ergonomic evaluations of your work areas.
• Please remember not to contaminate oxidizing acids with organic matter. There was an accident in the Longwood area in which a nitric acid bottle released pressure and destroyed a secondary containment tray. It also shot glass into the side of a fume hood. The bottle had been contaminated. No one was hurt.

6. Hazardous Waste Training - Rob Stanhope

Rob read a list of names that need retraining.

7. Old Business

• Cleanroom Procedures - Jim Reynolds is tracking the training of cleanroom personnel.

8. New Business - none

Next Meeting: Wednesday, April 14, 2004 @ 12:00 noon, Maxwell/Dworkin 119