Introduction
Definition of Terms:
Chemical Toxicity - ability of a chemical molecule or compound to damage susceptible sites or
cells in the human body or in other living biological systems including plants, animals, or even
ecosystems.
Acute – have short term effects like poisons, asthmagens, eg: cyanide, strychnine
Chronic – long term effects like carcinogens, reproductive hazard, eg: vinyl chloride
(liver cancer), asbestos (lung cancer), thalidomide (teratogenic effects)
Dependent on:
1) Dosage
2) Frequency of exposure
3) Duration of exposure
4) Route of exposure
Chemical Laboratory Safety - The control of exposure to potentially hazardous substances to
attain an acceptably low risk of exposure.
Hazard - the potential to harm
1) Chemical hazard like dusts, fumes, mists, vapors
2) Physical hazards like fire, electrical, radiation, pressure, explosions, implosion, vibration,
temperatures, noise, radiation,
3) Ergonomic hazard like repetitive motion (pipetting), lifting, work areas (computers,
instruments)
4) Biological hazard like pathogens, blood, and body fluids
Risk - the probability that harm will result
Chemical Laboratory Safety – based on the principle of Industrial Hygiene. The anticipation,
recognition, evaluation and control of health hazards in the work environment to protect workers
health and well-being and to safeguard the community and the environment
1) Anticipation by planning ahead the experiment/procedure, preparing the MSDS, and
consulting with the CSSO, doing a risk analysis
2) Recognition of hazards
3) Evaluation of the hazard and risk
4) Control of the risks
a. Engineering controls like enclosure, isolation, ventilations, hoods, barrier
i. Changing the process to eliminate the hazard
, ii. Substitution of non-hazardous substances for hazardous ones (toluene for
benzene)
iii. Isolation or enclosure of the process or worker
iv. Ventilation supplying enough fresh air in the work area
1. Dilution
2. Local exhaust ventilation (LEV)
v. Special barrier facilities like clean rooms, carcinogen rooms, weighing
rooms
vi. Safety Shields like radiation shields, hood sashes, splash guards
b. Personal protective equipment (PPE)
i. Eye protection specific to the type of hazard
ii. Gloves specific to the chemical
iii. Laboratory coats, and aprons
iv. Respiratory protection specific to the gas and particulates
v. Foot protection. Steel toe-safety shoes are not necessary for laboratory work
unless there is a serious risk from transporting or handling heavy objects.
However, open toe shoes should NOT be worn in labs
c. Administrative practices that imposes organizational safety policies that apply to
everyone
example
i. No eating, drinking, smoking in laboratories
ii. Label all chemical containers
iii. Label refrigerators, No Food
iv. Label explosion safe refrigerators
v. Require periodic fire drills
d. Operational practices that the lab follows during a procedure
example:
i. Packages opened only in labs, not receiving
ii. Receiving staff trained to look for signs of breakage and/or leaking
shipments
iii. Receiving area has spill kits
iv. Mailroom/receiving alert for suspicious shipments
v. Proper use of hood
1. Work 6” (15 cm) in from sash
2. In center of hood
3. Work with hood sash at ~18” (45 cm) high
4. Close sash when not in use
5. Don’t use for storage
e. Emergency Plan
i. Evacuation plan and posting it on visible areas
ii. Clearing and unlocking emergency passage and exits
iii. Have routine, unannounced evacuation drills.
iv. Designate a person for each area to ensure that inner rooms are evacuated.
v. Locate outside staging areas at sufficient distance from the building.
vi. Test and maintain alarms.
vii. Post a person to meet/direct emergency vehicles.
, viii. Post each room with:
1. Emergency phone numbers
2. After hour phone numbers
3. Person(s) to be contacted
4. Alternate person(s)
5. Unique procedures to be followed
ix. Centrally locate the equipment for body and eye wash
1. Remove contaminated clothing
2. Thoroughly flush with water
3. Follow chemical specific procedures (i.e. HF)
4. Seek medical assistance
x. Centrally locate spill kits for quick access
Clean-up spill only if you know the chemical hazards, have appropriate
equipment and are trained to do so.
1. Alert colleagues and secure area
2. Assess ability to clean-up spill
3. Find spill kit
4. Use appropriate PPE and sorbent material
5. Protect sinks and floor drains
6. Clean-up spill, collect/label waste for disposal
7. Report all spills.
xi. Centrally locate, inspect and maintain the following
1. First aid kits
2. Special chemical antidotes, if necessary
3. Respirators
4. Specially train emergency personnel, if necessary
5. Postdate of last inspection on equipment, including hoods.
6. Fire extinguishers and alarms
Components of Chemical Security
1) Physical security of site
a. Sources of Threats for Chemical Security
i. Outsiders – no authorized access
ii. Insiders – authorized access
iii. Collusion – secret cooperation between outsiders and insiders
b. Motivations for Threats
i. Terrorists – ideology
ii. Criminals – financial
iii. Activists – ideology
iv. Insiders – ego, ideology, revenge, financial, coercion, ulterior motive
c. Commonly Forms of Breach of Security
i. Sabotage
ii. Theft of Chemicals
iii. Theft of information
2) Personnel management
a. Installment of a security guard to guard against insider and outsider
, b. Monitoring of entry of people in the building
c. Monitoring of key distribution and turn in.
3) Information security by tracking of chemical inventory and availability to authorized
persons only
4) Management of chemical security activities
5) Allocation of chemical security responsibilities
a. Identify people responsible for various chemical security activities:
i. Physical security, building modifications
ii. Chemical tracking and reporting
iii. Personnel and access management
iv. Information management
v. Emergency planning
b. Ensure they have time and resources to do the job
c. Integrate with chemical safety responsibilities
d. Professional behavior
i. Chemical professionals use their scientific knowledge in a responsible
manner
ii. Chemical educators need to train their students to use their scientific
knowledge in a responsible manner
6) Development of emergency plans
7) Chemical security training
Chemical Safety and Security
• Chemical safety is practiced to protect against accidents
• Chemical security is practiced to protect against deliberate harm
• Common grounds of the two:
a) Minimize the use of hazardous chemicals by replacing hazardous substances with
no hazardous ones or down-scaling the experiment
b) Minimize supply of hazardous chemicals
c) Restrict access to hazardous chemicals:
d) Plan what to do in an emergency
• Conflicts between the two:
Safety Security
Label everything so people can recognize Labels help identify targets for theft or
hazardous chemicals. attack.
Let community and especially emergency Sharing locations of chemicals can
responders know what chemical dangers publicize targets for theft or attack.
are there.
Share knowledge about chemical hazards Sharing knowledge of chemical hazards
so people know to be alert. could inspire harmful behavior (copy-cat
criminals).
For safety, people need to be able to leave For security, you want to control exits as
the facility quickly and by many routes. well as entrances so chemicals (or
equipment) are not taken.
Definition of Terms:
Chemical Toxicity - ability of a chemical molecule or compound to damage susceptible sites or
cells in the human body or in other living biological systems including plants, animals, or even
ecosystems.
Acute – have short term effects like poisons, asthmagens, eg: cyanide, strychnine
Chronic – long term effects like carcinogens, reproductive hazard, eg: vinyl chloride
(liver cancer), asbestos (lung cancer), thalidomide (teratogenic effects)
Dependent on:
1) Dosage
2) Frequency of exposure
3) Duration of exposure
4) Route of exposure
Chemical Laboratory Safety - The control of exposure to potentially hazardous substances to
attain an acceptably low risk of exposure.
Hazard - the potential to harm
1) Chemical hazard like dusts, fumes, mists, vapors
2) Physical hazards like fire, electrical, radiation, pressure, explosions, implosion, vibration,
temperatures, noise, radiation,
3) Ergonomic hazard like repetitive motion (pipetting), lifting, work areas (computers,
instruments)
4) Biological hazard like pathogens, blood, and body fluids
Risk - the probability that harm will result
Chemical Laboratory Safety – based on the principle of Industrial Hygiene. The anticipation,
recognition, evaluation and control of health hazards in the work environment to protect workers
health and well-being and to safeguard the community and the environment
1) Anticipation by planning ahead the experiment/procedure, preparing the MSDS, and
consulting with the CSSO, doing a risk analysis
2) Recognition of hazards
3) Evaluation of the hazard and risk
4) Control of the risks
a. Engineering controls like enclosure, isolation, ventilations, hoods, barrier
i. Changing the process to eliminate the hazard
, ii. Substitution of non-hazardous substances for hazardous ones (toluene for
benzene)
iii. Isolation or enclosure of the process or worker
iv. Ventilation supplying enough fresh air in the work area
1. Dilution
2. Local exhaust ventilation (LEV)
v. Special barrier facilities like clean rooms, carcinogen rooms, weighing
rooms
vi. Safety Shields like radiation shields, hood sashes, splash guards
b. Personal protective equipment (PPE)
i. Eye protection specific to the type of hazard
ii. Gloves specific to the chemical
iii. Laboratory coats, and aprons
iv. Respiratory protection specific to the gas and particulates
v. Foot protection. Steel toe-safety shoes are not necessary for laboratory work
unless there is a serious risk from transporting or handling heavy objects.
However, open toe shoes should NOT be worn in labs
c. Administrative practices that imposes organizational safety policies that apply to
everyone
example
i. No eating, drinking, smoking in laboratories
ii. Label all chemical containers
iii. Label refrigerators, No Food
iv. Label explosion safe refrigerators
v. Require periodic fire drills
d. Operational practices that the lab follows during a procedure
example:
i. Packages opened only in labs, not receiving
ii. Receiving staff trained to look for signs of breakage and/or leaking
shipments
iii. Receiving area has spill kits
iv. Mailroom/receiving alert for suspicious shipments
v. Proper use of hood
1. Work 6” (15 cm) in from sash
2. In center of hood
3. Work with hood sash at ~18” (45 cm) high
4. Close sash when not in use
5. Don’t use for storage
e. Emergency Plan
i. Evacuation plan and posting it on visible areas
ii. Clearing and unlocking emergency passage and exits
iii. Have routine, unannounced evacuation drills.
iv. Designate a person for each area to ensure that inner rooms are evacuated.
v. Locate outside staging areas at sufficient distance from the building.
vi. Test and maintain alarms.
vii. Post a person to meet/direct emergency vehicles.
, viii. Post each room with:
1. Emergency phone numbers
2. After hour phone numbers
3. Person(s) to be contacted
4. Alternate person(s)
5. Unique procedures to be followed
ix. Centrally locate the equipment for body and eye wash
1. Remove contaminated clothing
2. Thoroughly flush with water
3. Follow chemical specific procedures (i.e. HF)
4. Seek medical assistance
x. Centrally locate spill kits for quick access
Clean-up spill only if you know the chemical hazards, have appropriate
equipment and are trained to do so.
1. Alert colleagues and secure area
2. Assess ability to clean-up spill
3. Find spill kit
4. Use appropriate PPE and sorbent material
5. Protect sinks and floor drains
6. Clean-up spill, collect/label waste for disposal
7. Report all spills.
xi. Centrally locate, inspect and maintain the following
1. First aid kits
2. Special chemical antidotes, if necessary
3. Respirators
4. Specially train emergency personnel, if necessary
5. Postdate of last inspection on equipment, including hoods.
6. Fire extinguishers and alarms
Components of Chemical Security
1) Physical security of site
a. Sources of Threats for Chemical Security
i. Outsiders – no authorized access
ii. Insiders – authorized access
iii. Collusion – secret cooperation between outsiders and insiders
b. Motivations for Threats
i. Terrorists – ideology
ii. Criminals – financial
iii. Activists – ideology
iv. Insiders – ego, ideology, revenge, financial, coercion, ulterior motive
c. Commonly Forms of Breach of Security
i. Sabotage
ii. Theft of Chemicals
iii. Theft of information
2) Personnel management
a. Installment of a security guard to guard against insider and outsider
, b. Monitoring of entry of people in the building
c. Monitoring of key distribution and turn in.
3) Information security by tracking of chemical inventory and availability to authorized
persons only
4) Management of chemical security activities
5) Allocation of chemical security responsibilities
a. Identify people responsible for various chemical security activities:
i. Physical security, building modifications
ii. Chemical tracking and reporting
iii. Personnel and access management
iv. Information management
v. Emergency planning
b. Ensure they have time and resources to do the job
c. Integrate with chemical safety responsibilities
d. Professional behavior
i. Chemical professionals use their scientific knowledge in a responsible
manner
ii. Chemical educators need to train their students to use their scientific
knowledge in a responsible manner
6) Development of emergency plans
7) Chemical security training
Chemical Safety and Security
• Chemical safety is practiced to protect against accidents
• Chemical security is practiced to protect against deliberate harm
• Common grounds of the two:
a) Minimize the use of hazardous chemicals by replacing hazardous substances with
no hazardous ones or down-scaling the experiment
b) Minimize supply of hazardous chemicals
c) Restrict access to hazardous chemicals:
d) Plan what to do in an emergency
• Conflicts between the two:
Safety Security
Label everything so people can recognize Labels help identify targets for theft or
hazardous chemicals. attack.
Let community and especially emergency Sharing locations of chemicals can
responders know what chemical dangers publicize targets for theft or attack.
are there.
Share knowledge about chemical hazards Sharing knowledge of chemical hazards
so people know to be alert. could inspire harmful behavior (copy-cat
criminals).
For safety, people need to be able to leave For security, you want to control exits as
the facility quickly and by many routes. well as entrances so chemicals (or
equipment) are not taken.
