You may remember hearing about the flooding problems in the Red River Valley in 1997. Everyone was affected in some way, but when the dikes were breached in
Grand Forks, ND, and East Grand Forks, MN, there was no way to hold back the water. The two largest universities in the North Dakota are in the Red River Valley, and the University of ND in Grand Forks was hit hard. There were many ground floor labs and
some basement labs and storage areas that were inundated. I know some first responders there who had serious dermatological problems after contact with the water in those buildings. There is almost no way to prepare for something of that magnitude, but it
seems to me that if there were even a minor flood or a water main break or anything of that nature, I would prefer to have my chemical storage on an upper floor than in a basement.
Bret Mayo
Associate Director of Environmental Health and Safety
NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
Mailing Address:
NDSU Dept #3300
PO Box 6050
Fargo, ND 58108-6050
From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU]
On Behalf Of Suzy Arnette
Sent: Tuesday, October 20, 2015 3:44 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Stockroom Location
Depending on your chemical load the fire code can possibly help you. If MN has adopted the International Fire Code, then there are specific limits based on types of materials, number of control areas, which floor you are located on (basements
and floors 3+ have pretty low limits) and fire suppression methods.
On Tue, Oct 20, 2015 at 11:03 AM, Heather McCollor <mccollor**At_Symbol_Here**macalester.edu> wrote:
Like most colleges and universities, my school needs more space - specifically offices and teaching classrooms. One suggestion was to move the chemical stockroom from the third floor (top floor) by all the
chemistry labs to the sub-basement.
Can any of you help me keep the chemical stockroom on the third floor? Is there any building code or recommended teaching protocol or some other rule of thumb that would keep me near the labs that use the chemicals?
Heather
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Heather McCollor
Laboratory Materials Supervisor
Macalester College
1600 Grand Ave
St Paul, MN 55105
651-696-6484
NAOSMM Site Selection Chair Aug 2015-Aug 2017
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