chemical and biological safety training center for environmental health and safety siuc
TRANSCRIPT
Chemical and Biological Safety Training
Center for Environmental Health and Safety
SIUC
• Training is required annually for all people who work with chemical or biological agents.
• There are two regulatory agencies which required annual training: the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, and the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA.
OSHA
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a Federal agency
• BUT in Illinois, the OSHA regulations are administered by the Illinois Department of Labor
• So the Illinois Department of Labor is our OSHA agency
OSHA Standard #1Formaldehyde
• Regulates the use of formaldehyde, formalin, and paraformaldehyde
• Establishes Permissible Exposure Limit of 0.75 parts per million in 8 hours
• Formaldehyde products are known human carcinogens
OSHA Standard #2Air Contaminants
• Lists more than 400 substances • Establishes Permissible Exposure Limits,
PELs – legal limits• Most PELs are outdated and too high • Better numbers are from Recommended
Exposure Limits, RELs • PELs can be enforced by law, but RELs
are just recommendations
OSHA Standard #3Respiratory Protection
• Requires that respiratory protection be used if engineering controls can’t remove all the air contaminants
• Must have a medical evaluation and annual fit testing
• Use full-face and half-face respirators • Disposable paper masks and surgical
masks DO NOT protect you against chemicals!
OSHA Standard #4Hazard Communication Standard
• Mainly for industrial use of chemicals , like in factories
• You have the right to know about hazardous chemicals!
• Requires improved chemical safety labeling, with 9 hazard pictograms
• Requires improved safety data sheets • Requires training
OSHA Standards #5Occupational Exposure to
Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories
• Protects against hazardous chemical exposure in laboratories
• Requires a chemical hygiene plan• Requires safety data sheets • Requires training for physical and health
hazards • Requires training records
Chemical Hygiene Plan
• A safety manual for laboratories• Distributed in the new Chemical and
Biological Safety Manual• This 3-ring binder is in every lab on
campus • Lists standard operating procedures• Must be reviewed every year
Safety Data Sheets
• Sent by the manufacturer the FIRST time you order a chemical
• Keep them in the lab or always accessible (not locked up somewhere)
• You must have an SDS for every chemical in your lab
• Only one source of safety information; other sources can be used too
Chemical Exposure
• Routes of exposure: inhalation, absorption, ingestion, injection (parenteral)
• Chronic exposure is long-term, usually low-level
• Acute exposure is short-term, usually high-level
• Symptoms: coughing, burning, itching, rash, eye or throat irritation
Reduce Chemical Exposure
• Work with the smallest amount of chemical possible
• Don’t leave chemical containers open • Work in a fume hood. CEHS measures
and certifies the hoods at least annually. • Wear personal protective equipment: lab
coat (buttoned up), disposable gloves, eye protection
Glove Protocol
• Don’t use latex gloves. Choose nitrile or vinyl.
• Never re-use a disposable glove. • Once you put gloves on, you must assume
that all the surfaces are contaminated. Don’t touch the light switch, faucet handles, drawer handles.
• Take your gloves off before you leave the lab! Do NOT wear gloves in the halls!
Physical Hazard in the Lab
• These are things that release energy violently.
• We will discuss the most common ones found in our labs.
• They are the most common source of injuries in labs.
Physical Hazards
• Flammable Liquids – Handle them in a fume hood! – Store them in a flammables cabinet
• Extreme temperatures – Autoclaves, Cryogens, High-Temperature
Processes
• Air- and water-reactive compounds – Don’t handle them on the bench! – Use a glove box!
Physical Hazards
• Corrosives – Acids (low pH) and bases (high pH) – Handle in a fume hood!
• Compressed gas cylinders – Must be tied up at all times – Must have a cap over the valve, unless a
regulator is attached – Separate empty cylinders from full cylinders
Physical Hazards
• Oxidizers: Chemicals that promote and support fires. Chemicals with “per” in the name (peroxides, permanganates), nitric acid, most nitrate salts. Store them AWAY from flammable liquids!
• Peroxidizable compounds: Chemicals that become shock-sensitive with time, like ether and THF. Keep them only for a year!
Health Hazards in the Lab
Hazard • Carcinogens
(formaldehyde) • Reproductive toxins
(chloroform) • Allergens
(latex) • Corrosives
(acids, bases) • Specific organ toxicity
(acrylomide, neurotoxin)
Controls for all health hazards
• Minimize exposure • Use fume hoods • Wear correct PPE• Use smallest amount
possible
Institutional Oversight, Part 1
• There are certain things with which you cannot work until you have special training, submit a protocol form to an institutional committee, and get approval.
• IRB: Institutional Review Board – for work with human subjects
• IBC: Institutional Biosafety Committee – for work with recombinant DNA and human pathogens
Institutional Oversight, Part 2
• Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, IACUC: all vertebrate animals
• Radiation Safety Committee: radioisotopes, sealed sources
Training Records
• Each person must have a paper training record completely filled out and signed, kept in the lab where he/she works
• Put them in the correct section of the new Chemical and Biological Safety Manual
Emergency Contingency Plan
• Required by both OSHA and EPA • Fill out, sign, date every year• Hang inside lab near door • Color-coded each year
Commonly-Cited OSHA Noncompliances
• Cluttered, dirty workspaces
Commonly-Cited OSHA Noncompliances
• Unlabeled or improperly labeled containers
Commonly-Cited OSHA Noncompliances
• Blocked emergency exits and blocked safety equipment
Chemical Spills
• You clean it up– If it’s a small spill – If you have the correct personal protective
equipment – Clean it up, put it in a plastic bag, label it as
chemical waste
• CEHS cleans it up– If you are afraid of reactions or offgassing – If you don’t have the correct PPE – If it’s larger than 5 gallons
Biological Safety
• There aren’t many laws about biological safety
• Funding agency, National Institutes of Health (NIH) has regulations
• If anyone on campus receives NIH funding, everyone must abide by the NIH regulations
• Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories – BMBL
Hazardous Waste
• Regulatory agency is the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA
• There is a Federal agency, and state agencies
• We have Illinois EPA as our agency • The law is called “Resource Conservation
Recovery Act, ” or RCRA
What NOT to Put Down the Drain or In the Trash!
• Flammable liquids– Alcohols, acetone, ethyl acetate, etc.
• Corrosive liquids – acids with a pH less than 2 or bases with a pH
over 9.5
• Air- or Water-reactive compounds • Toxic compounds
– Metals, solvents, herbicides, pesticides, toxic organic compounds
CEHS Disposes Hazardous Waste
• We will bring you clean, dry, unlabeled bottles with screw tops, any size from 100 g to 55 gallons
• You collect waste and store it in your “Satellite Waste Accumulation Area”
• Request a waste pickup online • CEHS will come get it, bring it to our “Central Waste
Accumulation Area” and send it offsite to a contractor • THERE IS NO CHARGE FOR ANY OF THIS! • If in doubt – don’t put it down the drain, send it to
CEHS
Chemical Waste: Containers
• Use bottles with screw lids.– No stoppers– No parafilm – No duct tape!
Chemical Waste: Labeling
• Completely remove all other labels• Use a yellow “Hazardous Waste” label• Do NOT put it on top of another label!
Waste Segregation
• Do NOT pour all chemical waste into one container!
• Separate out waste streams as much as possible.
• It’s more easily recycled, less expensive, less likely to react
• CEHS will give you as many bottles for waste as you want, for free
Satellite Waste Accumulation Area
• Choose a place for waste in your lab and hang the poster up
• Get everything else out from the area – no good reagents, no apparatus, no junk
• Place the bottles with the yellow labels in it • One bottle for each kind of waste • When you fill up a bottle, file an electronic
pickup request form and CEHS will get it
Satellite Waste Accumulation Area
• Area must be inspected every 31 days! • Fill the form out, sign and date it, put it in
the 3-ring binder
Common Chemical Waste Noncompliances
• No yellow label on waste container • Multiple labels on a single container
Common Chemical Waste Noncompliances
• Any chemical container in the lab that is damaged, leaking, bulging, rusty, or unlabeled is DEEMED BY EPA to be hazardous waste.
• Get rid of them!
Biological Waste
• There are two kinds of biological waste. • This kind is heavily regulated. Keep it separate. Potentially
infectious medical waste: – Sharps containers – Recombinant DNA – Chemotherapeutic agents – Pathogenic microorganisms – Waste soaked in human blood
• This kind is less heavily regulated. Keep it separate. Non-potentially infectious medical waste: – Animal carcasses – Petri plates – Exam room waste
Biological Waste Disposal
• Put biological waste in a red bag, then in a red plastic bin or a specially marked cardboard box
• Fill out an online pickup request form• CEHS collects biological waste on
Wednesdays and takes it to the incinerator at Physical Plant
Waste Minimization
• Separate different kinds of waste (acids, bases, solvents, toxic salts, etc.)
• Substitution of less hazardous materials • Work on semi-micro or micro scale • Purchase the smallest amount useable • Avoid: As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Pb, Hg, Se, Ag, CN • Don’t purchase compressed cylinders; order
refillable ones from Airgas • Use digital photography if possible
No Mercury!
• Mercury thermometers and mercury-containing equipment are no longer allowed at SIU
• Mercury is very environmentally persistent• Mercury vapor is a potent neurotoxin • If you spill mercury, DO NOT try to clean it
up! Get everyone out of the lab and call CEHS.
Questions?
Contact:
Center for Environmental Health and Safety
www.cehs.siu.edu
453-5187