CRC HANDBOOK OF LABORATORY SAFETY, 5TH Edition

FOREWORD In rereading the foreword for the 4th edition, I noted the statement “There does not appear to be much pending forthe immediatefuture.” Iwas wrong.There have been significant changes in many areas, such as respiratory protection, and dramatic changes in the Clean AirAct which have made it difficult to use incineration as a means of disposing of hospital, medical, and infectious waste. Perhaps the most significant change however has been in means of communication,with the explosive growth ofthe Internet. This has placed a tremendous amount of information available to anyone with a computer and a modem. Indeed, there is so much information, one mustbe careful to select that which is useful and accurate. This resource has greatly influenced preparation of this handbook. At first glance, one might assume that little has changed in much ofthis edition. Again, this would not be correct. The same general topics do remain for the most part, but several older and now obsolete articles have been completely removed and replaced, either with new material on the same subject or by completely new material, representing over a hundred pages.Where the material may at first glance look familiar, please look more carefully. Every word on every page has been scrutinized and there are literally hundreds ofchanges to bring the material up to date or clarify the presentation. There are new figures illustrating new material, and new tables. Full use of the Internet has been made to make sure the informationis as up-to-date as possible as of the end of the summer of 1999. In addition to the usual journal articles as references, mosttopics nowinclude Internet references which were used and which I believe will be helpful. I am pleased with this edition and believe it is the most authoritative of those for which I have been responsible. One point I wish to close with and that is,safety in the laboratory is not just a rigid adherence to regulatory standards and guidelines. It must take into account human factors as well, and unfortunately the first part of the old adage “To err is human, to forgive is divine” is all too true. Human nature being what it is, the vast proportion of breakdowns in laboratory safety are due to human error, sometimes due to oversights but also sometimes due to a feeling that it’s not important or individuals feel they will not make a mistake. This is reflected throughout the handbook and reflects either my personalexperience orobservations. I hope that no one is bothered by this intrusion. Ihope you willfind the handbookusefulas many have been kind enough to tell me they did the previous editions. © 2000 CRC Press LLC THE EDITOR A. Keith Furr, Ph.D., was, until his retirement in late 1994, Head of the Department of Environmental Health and Safety at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, and Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering. He received an A.B. degree,cumlaude,fromCatawba Collegein 1954, an M.S. degree fromEmory University in 1955, and a Ph.D. from Duke University in 1962. From 1960 until 1971, he was in the Department of Physics at VPI & SU where he attained the rank of Professor. In 1971, he transferred to Engineering as Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering. In 1975, he established the Environmental Health and Safety Department at the University. A unique feature of this department is that it eventually included a University volunteerrescue squad composed entirely of students. In addition to other assignments, he was Director of the Nuclear Reactor Facility and Head ofthe Neutron Activation Analysis Laboratory. During the early 1970s,he created an undergraduate program in Radiation Safety and afterward he participated in a broad program in IndustrialSafety in theUniversity`sDepartmentofIndustrialand Systems Engineering.In recent years,he played a leadership role in developing a unique programin correcting indoorairquality problems in the University. He belongs to the Health Physics Society, the Campus Safety Association, the National Safety Council,and the National Fire Protection Association. He has published over 60 articles in professional journals, many in the area of environmental studies, three encyclopedia articles and was editorand principalcontributorto the two previous editions of this handbook. After his retirement, he became a member of the advisory board of the Laboratory Safety & Environmental Management Newsletter and Conference. He has contributed numerous articles to the Newsletter. Dr.Furrhas been active in working with public bodies to develop programs that respond to environmental emergencies; that address the disposal of hazardous materials, infectious wastes, and other solid wastes; and that are environmentally and economically sound. He was Chair of the Montgomery County Local Emergency Planning Committee and a member of the County Solid Waste and Recycling Committee. He was also Chair of the Blacksburg Telecommunications Committee and of a group of active Internet users called the Blacksburg Electronic Village Seniors. He and his wife moved to Brooksville, Florida in May, 1998, where most of this handbook was prepared. © 2000 CRC Press LLC THE CONTRIBUTORS John W. Cure, III, Health Physics Consultation, Lynchburg, Virginia Richard F. Desjardins, M.D., Wilmington, North Carolina Lawrence G. Doucet, P.E., Doucet & Mainka, P.C., Peekskill, New York Caldwell N. Dugan, Division of Institutional Resources, National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. Frank A. Graf, Jr., Research Scientist, Westinghouse Hanford Company, Richland, Washington Scott A. Heider, Division of Institutional Resources, National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. Harold Horowitz, Division of Institutional Resources, National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. Alvin B. Kaufman, Litton Systems Divison, Litton Industries, Woodland Hills, California Edwin N. Kaufman, Senior Scientist, Douglas Aircraft Co., Woodland Hills, California David M. Moore, D.V.M., Director, Laboratory Animal Resources, College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia Eric W. Spencer, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island William L. Sprout, M.D., Medical Consultant, Haskell Laboratory, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Newark, Delaware Norman V. Steere, Laboratory Safety and Design Consultant, Minneapolis, Minnesota M.A. Trevino, M.D., Medical Director, Quimca Fluor, S.A. de C.V., Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico Paul Woodruff, Environmental Resources Management, Inc., West Chester, Pennsylvania Note that these are only those individuals specifically named in the text. As noted in the Dedication, the actual number of contributors was much, much greater. © 2000 CRC Press LLC ... - tailieumienphi.vn