From: Frankie Wood-Black <fwblack**At_Symbol_Here**CABLEONE.NET>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] How big of a spill before you call for help?
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 12:48:29 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: CA+hVcMvCYdrWsR9-33Mbf8ocKYP97dyVFwNOhci_-pSYjCa+rQ**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To


This is a great question - when I worked at the Research Center - we didn't have a set amount - as each laboratory had its procedures for its material, and the guidelines were listed prior to the research being approved. But, there was a call that had to be made for every spill over a pint or a pound unless there was a smaller quantity specified for that material. This allowed us to track the spills and report what was required without folks having to remember all the threshold quantities for various things. They also had to make this call within a short time window.

This allowed our emergency response folks to assess the situation as well and ask if additional materials or support was required.

On Tue, Oct 14, 2014 at 5:13 PM, Ashbrook, Peter C <peteash**At_Symbol_Here**illinois.edu> wrote:

Our chemical spill response procedures can be found here: https://www.drs.illinois.edu/AccidentResponse/ChemicalSpill.

Basically, we approach it from the other direction-when do you need to call for help. We call for help when we have "complicated spills." If the spill does not meet the criteria for a complicated spill, it can be cleaned up by laboratory personnel.

Peter Ashbrook

From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of Phil McKittrick
Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2014 3:37 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] How big of a spill before you call for help?

Someone asked me how large of a spill they could clean up themselves without calling our internal emergency spill team. I realize it depends a lot on what was spilled, but let's assume it is something nasty like methylene chloride or benzene. Is there a good rule of thumb for how large of a spill (outside a hood) can be cleaned up safely?

Phil McKittrick




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