CHEMICAL INFORMATION FOR RESEARCHERS AND EHSRobin M. Izzo, Director of Environmental Health & SafetyPrinceton University

SLA 2015

Agenda

Researchers Transition from undergraduate to graduate

student Post-docs, instructors, lab staff, faculty

needs EHS Staff

Background Needs

The Dream…

Bottom line…

Everything that the previous presentation covered for

undergraduates applies for graduate students, post-

docs, research staff and EHS professionals.

What information do graduate students, post-docs, faculty and research staff need?

Researchers

Transition from Undergrad to Grad Undergraduate laboratory experience

Mostly scripted experiments that have predictable, replicated results, risks and hazards well-understood

Supervision by TA (teaching assistant – usually a grad student) or instructor

In most cases: Limited safety training other

than a simple safety lecture and, perhaps, a safety briefing at the beginning of each lab

With few exceptions, little to no experience with risk assessment

Transition from Undergrad to Grad Graduate students in research lab

Varying depth of laboratory safety understanding Department or EHS-led safety training at

beginning of graduate school career Must take initiative

Gather safety information Conduct risk assessment

Faculty advisor May or may not have presence in lab Varying styles with respect to safety leadership

Mentor may or may not be a chemist

Laboratory Research Staff

May have only undergraduate education – same situation as a graduate student

Post-docs and other staff are the product of their graduate student experience

Even less supervision by faculty Often have management,

training or safety oversight responsibilities, with or without experience

Non-Chemists

The majority of science and engineering researchers are not chemists

Large portion of research is multi-disciplinary Many engineers, physicists, biologists, etc.

do chemistry Some Chemistry researchers are not

chemists

Anecdote

Chemistry lab with biochemical focus First year grad student tries and fails to

withdraw trichloroethylene from a Sureseal bottle. On last attempt, student pricked her finger

with the contaminated needle. Did not understand need to push

nitrogen or argon in to get chemical out. Lab manager was a biologist Mentor was a physicist

New Researchers

Most journal articles describing experimental procedures include a lot of assumed knowledge

Can be difficult to find information about basic knowledge, basic techniques

Science librarians could be a great resource

Anecdote

First year graduate student doing separatory funnel extraction. Used saturated potassium hydroxide rather than dilute. Pressure built up quickly, blew out stopper and spewed 1 liter of KOH onto floor, hood and student. Student had done such

extractions as undergrad, but never made up the solution

What do Environmental Health and Safety professionals need?

EHS

OSHA Lab Standard29 CFR 1910.1450

Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories

Laboratory scale use of chemicals Chemical hygiene officer

Expertise in chemical safety Could be for entire institution, department,

school or individual lab Chemical hygiene plan

Documents laboratory safety expectations

Lab Safety Staff at Universities Small schools – one stop shop

Limited EHS staff, usually responsible for everything from forklift safety to indoor air quality to lab safety

May rely on faculty and/or staff in the science department(s) for expertise… and we’ve talked about that…

Larger schools Usually have dedicated lab safety staff Experience will vary

Who is in charge of chemical safety?

EHS professional Experienced chemist Liberal arts with management experience Biologist or engineer

Non-EHS Chemical Hygiene Officer Faculty member Research staff with add-on responsibility Administrator May or may not have much safety

experience

Supporting Role of EHS

Training and information, including how to conduct risk assessment, availability of resources

Proactive risk assessment, as requested Incident investigation

Root cause analysis Other factors

Information Gap

Descriptions of chemical and/or equipment processes that have been done before Risk assessment information Engineering controls and/or personal protective

equipment Chemical interactions

Journal articles generally do not include safety section Sometimes publish a note Rarely publish the failed attempts and lessons

learned Many institutions do not share their incident

experience, even within the university

Anecdote

Lab wishes to reproduce an experiment that includes boiling perchloric acid No perchloric acid hood available Contacted the researchers and the EHS

staff of the university that published the paper upon which the procedure is based Would not share Concern of competitive interest

Example

Physics lab wants to conduct metalorganic vapor epitaxy (MOVPE) for semi-conductor materials deposition, since they do not have access to molecular beam epitaxy (MBE).

Normally involves use of arsine and/or phosphine No gas cabinets or other safety equipment

available in the lab Read about using tertiarybutylphosphine

(TBP) and tertiarybutylarsine (TBA) as alternatives

The Issues

What are the safety considerations for this method?

How many published studies have used this method?

What equipment is required?

What is the level of experience/chemistry of the graduate students who will be conducting the work?

The Result

With the help of a Chemistry librarian, found a few published papers with this information.

Determined that the largest risk was the transition of the material from precursor to gas using a bubbler Required glovebox not available in the lab Required expertise that the Physics

students did not have. Collaborated with Chemistry to do the

transfer

Princeton Profile

Population 5200 undergraduates 2700 graduate students 1200 faculty 11,500 staff (5500 FTE)

180 buildings on 500 acres 99% undergraduate residency 70% grad student residency Students from >100 countries ~185 Principal Investigators ~600 Laboratories 35 Nobel Laureates

Lab Safety @ Princeton

6 staff dedicated to Laboratory Safety 2 focus on biosafety, one on radiation safety 2 are chemists, 2 physicists, 1 biologist, 1

industrial hygiene/ public health 14 Chemical Hygiene Officers

One per science/engineering department 3 faculty 8 technical staff 1 safety professional 2 administrative staff

Department safety committees

Lab Safety @ Princeton

3 hour in-person training by EHS All faculty, staff, students and visitors

working or studying in research labs (including undergraduates)

Prior training elsewhere does not count Includes how to do risk assessment

Lab-specific training Extensive lab safety info on EHS website

The Dream

Howard Stone, PhD Professor, Mechanical

and Aerospace Engineering

Complex Fluid Mechanics

“This was the best lab safety lecture I’ve ever attended…and by tomorrow, I’ll have forgotten most of it.”

The Dream

Automated lab safety information system

Researcher logs into system Voice recognition, hands free option

Electronic lab notebook Integrated safety information

Allows researcher to ask for chemical information

Looks up reactivity, scale, concentration issues

Documents process, PPE Assists with hazard and risk assessment

PALMS

Allows EHS or PI to send reminders, information Scrolling at top of screen

Automated chemical safety information

Beta-tested in 5 labs Not enough useful data

to make it worthwhile Mainly Princeton EHS

website, CCOHS and Sigma Aldrich MSDS

Thank You

Robin IzzoDirectorEnvironmental Health & SafetyPrinceton Universityrmizzo@princeton.edu