Unfortunately, there is no such thing as "common sense" universally available to all people.  Common sense is knowledge and understanding held in common and depends on common experience, either in life, or, less effectively, in an instructional situation.  What is "common sense" to those of us steeped in safety is often "rocket science" to others, and, of course, lots in-between that extreme range. 

You have to have burned your finger, seen the effects on someone who has, or at least put your finger _very_ close to something very hot and considered the heat, before you will really take as common sense that you should not hold your finger in  the flame of a gas stove..


Peter Zavon, CIH
Penfield, NY

PZAVON**At_Symbol_Here**Rochester.rr.com



-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety [mailto:DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU] On Behalf Of Roger McClellan
Sent: Sunday, April 14, 2019 11:24 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemicals on passenger elevators/ Common sense beyond regulations

To all:
  It is important for us all to remember the important role of using common sense.. Common sense was around long before formal governance and regulations. Common sense should always xxxxx regulations! I learned this lesson long before I began my career in science more than 60 years ago. I am concerned that so many of my colleagues seem to be afraid to make decisions based on common sense and spend huge amounts of time looking for a regulation to support a particular action. I urge them to be bold and use common sense in decision making. If your superiors or other alleged "senior Scientists" at your institution will not support you then I suggest you start looking for a new employer. Regulations are important and must be adhered to , however, they should not be a substitute for using common sense.
  Best regards to all for helping create a safe work place.
  Roger O. McClellan
--------------------------------------------
On Sun, 4/14/19, DCHAS Membership Chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG> wrote:

Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemicals on passenger elevators
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Date: Sunday, April 14, 2019, 6:04 AM

> There certainly should be a
lot of rules in place not to have the public sharing the
elevator with large shipments of liquid chemicals such as
those planned for transport within a particular public
building I'm thinking of. 

According to the DCHAS-L archives at
http://www.ilpi.com/dchas/
there are two major threads related to
transportation of chemicals on elevators, one related to
liquid nitrogen the other to hazardous chemicals in general.
The topic also came up in a discussion of laboratory design
issues. The discussion revolved around best practices and
practical considerations, rather than regulatory
requirements.

I suspect
that the fire code is the most likely place to find
authoritative guidance on this topic and I don't
remember seeing a discussion of this specific issue in any
of the fire codes that I have looked at. Perhaps the
Authority Having Jurisdiction for a specific building would
be worth consulting?

-
Ralph

Ralph Stuart, CIH,
CCHO
membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org

Membership chair
American Chemical Society
Division of Chemical Health and Safety

---
For more
information about the DCHAS-L e-mail list, contact the
Divisional membership chair at membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
Follow us on Twitter **At_Symbol_Here**acsdchas