Useful Telephone Numbers

Emergency: 911, 9-911, or 0
Stay on the line -- they do not always answer rapidly

Environmental Health & Safety : 2-4925, hazardous materials, chemical spills, air monitoring, MSDS assistance, chemical pick-ups

Campus Police: 472-2222, emergency / non-emergency    "Dial 2 for Blue"

Poison Control Center: 9-1-800-955-9119, Children's Hospital, Omaha

Building Manager: 2-5312, Dodie Eveleth, Rm 545

First Aid: 2-3514, Darrel Kinnan

Darrel can be reached from either Mike Cook's Office (Rm 404) or the general chem secretary's office (Rm 228), whose telephone number is 2-3514

Facilities Management: 2-1550, maintenance

Safety Committee Chair: 2-9895, Dr Steve DiMagno

Emergency Action

Never be embarrassed to yell for HELP!  The top priority is the preservation of LIFE, including your own. 

If a life-threatening situation exists -- LEAVE THE AREA. Do not worry about turning off instruments or your latest expt -- JUST LEAVE!

ALL EMERGENCIES: Dial 911 on any telephone -- the RED EMERGENCY TELEPHONES located near the "T" of Hamilton Hall (floors 2-8, and basement) are particularly useful.

On the First Floor of Hamilton, the pay phone (near the south entrance) may be used, or just walk up to 2nd, if there is time.

STAY ON THE LINE: The highly trained operator will need to know:

• WHAT?: Fire? Flood? Chemical spill? Persons injured? Intruder?
• WHERE?: Which floor of Hamilton Hall? Which laboratory?

If a FIRE exists, pull the BUILDING ALARM, next to the red emergency telephone.

If a fire exists on your floor, use the red emergency telephone on some other floor.

• YELL for help!
• Be sure the area is safe before approaching the victim.
• Have one person help the victim, while another telephones 911.
• A third person can rectify immediate chemical or electrical dangers, if safe to do so.

• Close doors
• Exit area
• Yell to inform others
• From another floor, hit BUILDING ALARM
• Dial 911-- perhaps from another building or blue emergency phone in parking lot
• Do not attempt to use elevators after alarm sounds-- they won't work

• Unless you have personal knowledge of the type of chemical, and how to handle it, ASSUME THE WORST
• Exit immediate area; close doors
• Pull building alarm
• Dial 911
• Advise operator of type of spill
• Trained HazMat teams will arrive to handle the situation
• If no danger to yourself, CONTAIN THE SPILL--build a dam

General Information

Administrative Controls and Responsibilities:

• Department Chair
  • Bears ultimate responsibility for all safety issues
• Safety and Environment Committee
  • includes
    • ex officio the Vice-Chair,
    • Building Manager (Dodie Eveleth, Rm 545)
    • General Chem Lab Coordinator (Darrel Kinnan, rm 228)
  • Chair: presently Steve DiMagno, Rm 818C, 2-9895
  • Three other faculty members are appointed yearly
  • Duties include:
    • Updating and Implementing this safety plan
    • Implementing SAFETY and HAZARDOUS MATERIALS training for all personnel.
    • Monitoring safe lab practices and safe use of hazardous materials
    • Carry out building inspections, regularly
    • Ensure compliance with federal, state laws.
    • Identify, investigate and report unsafe practices to Executive Committee
    • As Chemical Hygiene Officer, arrange for medical monitoring of personnel
    • Arrange for fire drills with appropriate campus, city agencies
    • Monitor national safety and environmental standards, policies and procedures in order to maintain up-to-date compliance measures
• Faculty Duties:
  • Conducts safety training for research students for the research underway in his/her research group.
  • Supports departmental safety objectives:
    • proper segregation and storage of chemicals
    • proper handling of hazardous materials, procedures, or apparati
    • proper disposal of chemicals via Environmental Health & Safety
    • encouraging safety in his/her laboratories
      • ensure the use of proper personal protective equipment (PPE) by all personnel
      • ensure unimpeded access to safety equipment such as eye-wash stations, fire extinguishers, safety showers and PPE
      • proper labeling of chemicals, reaction mixtures
      • post up-to-date lists of laboratory chemicals present AND abbreviations in use
      • ensure proper reporting of incidents
• Student and Staff Responsibilities:
  • planning and conducting lab operations in accordance with SAFE PRACTICES
  • use of proper PPE
  • reporting of unsafe practices, conditions, injuries to supervisor and Safety Chair
  • maintain awareness of current safety or environmental practices
  • exercise reasonable neatness as one of the best ways to avoid trouble

Professional Responsibility

Disregard or non-Compliance with safety or environmental standards by any personnel is regarded as unprofessional and may be grounds for disciplinary action!

Don't know or aren't sure of the proper protocols or procedures?

• Check Environmental Health & Safety website for chemical safety topics: http://ehs.unl.edu
• Or, just call EH&S, 2-4925
• PEL's or TLV's available in "Handbook of Chem and Phys"
• In Library:"Sax's Dangerous Properties of Industrial Materials", Lewis and Sax, 8th ed, 1992, (T55.3.H3.S3), "Prudent Practices in the Laboratory:...", 1995, (T55.3.H3)
• Consult the Safety Committee (ph: 2-2706)

Biosafety, Radiation Safety

• If your research involves hazardous biological materials, please contact Environmental Health & Safety (2-4925) for information on special requirements.
• The doorway to labs in which biohazards are in use must carry a special hazard warning symbol
  
  
  
• If your research involves RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS, you must take a special course in the proper handling of these materials; call EH&S.
• The doorway to labs in which radioactive materials are in use must carry the well-known radiation hazard warning symbol.
• The lab must be certified as acceptable for use of radioactive materials
  • Do NOT carry your expts into other labs

Topics in Chemical Safety

• Chemical Inventory
  • All labs are required to maintain a current inventory of chemicals present in the lab.
  • A dated copy should be posted on the lab door.
• Labeling of Chemicals
  • All containers of chemicals must carry a label (even distilled water).
    • Exception: containers in immediate use.
    • If abbreviations or acronyms are used, these must be posted in the lab and cross referenced to the full. chemical name, e.g. DMSO = dimethyl sulfoxide.
    • The EPA will consider unlabeled chemicals as waste. Since you obviously cannot use a chemical of unknown constitution, it must be waste. As such, it is subject to fines.
    • The term "waste" carries a narrow legalistic meaning. You have 90 days to eliminate waste. Only EH&S has the power to declare a chemical as waste, so DO NOT use this term. Some chemicals may be recycled or claimed by other researchers. Use terms such as "used", "recovered" or "excess"
• Chemical Storage
  • Flammable Materials
    • The State of Neb. allows only 4 liters of flammables ("Flash point" < 100 deg. F) to be stored "in-the-open".
      e.g. on bench tops, in the hood, etc.
    • When not in immediate use, flammables must be stored in approved yellow metal safety cabinets. Storage underneath the sink, or in other ordinary wooden cabinets is not acceptable!
    • For materials that must be kept cold, use only "flammable materials" refrigerators, or "explosion proof" refrigerators.
  • Incompatible Chemicals
    • Segregate the following into separate areas:
      • OXIDIZERS (e.g. potassium permanganate, sodium nitrate)
      • Water Reactives (often these are also strong reducing agents), e.g. potassium metal, LAH which react violently with water)
        • protect from water, e.g. the new sprinkler system
      • Inorganic Acids, e.g. sulfuric acid
      • Toxic Chemicals, e.g. carcinogens (Cr(VI) compounds, or compounds that pose a reproductive hazard (diglyme)
    • Peroxide Formers (e.g. ethers, isopropylbenzene)
      • These react with oxygen of the air to form peroxides
      • In dilute solutions, at cool temperatures, these may look innocent
      • But, when concentrated and heated, as in an attempted distillation, the peroxides may detonate.
  • Cylinders of Gases
    • Cylinders must be secured to the benchtop with a heavy strap or chain. If they fall, the top valve may break, and the high pressure will create a torpedo.
    • If a leak is evident, contact EH&S immediately.
    • stored cylinders must have a valve cover in place
    • To move a cylinder, make sure a valve cover is in place. Use only an approved cylinder cart to move.
  • Chemical Transport
    • Corrosive chemicals in glass containers must be transported from the stockroom in a plastic bucket or special shock resistant rubber container.
    • Transporting chemicals out of the building, even to another campus building, requires special precautions; contact EH&S
• Use of Chemicals/ Standard Procedures
  • Personal Exposure
    • never smell or taste chemicals
    • wash hands or skin before leaving lab
  • Personal Protective Equipment
    • Keep PPE (such as vinyl gloves) INSIDE the lab only; remove if you exit
    • Always wear eye protection
    • Know when to use face shields, lab coats, explosion shields, gloves, etc.
      • Ask your research director, if unsure
    • good experimental design will minimize the necessity for ancillary equipment
  • Cold Rooms or Warm Rooms
    • Often, these rooms recirculate air.
    • So, the use of volatile solvents or reactions that emit vapors must be AVOIDED!
    • Do your share to keep clean
  • Rotary Evaporators
    • When low-boiling solvents are evaporated
      • The condenser may not completely condense the vapor. If so, the drain water will be contaminated
    • So, use rotovaps with special coolers to maximize condensation of vapors
• Chemical Disposal
  • a disposal tag must be affixed to the chemical's container
    • EH&S will send you the tags, free (call 2-4925)
    • the tag lists important information
      • your name, telephone number
      • location of the chemical in question
      • facility (use "CC")
      • solid, liquid or gas
      • type of container (glass, plastic, metal?)
      • full name of chemical
      • if a mixture, full name of each component, and percentage of each
    • Detach and discard the yellow part of the tag (unless radioactive)
    • Detach original from carbon copy
      • send original to EH&S (acts as a pick-up order)
      • make sure carbon copy is attached to container
      • an EH&S representative will pick up chemical in a day or two
    • If in doubt whether a chemical is hazardous, requiring EH&S handling
      • ASSUME THE WORST
      • Call EH&S to pick up chemical
      • Let them decide if it is hazardous or not
      • You may also contact Safety Chair for advice
  • Do NOT throw chemicals down the drain
    However, clean acidic or basic solutions (no heavy metals) may be neutralized to pH 6-8, and disposed via the drain
  • Do NOT evaporate chemicals into the air (even in a hood)
    violates "Clean Air Act, 1990"