Category Archives: Reference material

25 Years of the OSHA Lab Standard

Lab Safety 25 Years after Promulgation of the OSHA Laboratory Standard

P. A. Reinhardt, Organizer
L. DeBerardinis, Organizer, Presiding
OSHA Wordle
University laboratory safety in 2015: Was it the lab standard or what? G. Hall
Enhancing safety culture through collaborative development of laboratory specific chemical hygiene plan (LSCHP) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) T. Chandra
What constitutes a laboratory? Princeton laboratory safety programs today and beyond. R. Izzo
From accident analysis to accident prevention at UCLA C.A. Merlic, I. Schroeder
Impact of the OSHA Laboratory Standard on basic laboratory safety education for undergraduates. R.H. Hill
Where are we with lab safety education: Who, what, when, where, and how? K.P. Fivizzani
Should science departments have their own safety departments? An assessment of a centralized approach. K.S. Hylton

Reflections of an OSHA regulator on the Laboratory Standard. F. Malaby
Meandering towards OSHA’s lab standard compliance. M.D. Finucane
Compliance does not mean Safe M.E. Mulcahy
Developing a model for chemical safety literacy in the lab. R. Stuart
Chemical hygiene plans: The vision and the reality. M. Weil, C. Pires, N. Kielbania
DOE Energy Innovation Hub’s effort to influence laboratory safety among its funded researchers  S. Rupkey, D. Hodge
Engaging 600 research groups. S. Tumidajski

NERM Green Labs Symposium Presentations

At the 2015 ACS Northeast Regional Meeting at Ithaca College, the Division organized a symposium on Green Labs, sponsored by SafetyStratus, Inc. The presentations provided a variety of perspectives on the academic, operational and conceptual aspects of improving laboratory sustainability while maintaining safe laboratory conditions.

Specifically, an overview of the laboratory sustainability concerns was provided by Ralph Stuart, along with some strategies that are being used at leading campuses to address these issues. Gary Bonomo provided examples of ways that he has been able to “green” introductory chemistry teaching laboratories at Syracuse University. Brenda Petrella talked about the energy and safety challenges associated with cold storage of samples in the laboratory and steps Dartmouth College are taking to address these. Jeff Whitford talked about green business strategies at Sigma Aldrich is employing.

Three Cornell presentations then followed describing operational strategies being pursued there to address campus wide energy conservation strategies through energy conservation planning (Mark Howe); control banding of general laboratory ventilation rates in the lab (Ellen Sweet) and the community safety challenges associated with recycling solid wastes from laboratory settings (Spring Buck).

These discussions highlighted the importance of community partnerships within a campus community and with external community infrastructure to improve the financial and environmental sustainability of safe laboratories into the 21st Century.

PDF versions of the presentation materials are available here:

Supporting safe, sustainable laboratories in the 21st century. R. Stuart, ralph.stuart@keene.edu

Role of Green Chemistry in General Chemistry Laboratory. G.D. Bonomo, garybonomo@aol.com

Lab safety and sustainability meet in the freezer B. Petrella,  brenda.l.petrella@dartmouth.edu

Green chemistry in practice at Sigma-Aldrich. J. Whitford, jeffrey.whitford@sial.com

Laboratory energy conservation on a mechanically diverse campus . M. Howe, mjh69@cornell.edu

A strategy with lab ventilation management to enhance sustainability E. Sweet, ems325@cornell.edu

Challenges with recycling in the laboratory. S. Buck, scb23@cornell.edu

Spring 2015 DCHAS Technical Presentations

acs denver

Legalized Marijuana & Health & Safety,
Monday, March 23

Taking Care of Mary Jane’s Workers J. Lieberman

Safety considerations in the development of sensible workplace drug testing policies for legalized marijuana. R.W. Phifer

Marijuana health and safety for licensed and regulated businesses C. Villano

State mandated testing of retail marijuana in Colorado. A. LaFrate

Safety and health standard of cannabis extractions with an emphasis on C02. A. Cahoj

Recent improvements in chromatography: Advancing chromatographic data quality to make a safer Cannabis product. A. Rigdon, R. Lake, R. Freeman, F. Carroll, T. Kahler

GC methods for Cannabis safety and potency testing A. Rigdon, J. Cochran, C. Hilliard, W. Schroeder, C. Schroeder, T. Flood

Safety in Undergraduate Teaching
Tuesday, March 24

Moving from Danger to Safety Culture R. Stuart

Teaching Basic Technique with a view into preparing for a safer educational and work environment. F.K. Wood-Black, K. Black

Using traditional safety rules to teach more advanced concepts in chemical hygiene. S.B. Sigmann

Talk dirty to me: Teaching undergraduate students the importance of good hygiene in the teaching laboratory. L. Gallion, A.M. Wilson, M.J. Samide

Risk hazard assessment in the general chemistry laboratory. S.D. Wiediger, A. Hyett

Developing a safety synergy in the chemistry department at Stanford University. C.T. Cox, S. Chan

Safety Friday: Do in-class safety presentations impact student behavior and perceptions of laboratory safety? A.M. Wilson, P.M. Morgan

Student view of safety in the undergraduate laboratory. T. Black, F.K. Wood-Black

Nitric acid acts upon trousers: Learning about hazardous chemicals. K.P. Fivizzani

Fall 2014 Technical Presentations

Powerpoint files from selected papers presented at the Fall 2014 DCHAS technical sessions can be found here.

DCHAS Awards Presentations

Decker its been a busy year. D. Decker

Keeping freshmen safe: A holistic approach to safety in undergraduate general chemistry. B. Enderle.

Planning accommodations for students with disabilities in chemistry teaching labs. J. Boval, S. Kennedy

Supporting and Facilitating Students and Workers with Disabilities in the Research and Teaching Laboratory

Creating a safe environment for service animals in teaching laboratories. D. Decker

Developing an inclusive environment for deaf A. Ross, S. Smith, T. Pagano
Accommodation_students with low vision S. Kennedy
3-Dimensional Printing as Means of Making Chemistry Accessible to Blind Students. D. Tantillo, H. Wedler

CHED Sustain-Mix

Safe Sustainable Laboratories: The DCHAS perspective R. Stuart

How Far We’ve Come: A Retrospective of Laboratory Safety Over the Decades

Decades and decades and decades of chemical safety: Where have we been and where are we going? J. Palmer

Environmental revolution of the 1970s: A paradigm shift. S. Sigmann

Communicating safety information. F. Wood-Black (Decker)

Laboratory safety and safety education: Past, present, future. R. Hill, Jr.

PPE: Outfitting UC’s laboratory heroes. K. Smith, E. Young

Laboratory incidents in the press: What do they tell us? R. Stuart

Greening Our Laboratories: How and Why?

Green chemistry is safe chemistry. D. Finster, S. Bradley, T. Goodwin

Green lab certification: Defining and incentivizing best practices. A. Batchelor, J. Tepe

Green labs self-assessment tool: Collaboratively developed, comprehensive and uniform. A. Doyle, A. Paradise

Cornell green labs: Engaging students. E. Sweet

Managing lab ventilation to balance safety and sustainability. R. Stuart, E. Sweet

Greening a modern multi-discipline research building in New York City. E. Talley

Recycling in teaching laboratories, easier than we thought. J. Emerson, A. Franz, C. Rosales

Managing Reactive Chemistry

PDF versions of DCHAS technical presentations from the Fall, 2013 ACS National Meeting

Identifying and Evaluating Hazards in Research Laboratories

PDF versions of DCHAS technical presentations from the Fall, 2013 ACS National Meeting

DCHAS papers at NERM 2013

The Division of Chemical Health and Safety presented a well attended technical symposium at NERM 2013, organized by Peter Reinhardt of Yale University Environmental Health and Safety. Papers presented include:

More papers to come!