Douglas G. Nicholson East Tennessee State College Johnson City
Safety Practices: Industry, Yes-Colleges,
Literature concerned with safety is constantly placed before the chemist. Chemical and Engineering News devotes a section to safety feat.ures and new safety information. Typical topics recently covered are modern safety aspects of: radiation protection (1, 8 ) ; amateur rocketeering (3); horn11 compounds (4); and disaster aid (5). Information of geueral interest as well as advice and suggestions of specific value are reported. Whether or not the advice is accepted and heeded is a question which is quite difficult to answer. A safety guide, prepared by a committee of industrial chemints, has :dso been published (6). Suitable safety posters arc avi~ilable for bulletin-board use at nominal cost (7). Other safety literature is available at no charge (8). When academic staff memhnrs visit ir~dustrial laboratory iustallatious. they are usually impressed by the safety practices in operation. No Smoking signs, safety record charts, presence of fire extinguishers, and location and numher of safety showers, as well as emergency fire alarm stations are all easily identified and quite numerous. Since these items are quite expensive to install and maintain, it is only logical to consider that industry considers the cost of such items thoroughly justified. Industry has "safety engineers" who are most cooperative in sharing ideas and sugPresented as part of the Symposium on Accident Prevention in The Chemical Industry bcforo the Division of Industsial and lhgineering Chemistry at the 134th meeting of the American Chemical Society, Chicago, September, 1058.
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gestious relative to safety pr:lctices wit.h anyone expressing a desire for such information (9). As a general rule industrial laboratories are more safety-conscious than most academic institutions. Safety slogans, posters, suggestion boxes, and committees are very common in industry, but somewhat unusual in academic laboratories. Some large miversity lahoratories ohserve modern safety practices in t,hc storagp, issuing, and use of hazardous materials. On t,he other hand the smaller academic iustitutions (oftcu with the chemistry laboratory on the upper floor of an old building) have many practices which arc dangerous. Moreover, they are doing little or nt~thingto remedy the situation. Experience with one or more avoidable accidents does much to cause an institution to become safety conscious (10). Good Practices
Examples of safety practices which are often ncglected a t the small institutions are: A university chemistry stockroom unpacks all g1assw:~re shipped in cardboard containers (plus excelsior) and stores it in steel trays in steel shelving. A modern iaboratory has heen designed so that all offices and lahoratories have two entrance (or exit) doors. New university 1:ihoratories have all undergro~md st.orage vault for volatile flammable solvents so designed that in the event of excessive heat (fire) an :wtomatic regulated carbon dioxide atmosphere floods the :~rc:l.
Volume 36, Number 8, Augurf 1959
/ 377
A state university has a hulk chemical storage area in which phosphorous containers are placed on the floor in a "well" so designed that, in the event of fire, the operation of an automatic sprinkler system would result in flooding the "well." A state university has a coin (for pay telephone use) located in each departmental emergency cabinet. Access to the cabinet is gained by breaking a microscope-slide seal covering the catch on the lock. No key is involved. Bad Practices
How many of our well meaning academic friends have not smoked a cigar or cigarette in a laboratory containing strong ether or benzene fumes? This is not done in industrial laboratories. Why do the professors (who should-and do-know better) violate common sense? Another source of safety hazard in many academic institutions is the accumulation of a supply of surplus hazardous chemicals (usually at no cost) from wellmeaning industrial or governmental sources. Speaking from first hand information, we have located several one-half ounce bottles of hydrocyanic acid in a dark corner of our stockroom and 32 one-ounce bottles of picric acid in another. This had been received some years before. We had no real use for the hydrocyanic acid, and the annual use of picric acid approximates four ounces. Recently one of our industrial friends was planning to dispose of 33 pounds of perchloric acid, but realized that "an area college could possibly use it." They obligingly gave it to us. About ten days after its arrival, a staff member found it neatly packed in excelsior in our stockroom. Luckily none had spilled and no one happened to drop any hot cigarette ashes on any of the excelsior. These "gifts" from industrial or governmental laboratories are welcomed, but it is most essential that someone with adequate technical knowledge and safety consciousness he a t hand to classify and store them on arrival. It is entirely possible that such items could be received and stored indefinitely in this hazardous packing, had it not been "accidentally" discovered by one who uuderstood the danger. Rased upon these typical experiences it is well to recommend that colleges should accept only such quantities of hazardous chemicals as they can utilize in a reasonable period of time. In this day of limited budgets and need of expensive equipment, many see a material saving if excessive quantities of hazardous materials are accepted and "held for future use." Constant Evaluation Necessary
Although check lists of safety practices and principles have been published (11, Is), it is well to reconsider certain rules which can be applied in all chemical laboratories with a minimum of expense. If those in charge of academic laboratories would use the following minimum list of items in a self-evaluation of
safety conditions and practices. most would be surprised, if not ashamed. We are sometimes prone to talk about rules, yet we hesitate to do something about them. (1) Are safety practices snd principles coutinuaUy brought before the staff snd student body? (2) Do the staff members abide by standards of safety established for students? (3) Are emergency cabinets restocked and checked at specific intervals? (4) Are storage areas free from excessive packing and flammable materials? (5) Are persons in charge of receiving and stocking equipment and chemicals familiar with the toxic and flammable nature of all material8 they handle? (6) Are cylinders of compressed gases "chained" in m upright position using s, homemade device or a oommercially available clamp (13)? (7) Are electriod gadgets connected to a "spider-web" of extension cords with two and three-u-ay o u t l e t e d l originating s t a single wall outlet? (8) Is a. public telephone available for emergency calls during regular as well ss off-hour periods? Are coins available for general "use by pay-phone stations a t mch times? (9) Is a "Safety Committee" composed of students and faculty xtive? Are its recommendations recognized? (10) Are staff members advised regarding basic firseaid prwtices for each of several possible types of laboratory accidents? (11) Are safety showers tested at a d e h i t e time i n t e ~ d ? (12) Are fire extinguishers checked on a definite time schedule?
If a new laboratory or extensive alterations of existing facilities are being planned, it is obvious that many safety factors, possibly entailing some modifications in plans, should be incorporated in the program. I t is firmly believed that area industrial safety eneineers would be verv to evaluate t.he safetv " han~v status of local colleges. Their suggestions and comments should be considered by the faculty and adminis tration of the schools involved. The responsibility for invitation of such L'inspections" rests with the academic faculty concerned. Thus more understanding and recognition of evident problems and shortcomings will be clearly defined and remedial measures provided.
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Literature Cited (1) (2) (3) (4)
Chem. Eng. News, 34, No. 6, 622 (1956). Ibid.. 35, No. 52.36 (1957). Ibid.; 36, No. 4,51 (i958). Ibid.. 35. No. 48,5411957)
i6j " ~ u ; d e kor safety in th; Chemical L&oratory," D. Van Nostrand Co., New York, 1954. (7) The Hexagon, 48, No. 4, 207 (1958). (8) "Manual of Lahoratory Safety," Fisher Scientific Co., 717 Forbes Street, Pittsburgh 19, Pa. (9) COOK,W. B.,AND PERKINS,A. J., J. CHEM.EDDC.,31, 95 I\ 1OEAj L . , " '
(10) PIIRDUQ.J. 0..AND HOLLEY.C. J.. J. CHEM.EDDO..29. (11) FAWCETT, H. H., J. CHEM.EDUC.,26, 108 (1949). (12) Ibid., 24,296 (1947). (13) YOUNG,EDMOND G., J. CAEM.EDUC.,26, 258 (1949)
