Safety in Materials Science Central Facilities
All of the laboratories in Central Facilities are in compliance with
UCD’s Illness and Injury Prevention Program. This program requires that each college,
department, and individual laboratory establish its own comprehensive safety program.
These programs address issues such as responsible persons, methods of purchasing, using
and storing hazardous chemicals, working with radiation, biological agents, carcinogens
and hazardous machines, training and records of training and hazards communications. The
safety program for each of Central Facilities’ laboratories are described in detail
in the red "Chemical Hygiene Plan" binders which can be found in each
laboratory. An overview of these plans covering all of central facilities is summarized
below.
Responsible Persons
Just as the P.I. is responsible for everything that happens in his/her
laboratories the manager of Central Facilities must answer for everything which happens in
its laboratories. This person must not only provide a safe work place but make sure that
the work is done in a safe manner. In addition, everyone who works in a laboratory on this
campus is considered to be a safety officer in the laboratories they work in in the sense
that they also are obligated to do their part to make and keep this campus a safe working
environment. This would encompass not only one’s own actions but also speaking up or
taking the appropriate action when another person's actions create dangerous or
potentially dangerous situations.
Hazards Communications
All hazards present in each laboratory are listed in each laboratory’s red
"Chemical Hygiene Plan" binder. In addition, signs describing emergency
procedures and listing the names of emergency personnel are posted in the laboratories and
on or close to equipment where hazards exist. Finally, the department and the campus offer
many opportunities to learn more about the hazards one might encounter in the workplace.
Refer to the "Chemical Hygiene Plan" for more information on these resources.
Hazardous Chemicals in the Laboratories
Use: Proper safe working practices should be followed at all times. Care should
be taken to protect yourself, one's colleagues, the equipment in the laboratories and the
building, even if and especially if this means making an extra effort to set up an
experiment, to carry it out and to clean up afterwards.
Labeling: All chemicals brought into these laboratories must be properly labeled and must also bear the owner’s name and the date it was purchased.
Storage: A selection of certain common chemicals will be kept on hand in these laboratories and everyone is free to use them but not to remove them from the laboratory. Any chemicals brought into central facilities or mixed in this laboratory must be removed as soon as the work is completed. Users cannot store their chemicals or chemical waste in these laboratories for any longer than their experiment runs.
Personal Protective Equipment
Each laboratory is equipped with the types of personal protective equipment
which is appropriate for the work normally done in that laboratory. In general, this
consists of:
Users are encouraged to supply their own personal protective equipment and larger groups of people (classes) will certainly have to provide their own.
Training
Everyone who works in these laboratories is required to attend the Department
of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science’s annual safety seminar or its
equivalent if one is from another department. In addition, you will have to take specified
safety courses on specific laboratory hazards and specific safe practices. Records of this
training and any other specialized training for use of equipment in these laboratories
will be kept on file in the department's database.
Enforcement of the Safety Rules
Enforcement is only necessary when someone persists in working in a manner
which is hazardous to either themselves, those around them, the equipment in the
laboratory and even the building. Rarely is enforcement necessary but when it is it may
take the form of a reprimand, temporary suspension or even termination of employment. In
addition, departmental safety officers may close any laboratory where serious hazards
exist.
Unsafe activities in Materials Science’s Central Laboratories can not be tolerated. The liabilities and the costs of repairing the facilities are simply too great, not to mention the horror of seeing our colleagues injured. If polite reminders and/or additional training are not sufficient to end the unsafe practice then the offending person will be temporarily banned from the laboratory. Flagrant or persistent disregard for the safety of the laboratory and persons in it will result in permanent banishment from all of these laboratories, forever.
Other Sources of Information on Laboratory Safety
If you have any questions about the safety program you can contact the
department's safety coordinator, Steve
Richardson, or the safety coordinator for Materials Science Central Facilities, Mike Meier, our you might try our departments web
site at www.chms.ucdavis.edu/safety.htm.
The Department of Environmental Health and Safety also maintains a web site on which they offer a huge amount of information on topics ranging from 1-2 page Safety Nets, schedules of safety training, chemical inventories for each laboratory on campus, waste disposal information, forms, on-line exams and others.
Division of Materials Science
If you have any questions or comments regarding this web site please contact the webmaster.
Updated on June 25, 2001
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
University of California, Davis
Davis, CA 95616
USA
Phone: 530/752-0400
Web: www.chms.ucdavis.edu