SEAS/Physics/EPS Safety Committee

Meeting Minutes

Wednesday February 13, 2008

Noon-1:00PM

 

1. Video – “Electrical Safety in the Laboratory” – 11 minutes

2. Follow-up Reports:

            A. Cruft

·        No safety shower – lab disappearing, also why there is disarray

·        Fire extinguisher has been reinspected

B. McKay Cleanrooms

·        No one at the meeting

C. Pierce Hall

·        Construction has caused a loss of space

·        They are building a new instrument, which has brought in a lot of extra boxes and taken away space

·        They need to clean the lab up, and get things back together; they will be reinspected when the lab is back

together in a few months later in spring.

D. McKay 1st Floor

·        Taken care of room 113

·        Extra tools were cleaned up

·        2nd telephone is there

·        Looking into installing flash arrestors

·        The Fume hood has been rectified

·        Currently have spill kits for acids, bases, and organics

E. The Link – Anderson Group

·        One of the lasers is temporary, and the other has a curtain around it

·        Labeled the dyes

·        Removed chemicals from fume hood

·        Out of oil absorption, but ordering more

·        Med kid is in the hallway outside the door

·        Only half of the door is blocked and it is a double door

·        Called building manager to have fire extinguishers inspected

F. The Hoffman  - Wofsy Group

·        Vacuum pump – will take care of

·        Blockage of one exit – ½ of double door is blocked

·        Hazardous waste disposal is in the room

·        Nitric, sulfuric acid are stored properly, and don’t need warning

·        ECDGC – radiation people are aware and do inspections

·        Gas cylinders are tied properly but have too many right now, but they do need them all

Lenny – on exits – you need to be convinced that you can get out if there was a true emergency, such as a

flash fire if you have part of an exit blocked. Some rooms are required to have double doors by code and

these shouldn’t be blocked. Having accessibility is a must, storage is not.

3. Missing Reports:

John Chervinsky – completed inspection 2/8/08

Jim MacArthur– 2 labs left to do, 4 are complete

4. Accidents – Capasso Lab – Monday Feb 11 around 1:00pm

About ¾ of 1 gallon of 90% concentration sulfuric acid leaked into pipes and down into the basement cleanroom.

This was completely preventable and never should have happened. All acids should be stored in a corrosive cabinet.

All flammables should be stored in a flammables cabinet. You should also know where you Class B suits, respirators,

and gloves are. Also, know who is above and below your lab.

5. Chemicals of Interest : Only 2-3 labs did not complete this

6. Lab Safety Training – Please email Ashley at asmith@seas.harvard.edu a complete list of everyone who works

within your lab. Also denote somehow the people who have not had their safety training. If they cannot make the 

trainings that Amy puts on, then email Lenny to schedule a special training session at a different time.

7. EH & S Report – There was a fire in M14 which was caused by a contractor installing a scrubber. He did pull

the fire alarm, which was a good thing, but do not try to use more than one fire extinguisher. If you have to use more

 than one, then leave it to the authorities. Also, please exit the building quickly when you hear an alarm, this also

aggravates the firemen and puts them and you in danger.

8. Lab Inspection Reports

The following teams presented their inspection reports except:

 

McKay Laboratory 2nd floor Inspection Report

2/12/2008 ; Team 2 Keith Brown* Zhongxing Chen Anne Goodsell

            Aizenberg lab 213

·        Juice bottle, drinking bottle, and coffee cup in the lab bench.

·        Acid and solvent were kept in the same cabinet without secondary confinement.

·        Several unlabeled bottles of chemical on the lab bench.

            Westervelt lab Several labs we inspected look quite messy

204

·        Bottle of acetone was put on the floor.

·        Compressed gas cylinder was not in use, but the cylinder was not capped.

·        Three red propane fuel bottles, which should be kept in the flammable secondary containers, were on a shelve.

210-212

·        A bottle of drinking water was found in lab.

209

·        In addition to an updated form, an outdated emergency information sheet (year 2002) is on the door.

Most of the lab space on the south end of the building is still under construction and was not inspected.

*Did not inspect Westervelt lab space because he is part of that group.

 

Jefferson Lab Safety Inspection Results(Inspected 2/1/08) Team 9 Jefferson Lab – presented by Chongzeng Na

·        Prentiss Lab (Jeff. 150) - generally very messy; chemical prep room was very disorganized and many

containers were not labeled

·        Golovchenko Lab

2 cylinders chained together in 1 cradle

J158   - no GFI outlets around sink, maybe a GFI breaker?

J163   - 3 cylinders chained together at the end of a lab table

·        Gabrielse Lab

J161  generally very messy; waste chemicals were not in a cabinet, they did have secondary containment but were

on the floor under a table in the middle of the room

 

Safety Inspection – 1/18/08 Hoffman 3rd Floor and MCZ Museum Basement, Team 17– Megan O’Grady

·        MCZ Museum Basement

  1. Lots of sharks, sting rays, and large tropical fish – why are we inspecting this room?
  2. Eyewash needs to be inspected – last inspected 9/28/06

·        Hoffman 3rd Floor

Room 328

  1. bio-hood needs to be inspected
  2. Two hoods need to be inspected above flammables cabinet
  3. Need bigger secondary containment bins for hazardous waste storage in hood
  4. Need one chain for each gas cylinder (one chain wrapped around 3 gas cylinders)

Room 331

  1. Five gas cylinders in one chain (need one chain for each gas cylinder)
  2. gas canister chained to lab table (needs top be secured to the wall)
  3. back right corner - two gas cylinders in one chain (need one chain for each gas cylinder)
  4. eyewash needs to be inspected again

Room 336

  1. Eight gas cylinders in one chain (need one chain for each gas cylinder)
  2. Five gas cylinders in one chain (need one chain for each gas cylinder)

Room 336 cleanroom

  1. Hoods need to be inspected
  2. gas cylinder in back corner by sink was not secured to anything

Room 337

  1. Seven gas cylinders in one chain (need one chain for each gas cylinder)
  2. Small gas cylinders not secured to anything
  3. satellite accumulation area not well marked
  4. hood needs to be inspected
  5. Four gas cylinders in one chain (need one chain for each gas cylinder)

TEAM 5 - McKay Labs, Fl. 5 , February 13,2008 John Chervinsky (chair), Don Claflin, Anatoly Dementyev , Ben Finio Petr Jordan

·        Weitz Labs

Room 530: Cart with storage of Acids and Bases.

All rooms including 530,531,532,534,513:

Many vials and bottles containing liquid that were not labeled properly.  Some were not labeled at all,

some were labeled but  we could not read the writing, others seemed to be labeled with experimental

parameters, but not with the actual  content that included chemical formulas.

 

Room 511: Walk in fridge that had a hand written sign on the door “Caution High CO2 Levels”.  It’s great that there

is a sign posted, but it seemed to us that it is a suffocation hazard regardless.  We were wondering if it was a closed s

ystem or if it got fed outside air.

 

·        Aziz Labs

Room 516: Unsecured gas cylinders.  There is an Oxy-Acetylene welder setup without any apparent place to do welding.

Room 506 Fume hood out of date for certification.

 

TEAM 11 - ESL Lab B-2, Inspection Scheduled: February 12, Don Claflin

Eric Diebold, Jim MacArthur (chair),

·               ESL 221, Auguste Lab
Safety Officer: Rico Gunawan
1) 2 fume hoods last inspected more than 1 year ago (1/4/07)
2) Lab telephone needs Emergency Response Guide posted nearby
Good safety culture.  Apparently, a great deal of attention has been 
paid to safety issues in this lab.
·               ESL B8A, Hansel / Mitchell Labs
Safety Officer: Eileen Ekstrom
No issues found.  This room is primarily used for storage, and houses 
three environmental control rooms.  Very little labwork takes place there.
·               ESL 216, Edwards Lab
Safety Officer: Jarod VerBerkmoes
1) No eyewash station.
2) Chemical spill kit located down the hall in 214; we couldn't locate it.
3) Fume hood missing inspection sticker.
·               ESL 121, Mooney Lab
Safety Officer: Hannah Storrie
1) Door needs Chemtracker chart.
2) One laminar flow hood last inspected 3/06.
·               Weitz lab (216A, etc.)  inspection scheduled for 2/29 at 10:00.
·               Edwards lab inspection waiting for return of safety officer in late Feb.
Next Scheduled Meeting Wednesday March 12 2008 @ noontime in M/D 119
Send comments or suggestions to solomon@huarp.harvard.edu Last Updated: Thu Feb 14 17:07:47 2008
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