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Safety Procedures
chemical spills | equipment disposal | electrical fires | classes of fires and exstinguishing
Chemical Spills
If a hazardous spill occurs:
- Assess the severity of the hazard to yourself before attempting to clean it up.
- If you are unable to SAFELY remove the spill,
a. Alert everyone in the area.
b. Post a warning
c. Contact Steve Bright, 688-3021, 244 MacQuigg Labs
d. Contact a faculty member or call Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety: 292-1284
i) Acid Spills.
Anyone using acids for etching, electroplating or other experimental work should have available in the immediate work area a five pound bottle of sodium bicarbonate. In case of an acid spill, put sodium bicarbonate on the acid to neutralize it.
Environmental Safety recommends a 1 to 1 ratio of sodium bicarbonate to spilled acid. There will be a foaming reaction and sodium bicarbonate should be added until the foaming subsides. This mixture can then be put in a sink and diluted with copious amounts of running water.
ii) Mercury Spills.
Extreme caution should be used in handling mercury as a spill can contaminate a whole area. Environmental Safety recommends that procedures using mercury be confined to high-sided plastic trays to prevent the escape of mercury droplets.
All mercury spills must be reported to Environmental Safety at 292-1284. They will clean up the spill and test for toxic levels of mercury in the area.
Further resources (all links open in a new window):
- Link to MSDS Database (EHS)
- Link to Pocket Guide to Chemical Hazards (NIOSH)
- Link to International Chemical Safety Cards (NIOSH)
- Link to ChemFinder (database for chemical descriptions)
- Link to Chemical Management Guidebook (OEHS) This book helps the user to comply with the various environmental regulations relating to infectious waste, defining a hazardous waste, laboratory safety guidelines, spill cleanup procedures, waste minimization and chemical redistribution, collecting, packaging and manifesting waste, and dealing with waste requiring special handling or disposal procedures. (page provides links to PDF chapters of this guidebook)
- Chemical Hygiene Plan Please see your advisor for chemical hygiene and handling procedures specific to your research group.
Equipment Disposal
The following is the procedure for disposing of equipment:
- Someone in authority should determine if the item is no longer useful and should be discarded.
- If the item is to discarded, then the item should be looked over carefully to find any identifying inventory numbers. These numbers are usually found on four different kinds of tags:
a) The very old type label with stamped letters (not many of these)
b) The most common "stick-on" type tag
c) The Research Foundation aluminum tag
d) The new OSU Bar Code tag - Write down any number that appears on the tag and check it against the master inventory list (available with Building Coordinator). If it is not on the list and is small enough to throw in the trash, pitch it. If it is too large or too heavy to trash, call one of the MSE Safety Officers (see cover for numbers). If it is on the inventory list, obtain a "Release of Surplus Property Form" from Building Coordinator, fill it out, and have him send it to either the Treasurer's Office or to the Research Center if the item is Research Foundation equipment.
Electrical Fires
General procedures for handling electrical fires:
- Turn off power source at the breakers or the junction box and unplug.
- Use CO2, or dry chemical extinguisher to put out fire. Never use water.
- When fire is extinguished check circuit to determine cause.
- Do not turn on circuit until cause of fire has been established and the fault corrected.
- Report fire to Safety Officer.
Classes of Fires and Methods of Extinguishing
For further information about fire safety and extinguisher use, please link to "Fire Safety and Fire Extinguishers in a Chemical Laboratory" (from Interactive Learning Paradigms Incorporated).
Class A Fire
Material:
Wood, paper, textiles and other ordinary combustible materials.
To extinguish:
Pressurized water
Multi-purpose dry chemical
Halon
Class B Fire
Material:
Flammable liquids: oils, solvents, grease, paint, etc.
To extinguish:
BC dry chemical, regular
Carbon dioxide (if fire is contained in a small area).
Multi-purpose dry chemical
Halon
Class C Fire
Electrical Fires
To extinguish:
Carbon dioxide
Halon
BC dry chemical, regular. Effective, but will destroy electronic gear.
Multi-purpose dry chemical. Effective, but will destroy electronic gear.
Class D Fire
Material:
Metals: Magnesium, Aluminum, Sodium, Potassium, Zirconium, Titanium etc.
To extinguish:
Special metal extinguishers
The ordinary extinguishers found in the building should not be used on metal fires because a violent reaction may result.
