Hi Ben,
We write our own SOPs, which have a safety section. But, sadly, we write them after an incident!!!
Regards
BVK
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
Hi Ben,
May I bring your sulfuric acid scenario a bit more close to home?
Let's say it's a 100 mL beaker of sulfuric. Spilling said beaker inside the hood requires a straight forward spill response. However, if you were to trip while carrying it, the spill response procedure gets a bit more complicated.
Let's say it's a 4L bottle that falls on the floor. Knowing whether or not you need to evacuate the lab and come back in with a respirator will depend on the size of the room/the exhaust capability of the room. If you clean it yourself, do you have a kit that addresses a 4L acid spill?
Let's say you work at a university that has TAs teaching the undergrad lab courses by themselves. Think about the student who trips carrying 100mL of sulfuric and splashes 1 or more classmates. Is your well-meaning TA adequately trained to deal with the situation until help arrives? Is there anything posted in the lab to help your TA navigate the situation?
The SDS can't account for all scenarios nor levels of spill response training. We all should take the time to use the LCSS, SDS, Lessons Learned, and other information to write SOPs. I have also found it beneficial to include a safety section in my experiment procedures. While experienced staff members may find this section unnecessary and even patronizing, inexperienced staff tends to find it valuable for one simple reason- they don't know what they're doing, yet.
Of course, all of your effort is futile without training. Nobody has the knowledge to appropriately respond to all the different hazmat scenarios without proper training. Even people with basic spill response training will make the mistake of walking thru the spill as they rush to lay down absorbent pads (witnessed).
As chemists, we might be eager to write an experiment procedure that teaches students how to create a chromatography column out of a 100mL burette. Unfortunately, we are not necessarily eager to write a procedure on what to do if your 4ft tall student accidentally tips the set-up while trying to pour solvent into the burette. I don't know if my prof had a written spill response SOP for that undergrad experiment, but I do recall he proactively approached my bubbly classmate to discretely offer her a step stool. Would your well-meaning TA have the foresight to offer a step stool or do you need to suggest it in an SOP?
So- Santa's list it is. ;)
Thank you,
Yaritza Brinker
260.827.5402
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU> On Behalf Of Ben Ruekberg
Sent: Wednesday, January 8, 2020 11:57 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Good idea or maybe not for SDSs
Hello and Happy New Year,
Imperfect as they may be, we rely on SDSs for guidance in dealing with chemicals.
For student laboratories, problems arise that are different from industrial scale problems. SDSs seem to be concerned with the industrial scale. Take for examples, what to do in case of a spill. Would it not be helpful if SDSs were to designate size-appropriate actions? It seems to me that, generally speaking, spilling a milliliter of sulfuric acid should require a different response from that for the spill of a tank car full of sulfuric acid. Well-meaning teaching assistants, who do not have instructions on what action to take depending on the size of a spill, will tend to act on the side of caution (we would hope) which may involve unnecessary expense and disruption. Would there not seem to be practical value in an SDS saying something along the lines of "This amount is a small spill and you should do this, that amount is a medium spill and you should do that, more than this sized spill means you should evacuate and call 911!"? Clearly, what constitutes the various categories of spill size differs from substance to substance, which is why the SDS would seem (to me) the appropriate place for this information. There might even be the benefit of making some SDSs less scary.
This might be asking a bit much from documents that say to wear appropriate gloves without saying which gloves are appropriate. Should I just put this in my next letter to Santa?
Thank you very much,
Ben
--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas
Electronic Transmission Confidentiality Notice
The information contained in this electronic transmission is private, confidential, the property of the sender, and intended for the use of the recipient(s), only. If you are not the addressee, any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of this information for any purpose is strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender, YBrinker**At_Symbol_Here**fele.com, immediately by e-mail and then delete this message. Thank you.
[FE.EN.1]
--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas
