DEAS/Physics Safety Committee

Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, February 10, 1999
Noon-1:00PM

1. Video - "Laser Safety"

• Lenny reminded everyone that the Safety Committee videos can be borrowed by contacting him. Prof. Eric Mazur's Laser Safety lecture from last year was taped and is available for viewing.

2. Inspection Reports:

• The completed reports have been submitted to Lenny Solomon. He will forward them to the appropriate local safety officers, who will need to address the safety issues by the next meeting.

A.) McKay - Yuki Sugimura - Some of Yuki's observations are as follows:

• Leaks were found in rooms 501 and 522 and the hallway at rooms 514-16.
• There are rooms with no laser signs on the 4th floor.
• 3rd floor, room 318 - a box marked "Dangerous - Nasty Chemicals" was found.
• 2nd floor - 7 bottles of turpentine were being stored in a cabinet. They have been stored elsewhere.
• Room 113 - there is no emergency information posted on the door.
• Room 119 - a light fixture was hanging down.
• Compressed gases were kept on a movable cart.

B.) ESL - Steve Shepard - Some of Steve's observations are as follows:

• water leakage detected in the basement.
• no fire extinguisher in the back lobby.
• Room 213 needs a "sharps box"; a beaker of oil was out and uncovered.
• Room 215 had hazardous waste tags which were not filled out properly.
• Room 305 - the hood was inspected 8/25/98; an old bottle of sulfuric acid was left sitting out.
• HPL - fire extinguishers need signs.
• Room 307 - needs "sharps boxes"

C.) The Link - Paul Evans - Some of Paul's observations are as follows:

• In good shape overall.
• Small room downstairs with vacuum pumps - no hazard signs or emergency contact info.
• Wood shop has no contact info.
• Kinetics hood - lecture bottles were loose.
• Wofsy lab - a bottle half-full with an unknown clear liquid.
• Contact info. on doors needs to be updated.

D.) Jefferson/Lyman - Jennifer Mullin - postponed till March meeting.

E.) Cruft/Pierce - Simson Alex - postponed till March meeting.

3. Hazardous Waste Training Report:

Rob has sent reminders to everyone who is due for retraining.

4. Web Page Update:

• Standard Operating Procedures - Completed SOPs can be found at http://www.deas-safety.harvard.edu/sop/chart.html. Anyone who has not yet submitted an S.O.P., please contact Lenny Solomon as soon as possible.
• Safety Training Database - Only 3 or 4 people have created user accounts for the database. Lenny asked everyone to try out the database and give him suggestions for improvement.
• Spring Safety Seminars 1999 - Lenny will have the schedule in March. It will be posted on the web site at: http://www-safety.deas.harvard.edu/services/seminars.html.

5. Report from Environmental Health and Safety - Peter Bochnak/Henry Littleboy

• Peter Bochnak went to a compliance meeting with EPA. EPA found problems with Facilities Operations. Arts & Crafts Operations also had problems. EPA looks for particular "red flags", including:
  • Container management
  • Hazardous Waste disposal
  • A strong central control of the institution's program (Harvard has this!)
  • Many people involved in the program
  • Support from the lab workers for the program

  EPA wants to make the Charles River swimmable and boatable by the year 2005.

• Peter reminded everyone to contact him immediately if EPA arrives at Harvard.
• There will be an EPA conference on March 24th. 15 people from Harvard can attend gratis, extra people will need to pay $25. The conference will address compliance issues.
• There was a spill at the HEPL lab involving hydrogen peroxide 60%. Some HP spilled in a truck, on a loading ramp and into a storm drain. the spill was cleaned up and the area (including the building) was evacuated and secured. The Fire Department was upset and concerned that, despite the evacuation, people were still getting through the spill area. The spill caused major fuming. Triumvirate did the clean-up.
• EH&S Inspections - The inspections are now based upon the total number of containers. DEAS recently had only a few problems and Physics had none. A total of 140 containers were checked.
• Boston Consortium Training - Peter reports that they are still working out the bugs with other universities.
• Chris Centrella reported that the new hazardous waste labels are available. The Hazardous Material portion of the label has been removed.
• Henry Littleboy requested that every lab dispose of old cans of Ether, since it costs $3,500 to have it taken away.

6. Old Business - none

7. New Business

• Lenny Solomon mentioned that the Hazardous Waste Storage Assessment Report doesn't have room numbers. He suggested that they be on the form.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 10, 1999, 12:00 Noontime, Pierce 100F