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PELs – legal limits• Most PELs are outdated and too high • Better numbers are from Recommended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