LABORATORY SAFETY

1. LABORATORY SAFETY Charles Mulcahy Health, Safety and Risk Manager Faculty of Medicine (RGN 1411) cmulcahy@uottawa.ca http://www.medicine.uottawa.ca/ehss-spe/eng/ Andrew Benn Health, Safety and Risk Assistant Faculty of Science (GNN 450) abenn@uottawa.ca http://www.science.uottawa.ca/services/safety-securite/health-safety.html

2. Course Outline • Responsibilities • Pre-Planning • Assessing Hazards and Risks • Working with Hazardous Materials • Laboratory Equipment • Emergency Procedures

3. Why Lab Safety? • Legal Reasons • Moral Reasons Choices The person best prepared to choose will know the likely outcome.

4. Ask Questions/Read procedures • Why???

5. National Workers’ Compensation statistics, from 2011: • 249,511 lost-time injuries1 • 919 work related fatalities2 • Nearly 3 work related deaths per day 1 http://awcbc.org/common/assets/nwisptables/lti_summary_jurisdiction.pdf 2 http://awcbc.org/common/assets/nwisptables/fat_summary_jurisdiction.pdf • Ontario • 56 672 lost-time injuries • 306 work related fatalities • 100 traumatic fatalities (WSIB Road to Zero) • ~1 work related death per day • Total financial impact to the Canadian economy >$9 billion

6. Research employee injuries, 1993 - 1997* The most common serious injuries: cuts due to careless use of razor blades. . Source: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Office of Laboratory Safety. All reported injuries are shown, without regard to severity

7. RGN accidents/incidents 2008

8. The University Safety Policies OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICYPolicy 77 The University of Ottawa recognizes its legal and moral responsibilities in health and safety for the University community by ensuring sound and safe conditions in all its activities. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT Policy 91 The purpose of this Policy is to ensure that the University fulfils its legal obligations for the protection of the environment, through the appropriate assignment of responsibilities throughout the University, and establishment of directives, procedures and standards. http://www.uottawa.ca/sec-univ/pol.htm

9. Responsibility and Accountability President Senior Managers Deans and Chairs Supervisors Principal Investigators Laboratory Workers Support Staff, Graduate Students, Undergraduate Students

10. Occupational Health & Safety Committees • U of O has a University Committee with 3 sectoral committees (Lab, Non-lab, PRS) • Performs safety inspections • Reviews accident & incident reports and follows up on any corrective actions as needed • Works with supervisors and employees to promote safety & health issues • Reviews safety program

11. Pre-Planning Experiments • Identify ALL hazards • Ensure all safety equipment available, and maintained • Follow preplanned work procedures • No substitution without thorough review (Supervisor) • Develop an Attitude of Safety Awareness

12. Four question to answer • What are the hazards? • What are the worst things that could happen? • What do I need to do to be prepared? • What are the prudent practices, protective facilities/equipment, and personal protective equipment needed to minimize the risk?

13. Properties of materials & agents and their prescribed safety procedures Be familiar with operating procedures for ALL equipment used Emergency spill procedures, use of adsorbents and disinfectants Designated escape routes (know alternate) Location of fire ext., eye wash, shower, first aid, and spill kits Before any work, you must know

14. Assessing Hazards and Risks • Risk due to hazardous materials • Physical Hazards • electrical • mechanical • temperature • electromagnetic fields • Biohazards • Hazards from Radioactivity

15. Risks due to Hazardous Materials • Compressed Gases • Flammable and Combustible • Oxidizers • Toxic • Corrosive • Reactive

16. All Containers, pipes, process vessels and storage areas must be labeled All labels must identify the product and hazards associated with its use Read the label at least three times before using the products when removing from storage before opening the container before actual usage Inventory: Date containers when opening for the first time Maintain up to date inventory * Regularly dispose of surplus materials Keep on hand only those products that you have room to store properly Stick to the procedures Keep your workplace neat and organized Develop an attitude of safety awareness General Rules for Handling Hazardous Materials

17. Chemical Inventory System Access

18. Chemical inventory system enables quick access to any MSDS as well as other safety and regulatory information for the products held in your inventory. Click on the Select field beside your chosen product and then click Chemwatch MSDS

19. Labels….. • Labels contain: • pictograms • identify hazards • clear risk phrases

20. Rules for HandlingCompressed Gases • Gas cylinders must be properly secured • When no longer in use or during transport - shut valves, relieve gas in regulator, remove regulator and cap • Gas cylinders must be labeled like all other containers

21. Rules for HandlingCompressed Gases • Corroded lecture bottles or cylinders should not be stored or used • Check hoses, tubing and regulators daily • Empty cylinders should be returned to central storage as soon as possible • Empty gas cylinders are marked “EMPTY”

22. Compression!

23. Cylinders

24. Cylinders: not a myth!

25. Four questions to answer • What are the hazards? • What are the worst things that could happen? • What do I need to do to be prepared? • What are the prudent practices, protective facilities/equipment, and personal protective equipment needed to minimize the risk?

26. Flammable Materials LEDROIT December 22, 1997

27. Vapors travel!

28. Fire at D’Iorio , October 2008

29. Rules for HandlingFlammable Materials Storage of flammables • Use approved flammable storage cabinets • Maximum 20 Litres per storage container • Maximum 4 Litres per storage container for class 1A liquids • Do not store flammables with oxidizers • Store flammable liquids only in approved refrigerators. • Ensure all containers labelled, including waste containers

30. Testing flammable cabinets

31. Testing flammable cabinets

32. Testing flammable cabinets

33. And if not stored properly…..

35. On August 16, 1992, I used acetone, a highly flammable liquid that was sold to me to remove adhesive from a bedroom floor left behind after taking up a foam-backed carpet. To my surprise and horror, flame came bursting into the room from the hallway. I later found out that a pilot light from a water heater down the hall and in a closet had ignited the acetone fumes which had been too heavy to dissipate despite my having opened the door and windows. I jumped through a screened window and landed in the grass of the yard, burned full thickness on my arms and legs, and partial thickness on my face. The total skin area burned was 63%. (view pictures) I spent seven weeks in the Burn Unit at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, then several months recuperating. Six months after going home, tremendous ropes of scars appeared on my face.

36. Rules for HandlingFlammable Materials Precautionary Measures • Use flammable and combustible liquids in a fume hood • Ensure that all sparking equipment, e.g., switches, relays, thermostat, variacs are removed from the fume hood • Ensure pressure release valve open when heating flasks of flammable liquid • Do not heat flammable liquids with paint stripper guns • Add boiling chips to boiling liquids to prevent bumping • Minimize volumes to be heated where possible

37. Four questions to answer • What are the hazards? • What are the worst things that could happen? • What do I need to do to be prepared? • What are the prudent practices, protective facilities/equipment, and personal protective equipment needed to minimize the risk?

38. Rules for HandlingCorrosive Materials Storage • Store in corrosive storage cabinets • Store corrosives on lower shelves • Do not store acids and bases together • Do not store concentrated acids or bases under sinks • Hydrofluoric acid must be stored in plastic containers • Ensure all containers labelled

39. Rules for HandlingCorrosive Materials Precautionary Measures • Use proper eye, hand and body protection • Prevent exposure to corrosive fumes and vapours • Always add acid to water, never reverse • Pour Chemicals properly

40. Rules for HandlingToxic Materials • Minimize exposures with engineering controls and administrative techniques • Install and maintain automatic monitors and alarms • Use proper eye, face, hand and body protection • Be aware of emergency procedures • Practice good personal hygiene • Inform your supervisor of medications you are taking if working in a hazardous area • Decontaminate your work space daily

41. Toxic Materials

42. Mercury: designated substance, fairly easily replaced!

43. Reproductive hazards • Toxic effects on both female and male reproduction • Advise supervisor or H&S professional if pregnant (many effects during 1st trimester) • Resources: • http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/99-104.html • http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/malrepro.html • http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_development/previous_issues/ look for April 7, 2006

44. Rules for Handling Reactive Materials • Buy only as much as you need • Label and date as soon as received • Date when first opened • Do not open a bottle past it’s expiration date • Do not open a peroxide former if crystals or precipitates are present • Store peroxide forming materials away from heat and light • Examples of materials which form peroxides after prolonged exposure to air or light: ethers, THF, cyclohexene, p-dioxane, cyclooctene

45. Reactive Materials • Monitor containers for signs of instability, e.g., changes in colour, crystal formation, drying out • Store perchloric acid bottles in glass or ceramic trays • Store water reactives away from sources of water • Do not handle bottles of reactive chemicals with crystal formation around the cap • Contact EHSS for disposal of reactive chemical wastes • Plan experiments carefully • Ensure proper safety equipment available

48. Incompatible Chemicals • Mixing can result in hazardous reactions, fires, production of toxic fumes • Level of incompatibility may depend on quantity used, temperature, pressure • Store incompatible chemicals separately • Organize experiments, reactions, to avoid mixing, unless under controlled conditions • Review literature and MSDS prior to experiment • Do not dispose of incompatible wastes in the same container

49. Incompatible Chemicals

50. Suggested Shelf Storage Pattern http://www.flinnsci.com/Sections/Safety/chemicalSafety/L1070-1074_HS_ChemInvenStor.pdf