1 / 6

Chemical Spill Response in the Lab

Chemical Spill Response in the Lab. Chemical Spills. Spills can seriously disrupt laboratory operations. If handled properly, a spill may be nothing more than a nuisance. In most cases, laboratory workers are the most appropriate people to clean up their spills.

shepherde
Download Presentation

Chemical Spill Response in the Lab

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Chemical Spill Response in the Lab

  2. Chemical Spills • Spills can seriously disrupt laboratory operations. • If handled properly, a spill may be nothing more than a nuisance. • In most cases, laboratory workers are the most appropriate people to clean up their spills. • If handled improperly, a spill can disrupt your activities and the work of your colleagues • Evacuation of a room or even the entire building. • Or can cause bodily harm or the lost of valuable material.

  3. What to Do When a Spill Occurs? • Aware your colleagues and lab director. • You and others should move well away from the area when determining the appropriate response. • Follow the 3 steps to determine weather a spill is simple or complex: • Evaluating of the spill risks (i.e., volatile vapors, water or air reactive, ignition sources, oxidizers, etc.). • Evaluating of the quantities (i.e., simple or complex spill). • Evaluating the spills potential impact (i.e., toxic vapors after the cleaning, damage of the equipment, etc.).

  4. Recommended Procedures for Cleaning Up Spills • First, be sure that you have the right protective equipment that includes: • Appropriate eye protection. • Protective gloves • A lab coat • Make sure all the skin surfaces are covered. • Wear two set of gloves.

  5. Prevent the spread of dust and vapors • Close the lab door and increase ventilation through fume hoods. • Spills pillows or similar absorbent materials work the best than cat litter (do not have the dust associated with cat litter) • Control the spread of the liquid. • Make a dike around the outside edges of the spill. • Use absorbent materials such as vermiculite, cat litter, or spill pillows. • Flammable liquids are best removed through the use of spill pillows.

  6. Finally • Neutralize acids and bases, if possible. • Neutralization often causes splashes and large amount of heat. • Collect and contain the clean up residues. • The spill residue should be scooped, swept, or placed into a plastic bucket or other container. • Keep clean up materials separate from normal trash. • ACS Task Force, Laboratory Waste Management: A Guidebook, Oxford University Press. • http://portal.acs.org/

More Related