About This Archive  | DCHAS-L 2012 Index   | DCHAS-L Yearly Index
person wearing a disposable face shield and surgical style mask

Check out Safety Emporium for your N95, N99, and face shield needs.

Previous by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Eating and Drinking in Laboratories
Date: December 3, 2012 8:14:16 AM EST
Author: Ben Ruekberg 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Eating and Drinking in Laboratories
Date: December 3, 2012 9:21:05 AM EST
Author: Ralph B Stuart

From: Jeffrey Lewin <jclewin**At_Symbol_Here**MTU.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Eating and Drinking in Laboratories
Date: December 3, 2012 9:08:34 AM EST
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: <14150028.1354494399986.JavaMail.root**At_Symbol_Here**elwamui-royal.atl.sa.earthlink.net>


I dug through several of my Occupational Hygiene Texts, "Prudent Practices" and a biosafety textbook. All made reference to the standard practices of not consuming food in spaces where chemicals, infectious agents, etc. are being used, but none gave a solid citation except the biohazard text; it referenced an article that showed that oral infection rates were generally low (the citation was about viruses infection and reviewed inhalation and injection as well as ingestion.


I did a number of different searches in Pub Med and this was the best I could find:

Cherrie, et al. How important is inadvertent ingestion of a hazardous substance at work? Ann Occ Hyg 206 Oct 50 (7) 693-704.

It appears this information was also edited into the following European publication:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr551.pdf

Dealing with food in the lab issues for the last 20 years we finally made a huge stride forward when we moved to this new building 12 years ago. The difference? Every graduate student (and faculty member) is now assigned space in an office _outside_ the laboratory - including removing the need to pass through a lab space to get into an office space. Its much easier to police keeping coffee, pop and food out of lab computer workstations when they have a personal space outside the lab to consume it.

Jeff Lewin
Biological Sciences
Michigan Tech University



On Sun, Dec 2, 2012 at 7:26 PM, Bob Hill <roberth_hill**At_Symbol_Here**mindspring.com> wrote:
This is interesting. Dave Finster and I listed a similar incident about poisoning among lab technicians from contaminated tea in our textbook (Laboratory Safety for Chemistry Students; see p. 4-15; taken from Edmonds and Bourne, Brit J Ind Med, v39, 308-9, 1982). One of the technicians used lab distilled water preserved with sodium azide.

Thanks. Bob

Robert H. Hill, Jr., Ph.D.


-----Original Message-----
>From: Samuella B Sigmann <sigmannsb**At_Symbol_Here**APPSTATE.EDU>
>Sent: Dec 2, 2012 1:34 PM
>To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
>Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Eating and Drinking in Laboratories
>
>The only one that I can remember in recent history is the case of the
>coffee tainted with sodium azide that happened at Harvard a few years
>back. I am not sure if the true method of contamination was ever disclosed.
>
>http://journals.lww.com/em-news/Fulltext/2010/01000/The_Case_of_the_Contaminated_Coffee_Pot..10.aspx
>Sammye
>
>On 12/1/2012 3:15 PM, Miriam Weil wrote:
>> Does anyone know where I could find statistical (not anecdotal) data
>> on illness or injuries related to eating and drinking in laboratories?
>>
>> --
>> Miriam W. Weil, MPH, ScD
>>

Previous post   |  Top of Page   |   Next post


The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.
The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.