I can't help with your question, but I have to comment that such systems can go awry, particularly at small institutions where the person making the permit decisions is either not knowledgable enough or has a gatekeeper complex.
Specifically, I was at our local ACS section meeting the other night and one of the professors of a small local institution was complaining that they were not allowed to have a THF purification column to feed into their glove box. These are orders of magnitude safer than stills, of course, and provide the pristine air, water and preservative free solvent that is required for certain applications.
Their gatekeeper person continues to enforce this edict even after being provided with manufacturer testimonials and primary scientific literature. Instead, the professor was told she would have to purchase "preservative-free" stuff from Aldrich in Sure-Seal bottles and use it up each tim You can not hear the sound of my forehead smacking repeatedly on the desktop, so just imagine it….
That aside, I can see where a permit system makes sense, especially for students and anyone new to the institution (see, that phrasing includes postdocs and new faculty). As long as the system is designed to assist/enable researchers rather than stoke someone's power trip.
Rob Toreki
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Does anyone know of an institutions and/or companies that are actively using a permit system for the use of chemicals? A system similar to bio/rad where a user must be issued a permit before acquiring/using a chemical.
Thanks in advance.
-Martin
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