Lab Safety and Hazardous Waste Generator

TrainingEH&S Chemical Safety Group

University of Colorado, Boulder

Department of Environmental Health & Safety

EHS.Colorado.edu

ChemSafety@Colorado.edu Version: 1 November 2016

Why do I need this training?

1) Someone said I had to be here…

2) I work with hazardous materials…

3) I potentially generate hazardous waste…

4) I live for the University and desperately want to protect its assets and investments…

If you answered yes to at least one of these statements,

then you’re in the right place!

Up to 1976, This is how hazardous

waste used to be disposed of

Of course, this is a terrible

solution for waste disposal.

So in 1976, the EPA developed waste management regulations

which we all follow to this day

Hazardous Waste Regulations• The University of Colorado must meet federal law requirements set in place

by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA)

• This set up a “Cradle to Grave” process, where all hazardous materials must

be regulated from where it’s first used in the lab (cradle), all the way to

where it ends up after it leaves CU (Grave).

Treatment

Storage

Disposal

It turned this… Into this

What You Will Learn In This Training

1. General Laboratory Safety Requirements

2. Emergency Fire and Chemical Spill Procedures

3. Hazardous Waste Generation– If you produce a hazardous waste… then you are a Hazardous

Waste Generator

– If you are a generator, then you must have ANNUAL training (which we will remind you to take in a year)

1. Laboratory Safety

Requirements

• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• Hazard Communication

(signs/labels/SDS)

• Chemical Storage/Labeling

• No Food/Drink In the Lab

• Gas Cylinders

• Lab Safety Equipment

• Emergency Procedures

Topics will Include

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• PPE must be worn whenever in the lab

• Full length pants

• Closed toed shoes

• Protective Eyewear/goggles

• Gloves and lab coat

Crocs melt and allow

chemicals to reach

the skin, they do not

count as closed toed

shoes!

Hazard Communication

There are 3 main ways to

learn the hazards of a

certain chemical:

1. Product Labels

2. Safety Data Sheets

“SDS” (formally

MSDS’s)

3. NFPA sign and other

door signage

*Don’t be afraid to ask

colleagues or EH&S about

how to work with a dangerous

chemical! Product labels can give a Quick Look at hazards Inside!

Safety Data SheetsThese will have all of the Info on Hazards, Handling & Emergencies

• SDS

• Shows info for each topic:• Chemical Id (Name & synonyms)

• Toxicity (How the Chemical can harm you)

• Physical Characteristics

• Reactivity (Other chemicals that it may react with)

• Fire, Spill, First Aid (What is required in these situations)

• Available From:

• The chemical supplier

• EH&S

• Or you can even Google it, just make sure it is the exact same chemical!

NFPA Placards

• The National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) labeling system is one of several labeling methods commonly used to advise hazards of chemicals.

• They can be found on container labels, the chemical’s SDS, and on your lab doors.

Chemical Storage and Labeling

• All Chemicals must be:

– Labeled!

– Kept in secondary containment to prevent spills

• Peroxide formers expire in 1 year! (Ethyl Ether, THF, etc.)

– Write date of opening on the label

– Write date of expiration if not already on the label

(1 year from open date)

• Store all chemicals with compatible

materials

There are 4 main separation groups

Acids --- Bases --- Flammables --- Oxidizers

Label, Label, Label!

We constantly find old and expired

chemicals in laboratories,

and tons of unlabeled/unknown

chemicals!

Please Label Everything

and store it properly!

Food and Drink Policy

• Campus policy is that absolutely no food or drink

is allowed in any laboratory space

• All eating and drinking must be done outside the lab

(Sorry, no exception for if your desk is in the lab area)

Gas Cylinders

• Keep all the tags and labels on the bottle

• All cylinders must stay secured to a stationary object

like a wall, lab bench, or cylinder rack

Lab Safety Equipment

• Know the Location of:

• Eyewashes/Showers

• Fume Hoods

• First Aid Kits

• Fire Extinguishers

• Fire/Chemical Alarms

• SDS’s

• Spill Cleanup Equipment

• Exits

2. Spills & Fires

-A Small “Incidental” Spill vs. an Emergency Spill Response

-Campus Fire Policy

Incidental Spill

Have a small spill occur? Think of the SQUID!

• Spill is small in nature

• Quickly locate spill cleanup materials

• Isolate and clean up the spill using proper protection (PPE)

• Dispose of the waste from cleaning up properly

Watch the

Quick Example

Video!

Emergency Spill Scenario

A one gallon container of Toluene, a flammable poison, fell and shattered onto the floor of your lab. Some of the toluene has splashed

onto one of your co-workers’ legs, arms, and clothes.

What do you do now?!

Watch the

Quick Example

Video!

Emergency Spill Response

Don’t be a social LEPER, Remember these steps!

• Life Safety First• Remove all affected clothing and rinse exposed skin/eyes for at least

15 minutes in a nearby emergency shower/eyewash

• Evacuate the immediate area

• Pull the nearest fire or chemical alarm in the hallway

• Execute a 911 call from a safe location

• Remain available for emergency personnel

• Is there such a thing as a small (unintentional) fire?– No! Campus policy is that every fire should be treated like a big fire

• FIRST: Follow Emergency Spill Response Procedure– The LEPER Steps

• THEN: Attempt to extinguish the fire if you’re

comfortable doing so

– Fire Dept. is already on its way in case you aren’t successful,

saving valuable time

Fires

3. Hazardous Waste!

Now that you know how to safely work in a laboratory and with hazardous chemicals,

What do you do with the hazardous waste you have generated?!

What is Hazardous Waste?!

• By Regulation, anything that shows a certain characteristic:• Corrosive• Toxic• Ignitable• EPA Listed

• Buffers, salts, agar, and water are just about the only things not considered hazardous waste

• If in doubt ask the EH&S and our Haz-Waste Management group

• No Hazardous Chemicals can go down the

drains or in the trash!

• Absolutely no liquid can go in the trash

Waste Disposal

So Where Does it Go?

• State and Federal regulations require all hazardous waste to be stored in a Satellite Accumulation Area (SAA) after it is generated.

• EH&S is required to know exactly where all haz-waste is on campus, so we have set up SAAs for all of your labs and facilities.

• SAAs are required to be inspected weekly!

– We have a NEW online solution for this!

Regulations for

All Hazardous Waste Containers

1. All containers are labeled with all of it’s contents and as “Hazardous Waste”

*Using a EH&S disposal tag is best =

2. Containers are closed and not leaking or bulging

3. Group all waste containers according to chemical compatibility

4. Everything is in secondary containment

5. Less than 55 Gal. total of waste

6. Not a P-Listed Acutely Toxic waste

(Dispose these immediately through EH&S)

What‘s Wrong Here?

No labeling of its chemical contents

No “HazardousWaste” label

Open Container

No Secondary Containment

Not In a designated SAA

How to Check the SAA Every Week

• Complete the SAA inspection by

visiting the EHS Website

– Https://ehs.Colorado.edu

– Click the link found on the home page to

check login and check the SAAs

• Every SAA in the lab must be inspected at least once a week

A “week” is from Sunday to Saturday

• We send a friendly reminder to everyone in the lab on Friday if the SAA hasn’t gotten checked yet that week

The Online log needs to be checked by Saturday Midnight

• If nobody in the lab inspects the SAAs for that week, the lab will received a Notice of Non-Compliance

Too many of these won’t be good for the lab!

Hazardous Waste Tag

• Haz-Waste is disposed of through EH&S by submitting a haz-waste disposal tag

• Completely fill out one of these tags and attach it to the waste container

• Use Full Chemical Names in English

– Include any trace amount of materials and every solvent (even water!)

• Write the best guess of percent for each material. Total should reach = 100%

• Campus mail the top white sheet to EH&S (UCB-413)

Haz-Waste Disposal Crew’s Wish List:

1. Please write legibly

2. Keep all Mercury separate from other waste

3. If you have multiple containers of the exact

same waste = you can write it all on one tag

and attach it to all the containers.

4. Write the physical state of the chemical, the

amount in the container, and its pH!

5. Been waiting 2 weeks and the waste is still

there? Call us at 303-492-7845

NOT LIKE THIS!!

Empty Containers & Broken GlassEmpty Bottles

1. Remove the Cap

2. Destroy/Cross out the label

3. Label the bottle as “Empty”

4. Container can then be disposed of directly in a dumpster.

-NOT in a normal trash can!

*P-Listed chemical bottles must go through EH&S

Non-Contaminated Broken Glass

1. Accumulate in a puncture-resistant box

2. Have separate accumulation boxes for chemically contaminated and clean broken glass

*Lab glass is not allowed in campus recycling*

If the waste is contaminated with Heavy

metals, Acute toxins, or hazardous

chemicals, it must be accumulated for

EH&S disposal.

1. Accumulate in a puncture resistant

container

(cardboard box, plastic container, etc)

2. Fill out and attach a haz-waste disposal

tag, listing out all chemicals the waste

is contaminated with

3. Submit to EH&S for disposal.

Broken Glass and Pippete Tips

Chemically Contaminated Non-Contaminated

If there is no chemical contamination, the

waste can be accumulated for eventual

disposal in a dumpster

1. Accumulate in a puncture resistant

container

(cardboard box, plastic container, etc)

2. Label it as “Non-Hazardous”

3. Close the container or seal it with tape

4. Bring directly to a dumpster for

disposal

Metal Sharps and

Biomedical Appearing Things

• Regardless of contamination or not, All Metal

sharps must be disposed of through EH&S as

hazardous waste!

– Razor blades, scalpels, needles etc.

• As well, Bio-Medically appearing things must

be disposed of as hazardous waste

– Syringe barrels, tips, needles etc.

Do NOT use broken glass boxes like

trash cans!

Otherwise you will have to sort through the whole box No Needles!

No Liquids!

No Trash!

Biological Waste

If you will be working with biohazardous material, you will require separate

trainings, and need to contact our Biosafety group at ehsbio@colorado.edu

• Unless you are trained, Do not touch anything labeled as biohazardous

• All biologically contaminated materials must be rendered non-infectious

• Bleach

• Autoclave

• Autoclaved material should be placed in bins for pickup, and have the top white

copy of the Non-Biohazardous Certification Tag put in the sleeve…

Radioactive Material

If you will be working with radioactive material, you will require separate trainings, and need to contact our Health Physics group at 303-492-6523

What is radiation?

• All materials, including radioactive materials, are made up of atoms

• Radioactive atoms are unstable and have extra energy which is released as “radiation”.

• This energy can be hazardous to humans if not used safely.

• Radioactive contamination is loose radioactive material (like invisible dust) which can get on your clothing and shoes.

• Exposure to radiation happens when you are around radioactive materials, even when you are not in direct contact with it.

Recognizing radiation use areas

• The universal Radiation Symbol (trefoil ) is used to notify you of the presence of radiation. Equipment and areas marked with this symbol should be treated carefully.

• Unless you are trained, do not touch anything labeled as radioactive.

• Radioactive materials which can cause contamination are called “unsealed sources”

• Radioactive materials which are bound in metal or plastic are called “sealed sources.”

• Other labs may use X-ray machines or LASERs. These machines are not dangerous if they are not turned on.

• At very high amounts, much greater than those found at CU, radiation can cause burns and damage to cells.

• The principle hazard from exposure to radiation is an increase in the risk of developing cancer.

• No one knows how much radiation it takes to cause cancer, but the amount of radiation used at CU is very small.

• There are rules and regulations in place at the University of Colorado which are designed to reduce your risks from exposure to radiation

Radioactive Material

Working Safely Around Radiation

• It is recommended to wash your hands immediately after working in a lab with radioactive materials, in order

to effectively remove any radioactive contamination you may have received.

• Radioactive waste cans look different than regular trash cans. They are marked with the trefoil and are usually

a different color. These should not be emptied or moved.

• If you notice a leaking waste container or other issue, contact the CU Radiation Safety Office at 492-6523 or

call 911.

Security of Radioactive Materials

• It is very important that radiation labs be locked when no one is present in the lab. Always be sure to lock the

door behind you if you are the last to leave.

• Restrict access to strangers, and question any trespasser to the lab.

• If you ever think you may have been contaminated with radiation, you don’t need to panic!

However, do not leave the lab, as you may spread the contamination.

• Ask for a member of the lab to help you by calling the EH&S Health Physics Group at 303-492-

6523 to get properly decontaminated.

• Always Call 911 if immediate life and health is at risk.

Congratulations!

• You are now trained in the basics of– Lab Safety Procedures

– Chemical Use/Storage

– Chemical Spill Response

– Fire Response

– Hazardous Waste Generation

– Glass/Containers/Sharps Disposal

But please contact EH&S if you have any other questions or concerns!

To complete your training,

Please fill out an initial training exam

and email it to

ChemSafety@Colorado.edu

The exam can be downloaded from

HERE