DEAS/Physics Safety Committee

Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, May 9, 2001
Noon-1:00PM

1. Video - "Repetitive Motion Injury"

2. 2000/2001 Lab Inspection Reports

Team 8 - Maxwell/Dworkin (Chip Coldwell):

• G115C - Storage room - lights do not work.
• G131 - Should be the Receiving room, but it appears to be used for trash
• Room 336 - Class IIIa laser lab - should the window have a shade on it?
• Exit doors - bicycles were locked in front of the exit doors.

Lenny commented that bicycles should not be placed in hallways, offices, labs, etc. They should be placed in special lock up storage rooms or locked to bike racks outside.

3. Follow-up Reports on Lab Inspections

a) McKay 2nd Floor:

• Rm. 222 - Sharps boxes have been replaced
• Rm. 229 - Room has been cleaned up
• Hose has been secured
• The fume hood has been cleaned up
• Light fixture has been fixed

b) Cruft/Pierce Hall:

• Nothing of significance was wrong. Inspection follow-up is unnecessary.

c) Jefferson Hall:

• Fire extinguishers are ok.
• Laser lights are being fixed
• HF antidote is OK
• Cable has been removed from floor

4. Report - Committee on Environment & Safety

Lenny gave a report on the work that the Committee on Environment and Safety has been doing. CES is an FAS committee that discusses which policies FAS should promulgate. It met twice in the past year and addressed several issues, including the following:

• Repetitive Strain Injury -- Since the Clinton ergonomics regulations were overturned, should Harvard do anything about RSI in the workplace? The committee recommended that Harvard should be proactive and offer RSI training.
• West Nile Virus -- EH&S should be contacted and notified of any dead birds on campus.
• EPA -- The EPA fined MIT $400,000. Harvard, however, was not fined.

5. EH&S Report - Mike Labosky

• EH&S will be moving to 1033 Mass. Ave. next week.
• Garrett Burke is now offering asbestos training. EH&S should be contacted if the custodial staff needs training in asbestos safety.
• Gary Kassabian is putting together a Machine Shop Training Program.
• Steve Shepard and Joe Chen were recently trained in the use of a self-contained breathing apparatus.
• EH&S has a document/guide to assist people with safely closing down labs.

6. Hazardous Waste Training Report - Rob Stanhope

Rob read a list of names of people who need to update their online training in May.

7. Old Business

Next Tuesday, Lenny will give a talk on RSI (Safety Seminar Series). Henry Littleboy will lecture on Chemical Safety on May 23rd.

8. New Business

• The Iron Age Safety Shoe truck will be visiting Harvard on May 17th at 11:00am-1:00pm. It will be parked near the rear entrance to Maxwell-Dworkin. The Safety Committee issue up to $80 reimbursements for safety shoes.

Next meeting will be our annual lunch at Legal Seafoods:
Wednesday, June 13th, 12:00 noon
Legal Seafoods Restaurant, Kendall Square, Cambridge