EH&S staff had an opportunity to speak with compliance inspector Chad Fisher from the Washington State Department of Ecology regarding three of the most common hazardous waste violations he's encountered at the UW. As it turns out, the majority of these violations are easily preventable and making simple corrections contributes to a safer lab environment.
EH&S has developed a new document Anesthetic Gases: Safe Use Guidelines and an Anesthetic Gases webpage to help users of anesthetic gases understand the potential health effects from exposure to anesthetic gases, and to provide guidance on minimizing potential exposures. These gases can be separated into two categories: Halogenated anesthetic gases/vapors and nitrous oxide.
EH&S and UW-IT have collaborated to modernize MyChem, the UW’s chemical inventory tracking system, to provide a more reliable and effective tool with a modern interface that allows users more control over their inventories.
Note: The link to MyChem has changed. The new MyChem URL is https://mychem.ehs.washington.edu. (A notice will be posted at the old URL sending users to the new URL.)
EH&S has autoclave tools to assist you including general autoclave safety guidelines, autoclaving biohazardous waste guidelines with template SOP, both with step-by-step instructions for autoclave users.
Store waste at or near the generation point: Regulations require all hazardous waste be stored “at or near” its point of generation. In most circumstances, if you have to leave the room or go through a door to get to the storage location (prior to pickup by EH&S), then it is not at or near the point of generation.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has published updated regulations manuals for 2022, which may impact University units that ship dangerous goods by air. The list of regulation changes on the IATA website address shipping lithium batteries, infectious substances, and live animals. We have listed below the most relevant changes related to certain types of lithium batteries:
The December 2021 version of the UW Laboratory Safety Manual (LSM) is now available for download or printing. It's time for principal investigators to review, bookmark, or print a copy of the updated LSM and make it available for all staff and students in your lab.
UW personnel commonly order liquid nitrogen (LN2) from suppliers such as Airgas Inc. and Praxair (aka Linde Welding Gas and Equipment Center) for cryogenic storage used to preserve biological samples.
Airgas recently notified the University that as of January 1, 2022, Airgas staff will no longer perform the following services:
You are invited to attend EH&S’s biannual 2021 Laboratory Safety Awards & Innovations Event to celebrate the work being done to enhance the culture of safety on UW’s campuses. This virtual event will take place online on December 15 at 1 p.m.
Human source materials, including human cell lines, blood, tissues and other potentially infectious materials (OPIM) are commonly used biohazards in UW research labs. Potentially infectious human materials can contain bloodborne pathogens (BBP) such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B and C viruses.
