DEAS/Physics Safety Committee

Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, April 9, 2003
Noon-1:00PM

1. Video - "Assessing Risks of Toxic Chemicals" (11 minutes)

2. Lab Inspection Reports 2003:

A. Mckay Floors 2 & 3 (John Budney)

• Room 211 - No fire extinguisher
• Room 212, Tinkham - No fire extinguisher
• Room 213, Marcus - No fire extinguisher
• Room 214, Westervelt - No problems
• Room 217, Tinkham - No problem
• Room 218, Tinkham
  • 1. A bit of clutter on the floor that may pose a tripping hazard.
  • 2. Soldering iron left on and unattended
• Room 219, Markus - Squeeze bottle not labeled.
• Room 221, Tinkham - There were a couple of power cable strewn on the floor that could pose a tripping hazard.
• Room 222, Clean Room
  • 1. Spatter coater should have sign reminding people to vent pump outside.
  • 2. No fire extinguisher in the main room.
• Room 227- Restricted Access
• Room 303, Venkatesh - Emergency access sheet is out of date.
• Room 304, Venkatesh - Emergency access sheet is out of date.
• Room 312, Pershan - Locked
• Room 318, Pershan - Fume hood cluttered, used for storage.
• Room 328, Mazur - May need safety goggles for alignment.
• Room 329, Mazur - Emergency access is out of date.

3. Lab Inspection Follow-up Reports:

A. Cruft/Pierce Labs:

• Cruft electronics shop - No emergency access forms - Updated.
• Cruft 116 (Hau Lab) - Fume hood certificate out of date - needs to be certified.
• Lyman 021 (Hau lab) -
  • Fire extinguisher inspection out of date - This has been taken care of.
  • Emergency access forms out of date - updated.
• Lyman 022 (Hau lab) -
  • Fume hood certificate out of date - needs to be certified.
  • Emergency access forms out of date - updated.
• Pierce B4 -
  • Fume hood certificate out of date - needs to be certified..
  • Gas cylinders not secured properly, and some uncapped - will be taken care of.
  • Emergency access forms out of date - updated.
• Pierce G6 - all issues taken care of.
• Pierce G7a - all issues taken care of.
• Pierce B11a - all issues taken care of.
• Pierce G17 -
  • No oil spill kit - the oil spill kit is in Room G11.
  • No emergency access forms - updated.
• Pierce G7c - No emergency access forms - updated.
• Pierce Hydraulics Lab - all issues removed or taken care of.
• Pierce G11 - No emergency access forms - updated.
• Pierce G12 Senior Project Lab - all issues taken care of.
• Pierce B12a - all issues taken care of.
• Small room inside Pierce B12 (Fred Abernathy) -
  • A huge pile of junk is thrown into the room - will be disposed of.
• Pierce B12 - Green liquid in a hole in the ground - not an issue.

B. ESL and HEPL Labs

• ESL 117-118 (Vlassak) - all issues taken care of.
• ESL 120 and 121 (Stanley)
  • electrical cords on the floor - removed.
  • in waste disposal area-one unlabeled plastic jug with a green liquid in it - jug will be labeled.
• Loading Dock (Stanley) - empty acetylene cylinder that was not chained to the wall - cylinder belongs to another group.
• ESL 205c-216a (Weitz) - Follow-up report was not presented.
• ESL 302 (Mitchell) - secondary containment needed for chemicals stored under the hood - taken care of.
• ESL 323 (Martin) - Nitric acid bottles on the floor without any secondary containment - these bottles are not there.
• ESL 326 (Martin) - safety sheet on the door updated.
• HEPL Machine Shop: Okay

C. Lyman Labs

• L130 (Silvera):
  • Cluttered fume hood. Several containers not in secondary containment - corrected.
  • Lecture bottle not tied down in hood - this has been tied down.
  • Very old HF bottle in cupboard under hood with no warning signs - this has been disposed of.
  • Emergency access sheet out of date (01/09/2002) - updated
• L132 (Silvera):
  • Hexane on desk, no 2nd containment - taken care of.
  • 2 small cylinders on shelf not secured - will discuss with Silvera.
  • Food sink is in lab (mugs etc). Should be separate. - not sure how to solve this problem.
• L131 (Silvera): no issues.
• L126 (Silvera):
  • Exposed hole in wall with exposed (presumably 110V) power cables dangling out into room - taken care of.
• L127, L128, L129 (Silvera): all fine.
• L27 (Doyle):
  • Potentially dangerous high power laser beam close to ground across otherwise walkable path - laser not in use.
  • No emergency access sheet on door - updated.
• L31 (Doyle):
  • Cluttered hood with old chemicals. - cleaned up.
• L20-L24 (Doyle):
  • big hole /pit in ground - this is now covered.
  • Argon tank and helium tank not secured - secured.
  • Soda bottle and empty champagne bottle in lab - cleaned up.
  • Benzyl alcohol bottle on floor, no 2nd containment - taken care of.
  • Waste methyl, formic acid not in S.A.A. - taken care of.
  • Apparently only one S.A.A and that is far away in another room across the corridor - use fume hood now.
  • No emergency access sheets - updated.
• Horowitz Lab - All fine.

D. Jefferson Labs

• Golovchenko Lab
  • Jefferson 155 - Unsecured Oxygen bottle - secured.
• Jefferson 164
  • Unmounted fire extinguisher - this has been taken care of.
  • MWRA Sticker on sink needed - this has been taken care of.
• Jefferson 166
  • MWRA Sticker on sink - this has been taken care of.
  • Hood last inspected in ’99, needs update - this has been certified.
  • Chemical waste on counter, no secondary containment - removed.
  • HF, but no antidote found, though an HF spill kit is available - antidote is there.
• Gabrielse Lab
  • Jefferson 165 - Chemical Storage room
• Lots of chemicals with no secondary containment (on shelves, counters) - taken care of.
• Nitric acid solution too close to sink (could spill down drain) - placed in fume hood in a second container.
• Cyanide solution, no cyanide antidote - should be amyl nitrite (Lenny has this).
• MWRA sticker near sink (?) - fixed.
• Jefferson ??? - Laser lab (Gabrielse)
  • Broken laser warning light - fixed.
  • Missing inspection tag on fire extinguisher - fixed.
• Prentiss Lab
  • Jefferson 154 – Chemical Storage room
    • Chemicals on floor, no secondary containment - no longer there.

E. Venky Narayanamurti Lab (McKay 3rd Floor)

• New fume hood - needs to be certified.

4. EH&S report - Mike Labosky

• There is a new web site at Harvard to provide emergency-related information. Everyone should take the time to look at what is there. The content will be updated often. It will serve as a central web space to disseminate emergency bulletins and information. Surf your browser to: http://www.emergency.harvard.edu.
• Anyone visiting or working in the offices at Holyoke Center will need a Harvard I.D. to gain access to the building. This is a new safety precaution.
• Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) - For the latest information on SARS, check ot the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/. A local resource is the website for Cambridge Public Health: http://www.cambridgepublichealth.org/index.html.
• Cathy Thomas will be teaching Lab Safety/Right-To-Know Law/Hazardous Waste training on the second Wednesday of every month at 1:30 in MD 323. The training will be geared towards DEAS and Physics personnel and students.

  As an aside, Lenny mentioned that Ed Jackson had sent out an email to everyone requesting information on anything that is a potential hazard in their lab area, so that he could resolve the problems. He received only 2 replies. Many people at the meeting said they never got the email. Ed suggested that Lenny distribute the email using many distribution lists.

  Lenny also mentioned that Ed should inform everyone about the new evacuation plans--there will be one designated area per building to assemble outside during an evacuation.

5. Hazardous Waste Training - Rob Stanhope

Rob read the names of sveral people who need retraining.

6. Safety Seminar Series 2003

Lenny reported that the Safety Seminars have been begun and many people have registered for the CPR courses. He also announced that the Safety Shoe truck will be at Harvard on April 15th. Mike Aziz will be teaching Radiation Safety. The schedule of training events is posted on our website. People interested in taking a training seminar may register at http://www-safety.deas.harvard.edu/services/seminars.html.

7. Old Business

• Deluge Showers - Last month we started a discussion on this topic. It appears that some people may be reticent to use deluge showers and/or eye wash stations during emergency spills for several reasons, some of which could be:
  • the showers and eye-washes appear to be non-functioning and uninspected, so people do not trust them to work;
  • some people may be reluctant to use the showers due to lack of privacy;
  • people may not have been trained properly.

  Someone at the meeting mentioned that Hewlett-Packard placed clothes and towels near the showers to make using them seem less intimidating. Mike Labosky suggested that privacy curtains could be attached to the showers at minimal expense--the curtains are easily attached to a ring above the shower and are kept pulled back to the wall (out of the way). Another person suggested that stickers displaying the date of inspection should be placed near or on the showers and eye-wash stations, so that people would trust that the device functions. Mike Labosky said that eye-wash stations should be flowed weekly to keep them functioning properly.

8. New Business

The Iron Age Safety Shoe truck will be visiting Harvard on April 15th at 11:00am to 2:00pm and will be parked behind Pierce and Maxwell/Dworkin. People can purchase new safety shoes at that time.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, May 14, 2003 @ 12:00 noon, Maxwell/Dworkin 119