Laboratory Safety Issues & Improvements. Presentation To the Lab Safety Committee

Transcription

1 Presentation To the Lab Safety Committee

2 Issue: Standard Cotton Poly Blend Lab Coats Offer Very Little Protection Against Corrosives, Solvents, Poisons, or Fire Improvement: Revolutionary Multi-Hazard Lab Coat Protection. Flame-Resistant (FR) and Chemical-Splash Protection (CP) Lab Coat Featuring Westex ShieldTEC. Lighter and more breathable material. Status: For discussion, financing Play Workrite Lab Coat Video 1 1

3 Scenes From The Video 2

4 Issue: Many Hotplates Used In the Presence of Flammable Vapors Are Not Explosion-Proof or Intrinsically Safe Improvement: EHS will provide signage for labs to clearly designate hoods in which flammable vapors are allowed. Remove and replace hotplates and any other equipment which is not Explosion-Proof or Intrinsically Safe from hoods that use flammables. Status: Signage in preparation. Replacement of unsafe hotplates etc. for discussion, and financing 3

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6 Issue: Spontaneous and unexpected heating of hotplates has resulted in several fires and explosions. Several organizations (U.Cal, U. Penn, MIT, Northwestern U., Lawrence Berkeley Lab, Oak Ridge Lab) have issued safety advisory notices for Corning PC-35, PC-200, PC-220, PC-351, PC-420, Fisher Iso Temp and Thermolyne Model SP hotplates. Improvement: Discard old hotplates and hotplates in disrepair. Read attached advisory notices for further advice Status: For Discussion and Financing 5

7 Defective Hot Plate 6

8 Hot Plate Switch Failure Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lessons Learned Concern Statement: A laboratory hot plate s power switch failed, resulting in a fire in the fume hood. Although the switch position, switch detent, and indicator light demonstrated that the power was off, electrical power continued to flow to the heating elements. Applicable to: Employees who work with laboratory heating devices, such as hot plates and mantles. Incident: A researcher switched off a hot plate off by placing the dial at 0. The researcher noted that the switch clicked into the off position and the power indicator light extinguished. However, the heating coils remained energized, eventually overheating a beaker of oil on the hot plate and initiating a fire in the fume hood. Cause: When placed in the off position, the power switch failed to de-energize the hot plate, and the indicator light did not show that power was still provided to the heating elements. The hot plate/stirrer was a Corning model PC 420. Although fires in laboratories involving hot plates are not uncommon, most fires occur when heating operations are unattended or the user forgets to turn off the hot plate. In this incident, the hot plate continued heating after three indicators signaled that it was turned off, an insidious and unusual failure Very similar events occurred at Lawrence Livermore National Lab and Pacific Northwest National Lab in Recommended Actions The following recommendations are provided to reduce the chances of a similar failure and fire in laboratory operations: Periodically test the function of the "off switch" on each hot plate and heating mantle to verify that it works and the heating device quickly cools. Any unit that fails this test should be taken out of service immediately and reported to EH&S for further evaluation. Avoid intentional unattended use of hot plates and heating mantles when possible. If you must have an unattended heating operation, think out your safety plan. It may require a feedback system that will detect overheating and deenergise the heater before a fire erupts. Further Information Assistance or questions regarding this lessons learned may be directed to Gary Piermattei (x6370) or Rick Kelly (x4088). For other lessons learned, go to: or offices.research.northwestern.edu 7

9 Issue: Safety Eyewash Deluge Shower stations have not been inspected and tested for proper function on a monthly basis as required. Improvement: EHS has trained and provided Facilities plumbers with written procedures for inspecting and testing eyewash and deluge showers on a monthly basis. Status: Monthly inspection and testing began in January and is coming up to speed slowly due to necessary repairs discovered during inspections. 8

10 Last Tested 7/24/2015 9

11 Issue: Deluge Shower stations do not operate in hands-free mode as required. A spring shuts off the flow of water as soon as the pull cord is released. Improvement: EHS wrote a work order to Facilities for plumbers to remove the springs. Status: Springs have been removed. 10

12 Spring To Be Removed 11

13 Issue: Chemicals are not secured against earthquakes. Improvement: Work order to secure Chemical Cabinets, Flammable Chemical Cabinets, Refrigerators and Freezers that contain Chemicals Status: In preparation 12

14 Freestanding Flammable Chemical Cabinets 13

15 Flammables Refrigerators That Could Fall Blocking the Exit 14

16 Issue: Chemicals are not secured against earthquakes. Improvement: Work order to install see-through plastic lips on shelves used to store chemicals Status: In preparation 15

17 See-Through Plastic Shelf Lip 16

18 Issue: Compressed Gas Cylinders must be restrained by 2 non-combustible straps at 1/3 and 2/3 of the height of the cylinder Improvement: Work order to properly secure compressed gas cylinders. Status: In preparation 17

19 Myth Busters Youtube videos of compressed gas cylinder missiles 18