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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Goggles or no goggles?
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at 7:14:06 AM
Author: "Rakers, Rosemary S." <rrakers**At_Symbol_Here**BEN.EDU> 		Next by Date:
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Goggles or no goggles?
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2021 08:47:30 -0500
Author: Jeffrey Lewin

From: Jessica Martin <jessica.a.martin**At_Symbol_Here**UCONN.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Goggles or no goggles?
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2021 08:04:20 -0500
Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID: F9C5BECF-CA73-47C5-8A26-D056D15B1EC2**At_Symbol_Here**uconn.edu
In-Reply-To


Hi Rose,


Welcome and good luck! John has given you great advice.

On a personal note, I have a tendency to flinch when people talk as if biology labs are somehow magically safer than chemistry labs. I went to a very small PUI for my undergrad in chem where the professor of chemistry took PPE VERY seriously and the profs in the biology labs-.didn't. My biology labs had NO expectations for PPE beyond "wear long pants and close-toed shoes"-and even that they were very poor at enforcing it.

In my biology labs both as a student and as an assistant, I witnessed:
-A young woman set her own hair on fire
-Another young woman got a chunk of potassium permanganate in her eye
-A few people spilled acetone directly on their clothes
-Several people experienced cuts from broken glass that was not properly cleaned up

In my chemistry labs both as a student and as an assistant:
-I witnessed a few close calls, but thanks to the PPE we were wearing, no actual incidents.

Also, the chem prof taught people to take PPE and the experiments they were doing seriously - to treat it like a uniform that you just automatically put on for the day. He forced his students to actually THINK about what they were handling in lab that day and what they were wearing. We did not get this type of psychological training in the biology labs. If a certain type of PPE is "not necessarily" for what one is doing, the students should be led through that thought process themselves so that they can gain the experience necessary to handle themselves properly in a lab environment.

Best,
Jessica A. Martin
NSF Graduate Research Fellow
Joint Safety Team 
Pinkhassik Group, Department of Chemistry
University of Connecticut
323-327-3974

"To change a community, you have to change the composition of the soil-
If you want to meet with me, come to the garden with your shovel so we can plant some sh-t." 
Ron Finley

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and sure enough they're yours." 
Richard Bach

"You know, farming looks mighty easy
when your plow is a pencil, and you're
a thousand miles from the corn field."
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from prior leaders before it all dies in the black holes of their souls."
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On Jan 12, 2021, at 7:14 AM, Rakers, Rosemary S. <rrakers**At_Symbol_Here**BEN.EDU> wrote:

*Message sent from a system outside of UConn.*

Thank you, John,

My apologies on the signature line. I am used to my computer adding that automatically, but I wrote that email from my mobile device and didn't think of it. Yes, Benedictine University in Lisle, IL.

Now, excuse me, I have homework. =F0=9F™=82

Appreciate the welcome, looking forward to learning a lot!
Rose


Rose Rakers, PhD
Chemistry Lab Manager and Chemical Hygiene Officer
Benedictine University
5700 College Road
Lisle, IL 60532
630-829-6571
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU> on behalf of John Callen <jbcallen**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2021 5:51 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Goggles or no goggles?
 
Rose,

Welcome to the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Health and Safety!

To start and just so we know who you are, please include on your signature line contact information (address, landline and/or cell phone number) so that we can contact you off-line or send you materials, samples, etc.  =46rom your eMail address, you are at Benedictine University (BU).  Are you at the Main Campus in Lisle, IL or Branch Campus in Mesa, AZ?

To help you and to help yourself, have you met with the BU Biology Undergraduate Faculty to understand what PPE, if any, the department has required the students to wear in the past.  Since BU has been around since 1887, I do not think, unless you tell me otherwise, that you are dealing with a new program, starting up "from scratch."

In general, to select the proper PPE, you would need first to do a laboratory curriculum assessment for each class of the four undergraduate programs you offer to determine if there will be exposure(s) or the potential exposure(s) to various hazards.  Once you do that, then you would be in the position to determine that for certain one(s) or all sessions of a given course, the students would  use certain PPE.  Also, does the Biology Department have SDS' in hard copy in a file or folder or online you could access to determine if you need to monitor the quality of air for a given chemical. 

So that you do not have to reinvent the wheel, if you are at the Main Campus, I would suggest you contact your counterparts at College of DuPage, Wheaton College, North Central College, Judson University and Elgin Community College to see what they are doing for similar courses.

If you have any additional questions or comments after this "Homework Assignment," please let us know.  Thanks!

Be Safe & Stay Healthy!

All My Best,

John B. Callen, Ph.D.
3M Personal Safety Division - Retired
ACS/DCHAS Founding Member
(312) 632-0195





On Jan 11, 2021, at 10:18 PM, Rakers, Rosemary S. <rrakers**At_Symbol_Here**BEN.EDU> wrote:

Hi all,

I'm relatively new to this CHO business. Definitely new to anything related to biology safety. What do you do in your instructional biology labs for PPE? Goggles? Glasses? Lab coats? Gloves? Does it depend on the lab? 

I can understand not using goggles/glasses when using a microscope, I can't see through the eyepieces with even my prescription glasses. How about when pipetting? Always? Or only when the volumes are a certain amount? Only when dealing with toxic chemicals?

I appreciate any and all comments.
Thank you.
Rose


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