GUIDE TO BY 101 LAB FACILITIES:

Transcription

1 GUIDE TO BY 101 LAB FACILITIES: Earth Surface Processes Lab (ESPL), PI Lisa Davis, (205) AND Spatial Ecology and Conservation (SPEC) LAB, PI Eben Broadbent, (650) ; speclab.ua.edu DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA Guide to BY 101, p.1

2 1. Abbreviations and Definitions SPEC SPatial Ecology and Conservation; ESPL Earth Surface Processes Lab; OM organic matter; LOI loss on ignition; used to determine OM content of soil and sediment samples; PSA particle size analysis; used to determine the range of particles (gravel, sand, silt, clay) in a sediment or soil sample ; DI Deionized water; used to clean glassware and sample bottles and to wet sediment/soil samples; milliq brand name of ultra filtered DI water; used to calibrate water quality probes and for cleaning some sample bottles and glassware; Hydrometer an instrument used to measure the specific gravity of solutions; used to determine the percent of different particle sizes present in a soil or sediment sample; Na6P6O18 sodium hezametaphosphate; a strong detergent used in PSA by hydrometer method; chemical hazard; UAV unmanned aerial vehicle; HCl hydrochloric acid; used to clean sample bottles and glassware; chemical hazard; PPE personal protective equipment; BSL biological safety level; SOP standard operating procedure; this is a protocol that must be followed to complete certain experiments or tasks in a lab safely and accurately; Guide to BY 101, p.2

3 2. BY 101 Room Layout BY 101 is divided into two different labs supervised by two different PIs. The SPEC lab (interior rooms C, D/E, and F) is directed by PI Eben Broadbent and the ESPL is directed by PI Lisa Davis (all other interior rooms). The long table in the main, big room is shared by the SPEC lab and the ESPL. Each interior room in BY 101 has a specific function, which are as follows: P sediment and soil sample storage; sample log book kept here; A water sample bottle storage; storage of equipment used for PSA by hydrometer method; where hydrometer work is conducted; B muffle furnace for LOI analysis; C Sensor and UAV design and fabrication D/E drying oven (?); water chemistry probes and test kits; F PI Broadbent office space G PI Davis office space H/I field instrument and fieldwork gear storage (H); freezer for water chemical storage (standards) for water quality probes (I), and HCl storage for acid washing bottles (I) J lounge for eating and storing personal belongings while working BY 101; FOOD and DRINK permitted in this room only! K/L Cold store M drying oven used to remove water from soil, sediment, and OM samples to determine dry mass of samples N sieve shaker; used to agitate sediment samples during PSA by dry sieve method O the main, big room, includes fume hood, eye wash station, safety PPE, hand washing sinks, bench used for PSA of soils and sediments and suspended sediment concentration determination for water samples Guide to BY 101, p.3

4 3. Hazards and Rules in Place for Your Protection a.) Biohazards: BY 101 is a BSL 2 lab. This means that the lab contains biohazards (biological pathogens or agents that can cause harm to humans). For BY 101, these biohazards mainly consist of microbes and viruses living in soil and OM samples. If these don t sound very threatening, you should know that anthrax is a virus that lives in some soils! The following rules are mandatory and have been put in place for your protection from biohazards while working in BY 101. Food and drink are never permitted in any of the rooms inside BY 101, except for room J. PPE should be worn while working in BY 101 at all times. PPE should be taken off if you leave BY 101 or go to room J. The following PPE is required for BY 101 at all times: an apron or lab coat, closed toed shoes, and safety glasses. Gloves are required when handling chemicals and samples (sediment, soils, OM, and water). PPE are located in the wooden cabinet immediately to your right as you walk in to the main room in BY 101. Every work surface should be sprayed with bleach cleaning solution and wiped down before leaving the lab at the end of the day. Bleach cleaning solution is stored underneath the sinks in the main room and paper towels are located near the sinks on cabinet tops. If a large amount of particulate matter is present on work surfaces, dust the surface off first using the small brush and pan located on the counter top adjacent to the fumehood (where the PPE is stored). Return all cleaning items to their original places when done. You should thoroughly wash your hands with soap and hot water after finishing work in the lab or leaving BY 101. Avoid touching your mouth, face, eyes, and skin until you have done so. Avoid eating or drinking until you have thoroughly washed your hands. If you re found eating/drinking in BY 101 in a room other than room J or not wearing the required PPE, you will be given a warning if it is a first time offense. A second offense will result in your lab working privileges being revoked. b.) Chemical Hazards: There are four main sources of chemical hazards in BY 101: standards for water quality probes, HCl acid, sodium hexametaphosphate (Na6P6O18), and commercial cleaning products, including bleach spray and vinegar. HCl, vinegar, and water quality standards, which vary widely in their chemical composition, are stored in interior room I. Only lab personnel that have received additional lab safety training (probe calibration SOP and acid washing SOP) from PI Davis are permitted to access these materials. Handling these materials require Guide to BY 101, p.4

5 additional PPE and SOPs not covered in this guide. If you are found moving, using, or otherwise in contact with these chemical hazards without having completed the additional lab training and having been given permission by PI Davis to do so, your lab working privileges will be immediately revoked, even if it is a first time offense. Sodium hexametaphosphate (Na6P6O18) solution is located in a labeled, Nalgene water tank on the sink located in room A and the powder form in room I. Only lab personnel that have received additional lab safety training (PSA by hydrometer method SOP) from PI Davis are permitted to use and move Na6P6O18 both in powder and liquid form. Handling this material requires additional PPE and SOPs not covered in this guide. If you are found moving, using, or otherwise in contact with this chemical hazard without having completed the additional lab training and having been given permission by PI Davis to do so, your lab working privileges will be immediately revoked, even if it is a first time offense. From time to time, a plastic Nalgene tub containing an HCl acid and water solution, called an acid bath, will be stored for short periods in the fumehood located in room O (the big room) while water quality sample bottles are being washed to USGS and EPA standards in a process called acid washing. NEVER move the acid bath. NEVER remove the top of the acid bath. NEVER put anything inside the acid bath. DO NOT touch the acid bath. If you are found moving, using, or otherwise in contact with the acid bath without having completed the additional lab training and having been given permission by PI Davis to do so, your lab working privileges will be immediately revoked, even if it is a first time offense. The acid bath is one of most dangerous items in the lab. Working with the acid bath requires additional PPE and SOPs not covered in this guide. It contains a high concentration of HCl and is corrosive and highly toxic to humans (burns tissues). When an acid bath is in use, a notice will be placed on the marker board. When this notice is in place, you should avoid the fume hood area and be sure to notify one of the PIs if you see unsafe practices being used in relation to the acid bath. Commercial cleaning products are kept in room O, the big room. Basic lab PPE (apron or lab coat, safety glasses, gloves, and closed toed shoes) are adequate for using these materials. None of the chemicals stored or used in BY 101 should ever be ingested by mouth, inhaled, or come in direct contact with eyes or the skin. Other than the commercial cleaning products, none of the chemicals stored or used in BY 101 should be moved from their storage locations unless you have been given permission from PI Davis to do so. If by some accident (knock a bottle over while reaching under a counter for something else, for example) you are exposed to one the chemicals stored in the lab, refer to the following: Guide to BY 101, p.5

6 o Inhalation if dizziness or nausea occurs, go outside of the building and get fresh air immediately; call 911 or UA Police Department for assistance ( ); o Ingestion drink lots of water and call 911 or UA Police Department ( ) for assistance; do not give water or any other liquid to someone that is having trouble swallowing or is unconscious. All of the chemicals stored in the lab will cause vomiting and nausea if ingested, and the HCl and commercial bleach cleaning solution may burn internal tissues, causing permanent and possibly life threatening damage; o Contact with skin wash your hands with running, cold water for 20 minutes; o Contact with eyes use eyewash station next to the fumehood in room O (big room) to flush eyes with cold, running water for 20 minutes; The following are general chemical safety rules that you should be aware of to help keep the lab work environment safe. If you see anyone working in BY 101 violating any of the following guidelines or other lab rules, speak up! Tell the person that they are operating unsafely, ask them to stop what they are doing, and tell one of the PIs what you saw. o Acids should never be left on countertops or shelves where they could spill on someone; they should be stored under counters. o Containers storing acids should always have a closed top or lid because the fumes from acids are dangerous to inhale and can corrode metals. o Chemicals (other than basic commercial cleaning solutions) should never be transported in your hands or arms. They should be moved on a cart. o Acids should never be stored or used near anything containing alcohol because of risk of explosion. o Water should never be added to acids. If mixing water and acid, acid should always be added to water. This keeps the acid concentration lower and stops uncontrolled boiling of the solution, which leads to bubbling and splashes that could cause injury. o Commercial cleaning products should never be mixed with each other or other chemicals. This is because these products have many different chemical constituents that may react with one another, potentially leading to the release of toxic gases. c.) Fire Hazards: There are three potential sources of heat/fire in BY 101 the muffle furnace in room B, the drying oven in room M, and the microwaves stored in room A. The muffle furnace is used to determine OM through LOI. It is capable of reaching much greater temperatures than a conventional oven. These temperatures range from 100 C to 1200 C or 212 F or 2192 F. The drying oven is a gravity convection oven that reaches a maximum temperature of 215 C (419 F). It is used to remove water from soil, sediment, and OM samples to determine their dry mass or water content. The microwaves are 900 w microwaves like those sold for use in homes. They are used occasionally for drying large numbers of samples quickly for teaching purposes only. Guide to BY 101, p.6

7 Only soil, sediment, or OM samples are placed in the furnace, drying oven, or microwaves. Food should never be stored or heated in the furnace, drying oven, or microwaves. DO NOT touch the muffle furnace, drying oven, or microwaves, without having completed the additional lab training (LOI and sample drying SOPs) and having been given permission by PI Davis or Broadbent to do so. If you are found using the muffle furnace, drying oven, or microwave without having completed the required additional training and being given permission by PI Davis or PI Broadbent, your lab working privileges will be immediately revoked, even if it is a first time offense. The muffle furnace, drying oven, and microwaves are some of the most dangerous items in the lab, particularly the muffle furnace. Working with them requires additional PPE and SOPs not covered in this guide. When the muffle furnace, drying oven, or microwaves are in use, you will be made aware of this by a notice being written on the main marker board in room O (the big room). It is not unusual for the drying oven or the muffle furnace to run over night or for 6-8 hrs continuously. When you see that the notice is in place, you need to be more attentive to possible fire risks or signs of fire. o Things that could lead to the development of a fire from the muffle furnace, the drying oven, or the microwaves, include non-heat safe materials being placed inside the furnace, oven, or microwaves (metal objects should never be put in microwaves or plastic objects in the furnace and dry oven), the vents of the furnace, oven, or microwaves being covered, or combustible materials being in close proximity to the furnace, oven, or microwaves, such as paper, cloth, or materials with oil or fuel residues on them or in them. The muffle furnace operating at its upper temperature range is especially capable of igniting aerosols or dry materials in close proximity, even when shut. Therefore, it is important that the rooms that house the muffle furnace and drying oven are kept free of potential fuel sources. If you see that any of these conditions are occurring, immediately stop them from occurring, and contact one of the PIs (Davis, , lisa.davis@ua.edu or Broadbent, , eben@ua.edu) to report what you have observed. In case of fire, leave BY 101, making sure to close as many doors between you and the fire as possible. Be sure to close the door to BY 101. This will help prevent the fire from spreading to other parts of the building. Locate and activate the nearest fire alarm. There are several in the hallway outside of BY 101. After activating the fire alarm go outside of the building and across the street to either the parking garage structure or its parking lot. Call UA Police Department ( ) or 911 to make them aware of the fire as soon as you are a safe distance from the fire. Guide to BY 101, p.7

8 d.) Cold Store and Freezer Hazards: There is a walk-in cold storage room located between room J and room M and an upright freezer located in room H. These are used to store samples that may degrade due to microbes living in the sample. As such, they contain biohazards. NEVER store food or drink in the walk-in cold storage room or freezer. Do not enter the walk-in cold storage room alone. Make sure someone is with you, knows you re going into the cold storage room, and waits for you outside of the cold storage room until you come out. If the cold storage room door fails to open or otherwise gets jammed, and you are inside, you could suffer hypothermia and potentially freeze to death. No one can hear you inside the cold storage room. 4. Important Things to Remember You should never use, touch, move items, instruments, tools, and chemicals for which you have not completed the SOP training and have not been given clearance by PI Davis or PI Broadbent to do so. Equipment and procedures that require additional lab safety training from PI Davis or Broadbent include: LOI and drying samples, using the muffle furnace, the drying oven, and the microwaves, PSA sieve method and hydrometer methods, using the sieve shaker, acid washing bottles, calibrating water quality instruments using chemical standards, making and using an acid bath or a sodium hexametaphosphate (Na6P6O18) solution, and using the fume hood. Always bring a fully charged cell phone when working in the lab. There is no landline phone in the lab. When entering the lab: o Put away personal belongings and food/drink in room J first. o Put on your PPE (apron, safety glasses, gloves, and check you re wearing closed toe shoes). o Check the marker board in the room O (the main big room) for notices of which you should be aware. When leaving the lab: o Make note of any active experiments or other information that should be shared with others working in the lab on the marker board in main room O. o Clean all work surfaces with commercial bleach spray and paper towels (dust first if necessary). o Make sure the lab is in an even better condition than when you found it. Every surface clean, instruments/tools, etc. cleaned and put into their proper place. o Remove PPE; if PPE apron is too dirty to be worn again, put it in the dirty drawer in PPE cabinet (wooden cabinet next to fumehood) in main room O. Guide to BY 101, p.8

9 o Thoroughly wash hands with soap and water in a hand washing sink in main room O. o Always shut and lock the door. If you bring samples of sediment, soil, OM, or water into BY 101, each sample must be entered into the logbook for the lab, which is located in the wooden bookshelf in room P. Wet soil and sediment samples go in the metal shelf for storage or air drying, and dry samples should be moved into the wooden bookshelves and clearly labeled until ready for processing. Water quality samples should be stored in the freezer in room H and OM samples, including tree cores, should be stored in the cold storage room. Once you dispose of your samples, the date and method of disposal must be entered in the logbook stored in room P. Any OM sample or soil sample analyzed in the lab must be sterilized before disposal. This requires use of the muffle furnace or drying oven. If you need to sterilize a sample for disposal, please see PI Broadbent or Davis for muffle furnace and drying oven safety training and permission to carry out this work. NEVER put fresh soil and OM directly into the trashcan without sterilizing first. Doing this could potentially place the custodians, as well as others working in the lab, at risk of illness. NEVER open a sample bag that has visible mold or fungus growth. Doing so could put you at risk of mold and fungus spore-based illness. If a sample has visible mold or fungus or even if you suspect it might, put it in a red medical waste bag found in the PPE cabinet near the fumehood in the big room (room O), place the red medical waste bag into the fumehood (be sure to leave the sash open a bit), and ask Dr. Broadbent or Davis to arrange for UA Health and Safety to pick up this waste for incineration. If you have asthma or other respiratory-based conditions that could make you vulnerable to airborne particulate matter, please make PI Broadbent or Davis aware of this. In such cases, it may be advisable for you to wear a respirator while working in the lab. If you experience an injury while working the lab, please let Dr. Broadbent or Dr. Davis know, even if it does not require medical treatment. Important Phone Numbers and Contact Information o For Immediate Safety Concerns (no one is injured yet, but you think someone or something is unsafe): PI Davis (205) , lisa.davis@ua.edu; PI Broadbent; (650) , eben@ua.edu o In case of emergency: 911 or UA Police Department, Guide to BY 101, p.9

10 ACKNOWLEDGMENT: I, A STUDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT, AND I VOLUNTARILY AGREE TO EXECUTE THE EXPECTATIONS DETAILED IN THIS DOCUMENT, AND I UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THE RISKS AND HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH WORKING IN THE BY 101 LAB FACILITY. I ALSO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I HAVE COMPLETED LAB HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING AND FIRE SAFETY TRAINING THROUGH UA HEALTH AND SAFETY AND LAB SAFETY TRAINING, PPE TRAINING, AND HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF HAZARDS SPECIFIC TO BY 101 PROVIDED BY EITHER DR. EBEN BROADBENT OR DR. LISA DAVIS. STUDENT SIGNATURE: PRINTED NAME: CWID NUMBER: DATE: ACKNOWLEDGMENT: I, A FACULTY/STAFF MEMBER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT, AND I VOLUNTARILY AGREE TO EXECUTE THE EXPECTATIONS DETAILED IN THIS DOCUMENT, AND I UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THE RISKS AND HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH WORKING IN THE BY 101 LAB FACILITY. I ALSO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I HAVE COMPLETED LAB HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING AND FIRE SAFETY TRAINING THROUGH UA HEALTH AND SAFETY AND LAB SAFETY TRAINING, PPE TRAINING, AND HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF HAZARDS SPECIFIC TO BY 101 PROVIDED BY EITHER DR. EBEN BROADBENT OR DR. LISA DAVIS. FACULTY/STAFF SIGNATURE: PRINTED NAME: CWID NUMBER: DATE: Guide to BY 101, p.10