A quick update from our discussion a couple of weeks ago:
Last week I talked to the faculty member who asked me about the 5 gallon carboys he had purchased to serve as ballast in processes with pressurized and evacuated air systems. He talked to the manufacturer's representative who said that the carboys he had purchased were not rated for vacuum use; the manufacturer has a different model of carboy that can handle this situation, but it is four times the cost. With this in mind, the faculty member redesigned the processes to use a collection of smaller flasks that were rated for the pressurizations he needed for this work.
The thing that I want to pass along is that the faculty member took the time to explain to the class this planning process and the importance of working with the equipment vendor as one is planning one's chemistry processes. The faculty member and I talked about how hard it is to find time to discuss these practical aspects of lab work in today's curriculum. (I remember after I had been a lab tech for about 2 years realizing that 90% of practical chemistry was plumbing.) I was heartened that his safety teaching went beyond examining glassware for defects to include a risk assessment that included an equipment literature review as part of the chemistry work.
Let me know if you have any questions about this.
- Ralph
Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Environmental Safety Manager
Keene State College
603 358-2859
ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu
---
For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas
Previous post | Top of Page | Next post