April 8, 1998

1. Video - "Hand and Power Tool Safety" (6 1/2 minutes)

The consensus was that this was a very good video to show to individuals who are just beginning to use hand or power tools in the lab. Lenny reminded the committee that he has many videos on a wide variety of safety topics and that as safety officers, it would be a good idea to have periodic screenings of safety videos with topics relevant to your group's work.

2. Lab Inspection Reports:

Cruft and Pierce Halls -- Jennifer Mullin

Jennifer reported that in general the labs are in excellent condition. Following is a list of things that need to be improved:

All labs need a list of emergency contacts on the doors. The signs need to be updated yearly and date marked. Signs should be on all doors, not just the main door.

Coffee mugs should not be in labs where any chemicals are located. People should not eat or drink in labs where toxic substances are located.

All compressed gas tanks need to be secured.

Fire extinguishers should be wall mounted.

3. Follow-Up Lab Inspection Reports:

Lyman Labs (first floor) - Chip Coldwell, Frederic Datchi (NEW!), Stuart McNeil

Chip was away and Fred is a new committee member so the follow-up report will be delayed. Some of the equipment on the first floor of Lyman was relocated.

Link/Hoffman Lab (Anderson/Wofsy) - Jessica Smith, Alex Simson

Made safety eye wear available (Anderson Group).

All fire extinguishers have signs (Anderson Group).

Hot plate was removed (Anderson Group).

Mechanical pump room is being cleaned up now (Anderson Group).

Fire extinguishers still need to be mounted (Anderson Group).

Syringes:

Question came up about syringes. Henry informed everyone that by the Department of Public Health standards, syringes are considered needles, even without the needle. Ralph said that, by law, hypodermic needles need to be locked up.

McKay Lab - Rex Beck (2^nd fl), John Chervinsky (1^st fl), Louie Defeo (1^st Fl), Robert Graham (1^st fl), Jennifer Mullin (4^th fl), Frank Molea (4^th fl), Joe Oswald (5^th fl), Nan Shen (3^rd fl), Steve Shepard (2^nd fl)

2^nd floor:

HF ancedote signs have been added to all areas where the calcium glutonate is located.

Full bottles of waste have been removed from satellite accumulation areas.

Helium cylinders were put in boxes with Styrofoam peanuts

All signs have been updated.

Put signs up on the clean room doors

HF sign is on the hood

Bottles were removed from the floor

3^rd floor:

Dangerous compressed gas cylinders are now listed on lab door signs

All materials in the satellite accumulation areas are now in containment trays

Nan Shen will report further on McKay 3rd floor next meeting in May

4^th floor:

Signage was improved. Laser signs were installed.

Containment and secondary containment trays in waste collection areas were put in place.

Unused natural gas lines will be capped.

5^th floor:

A safety officer needs to be representing that floor which is occupied by Bill Paul's group (Joe Chin and Daowang Fang)

A discussion about the deadly hazards of HF was held. Evidently, a person in McKay had two similar accidents with HF on the 4^th floor. This person was not wearing the proper gloves at times. The 4^th floor safety officer will have this person fill out Accident Reports for both incidents and submit them to Lenny. The safety officer will also print out the article on HF (found on the web page) which gives an account of a deadly HF accident.

Discussion on natural gas pipes. These pipes should be capped, disabled and shut off. Ask yourself if there is any reason for natural gas in your lab, if there isn't, tell Lenny and he'll look into shutting off the natural gas in your area.

4. Safety Seminar Series Update- Lenny

Iron Age Shoe Truck - Monday, May 4^th, 11:00-2:00 PM in back of McKay. Harvard will reimburse your shoe purchase up to $70 per person this year.

Lenny requested local safety offices to keep posting the upcoming seminar notices.

The general shoe policy is if you wear them a lot, you can get a new pair every year. If you wear your safety shoes only several times a year you probably only need to buy a pair once.

5. Disposal of Hazardous Waste Training: Update - Lenny & Peter Bochnak/Henry Littleboy

Lenny urged committee members to please encourage people in their area to take the initial and refresher courses on hazardous waste training. Henry is holding the class every Tuesday between now and May 12^th. Henry will also make special arrangements outside of that schedule if needed.

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

Littleboy

Peter said that the EH&S is focusing on hazardous waste removal, especially oils and equipment using oil. FAS and DEAS are in good shape. EH&S is assessing the satellite areas to ensure that containers are secure and capped, and that secondary containment is in place. The results of these assessments will be given to lab directors next week. Peter recommended that local safety officeers get in the habit of conducting weekly inspections of their satellite areas, checking proper markings, secondary containment, closed containment and take the necessary corrective actions.

Henry talked about the number and size oil cans permissible in a lab. He did not have exact figures and said he would find out more information. He said in general EPA fines could be $25,000 a day per incident.

If you have chemicals in your lab you need a satellite hazardous waste collection area in that room and not be across the hall. That is the rule. The same is true for operational facility waste such as paint.

Please clean out your areas of all unnecessary chemicals and waste. Make sure nothing is collecting dust, no empty bottles around, no clutter please.

Henry said that everyone should look at all basements and make sure all pumps are contained and that there are no oil spills, do secondary containment if oil spills are a problem.

Henry noted that uncontaminated Pasteur pipettes can be disposed of in glass recycle boxes.

Henry reiterated that if lecture bottles are unused and empty that the valves should be removed, they should be cut in half, and thrown away.

7. Old Business -

Vented Gas Cabinets - Update

Peter Bochnak, Garrett Burke, Mary Feeney and Lenny Solomon met to discuss regulatory issues and the use of toxic compressed gases. At this time they have not resolved whether all toxic compressed gases need to be stored in vented cabinets. Mary Feeney will continue to investigate the matter.

Safety showers will now be checked at least twice a year.

8. New Business -

An article on compressed gas safety will soon be on the web page.