DEAS/Physics Safety Committee

Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, November 8, 2000
Noon-1:00PM

1. Video - "Practicing Safe Science" (29 minutes)

Lenny showed a long safety video by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He reminded the committee that videos are available for safety training and can be borrowed by calling 5-5922.

2. 2000/2001 Safety Subcommittee Assignments - Lenny

Lenny distributed the subcommittee assignments. Among the many assignments are the lab inspection teams. Each team must determine when it will inspect its assigned lab areas in January or February. The actual inspections are usually completed in one day. Team chairpersons should report their inspection schedules to the Safety Committee at the December meeting (December 13, 2000). After a brief discussion, Lenny said he would make a few changes and email the results to everyone.

3. Summer Lab Inspection Follow-Up

The follow-up reports for the summer lab inspections were postponed until the December meeting. Local safety reps need to address the issues that were discussed in the reports.

4. EH&S Report

(a) Mike Labosky -

• Peroxidizable Organic Chemicals - Mike Labosky handed out information on peroxidizable organic chemicals. Old unlabeled peroxides should be labeled and disposed of. Serious concerns about using such chemicals are addressed in the hand-out. EH&S will make labels available for these chemicals in the CCB mailroom.
• Hazardous Waste Training - the online training program has not been working for several days. They expect it to be functioning soon.

(b) Henry Littleboy - he reminded everyone of the cylinder replacement program with Airgas. If anyone wants information regarding the program, s/he should contact Henry.

5. Hazardous Waste Training Report

Rob Stanhope (Safety Coordinator) reported that the online training program was not functioning and he was unable to track the status of people needing training. He will make a report again next month. Mike Labosky said that people should contact Phyllis Campbell if they experience problems submitting the results of their online training.

6. Old Business

• Emergency Procedures for Teaching Faculty - Lenny handed out this list of emergency procedures. He also sent copies of it to all faculty. It addresses the issue raised last month that faculty need a clear procedure to deal with emergencies which occur during classroom hours.
• Spill-kit responsibilities - Lenny read aloud a revised list of spill-kit locations and the names of people who monitor them. A list of spill-kit locations is at: http://www-safety.deas.harvard.edu/spill-kits.html.
• New experiments - Lenny suggested that safety reps should be alert to any new experiments in their labs. They should make sure that the experiment set-up is a safe one and that safety procedures are being observed. Anyone working on new experiments should be properly trained. Lenny asked safety committee members to email him with any suggestions on how we could monitor this.
• Mary Walsh suggested that the toilet paper holders in the restrooms of Maxwell-Dworkin should be raised a few inches. Lenny said that was an issue for Ed Jackson. Ed was not present at the meeting, so it was suggested that she request Ed Jackson to make the alterations.

7. New Business - none

Next Meeting: Wednesday, December 13, 2000, 12:00 noon, Maxwell/Dworkin 119