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Previous by Date: Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Lab Coat storage Date: Friday, May 26, 2017 at 8:45:21 AM Author: "Stuart, Ralph" <Ralph.Stuart**At_Symbol_Here**KEENE.EDU> |
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Very good Zak. We can require changing rooms for bagging clothes and shoes on film locations and in scene shops for our workers who are exposed to lead paint dust or chemicals from production processes. But those same workers in a university theater department are not usually trained enough to know there is a hazard to what they are doing.
And then there are the art departments in schools where they slop cadmium and lead paint on the floor and walk it off into the rest of the building. Or the cold glass shop where the fine mist from grinding and polishing glass colored with arsenic, lead, cadmium, and chrome VI dries to a powder on the floor and is tracked around. Or the nutso persistence of printmakers who insist on storing, setting and cutting blanks for hundreds of pounds of lead type which contaminates the area. Or the dusty floor in the ceramic glaze area, and on and on.
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And in printmaking, it is also likely they will be schlepping 100 pound lithography stones without steel toed shoes. Now there's an OSHA reg that is nice and clear that is being violated and no one seems to notice or care.
With all your problems in the Chemistry departments, you are light-years ahead of the pathetic paleolithic procedures in most art and theater departments.
Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist
President: Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.
Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE
181 Thompson St., #23
New York, NY 10012 212-777-0062
-----Original Message-----
From: Zack Mansdorf <mansdorfz**At_Symbol_Here**BELLSOUTH.NET>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Sent: Fri, May 26, 2017 5:33 am
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Lab Coat storage
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Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchasWow encore!
I guess I should not be surprised. Rather than row against the current (most or perhaps many academic EHS measures pale in comparison to best practices and to practices at most industrial labs), I suggest an excellent discussion from MIT on this topic from 2013:
The bottom line is that lab coats are not a fashion statement or a mark of prestige (unless you are an MD) and should not be stored in a bag for a semester unless you will burn both the bag and the coat or are fully confident that they will not get contaminated.
One final comment just for Monona---.does anyone restrict the use of street footwear (must change shoes) in the lab. Again, this implies take home contamination. In this instance, let's restrict my question to working labs for post-docs and other researchers and not just for teaching.
Zack
S.Z. Mansdorf, PhD, CIH, CSP, QEP
Consultant in EHS and Sustainability
7184 Via Palomar
Boca Raton, FL 33433
561-212-7288
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Jeffrey Lewin
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2017 12:39 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Lab Coat storage
I think this is more common than many realize. Build a nice lab and stock it with cool stuff but not think about lab coat, book bag, or winter coat storage.
In my previous life in biology, the Medical Laboratory Science lab had designated spots for all these items. In the microbiology lab, lab coats were kept in large individual Ziplocs, a small area was carved out for coats, and book bags either got piled on the floor under the coats or out in the hallway (the hallway storage was the result of mixed interpretations about food and drink, in closed containers that were inside the backpacks, not being allowed in the laboratory).
As an extra precaution, at the end of the semester for both laboratories, the coats were autoclaved before returning them to the students.
As an aside, I'm curious if anyone has a regular conversation with instructors that think "lab coats are worn to protect your street clothing during routine lab work" as opposed to providing a protective element in case of a spill or accident. To me, the argument of keeping street clothes clean suggests potential routine hazard exposure; alternately, maybe the lab coats should be regularly laundered (or you use disposable coats)?
Jeff
On Thu, May 25, 2017 at 11:56 AM Zack Mansdorf <mansdorf**At_Symbol_Here**tiac.net> wrote:
Wow. You wear lab coats to prevent contamination of your clothing. You should not wear lab coats outside of the labs to prevent spreading contamination (most labs have this rule). It sounds like you need to closely re-evaluate your practices otherwise you could recontaminate your clothing.
Get a high powered EHS consultant to talk with your management.
I am very surprised that you have new labs and this was not considered in the design.
Zack
S.Z. Mansdorf, PhD, CIH, CSP, QEP
Consultant in EHS and Sustainability
7184 Via Palomar
Boca Raton, FL 33433
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Vivian L. Longacre
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2017 11:19 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Lab Coat storage
Goo morning,
For those campuses that require lab coats in their chemistry laboratories, how are you handling storage? We have wall to wall fume hoods in our upper division organic labs and no place to put lab coats. The Chemistry department has recently instituted a lab coat policy in upper division labs where the hazards warrant them. We have a brand new beautiful building they are housed in, however no lab coat storage. Upper administration does not want anything put in the hallways. So far, they have come up with extra large ziploc bags in which to put their lab coats into and store in their glassware drawers.
Any other ideas out there?
Vivian Longacre
Safety Training Specialist, RSO
Environmental Health & Safety
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--
Jeff Lewin
Chemical Safety Officer
Compliance, Integrity, and Safety
Environmental Health and Safety
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931
O 906-487.3153
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