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Previous by Date: Subject: Re: Laboratory chemical labelling systems query Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:49:56 -0400 Author: Ralph Stuart |
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Ralph has asked the right question, of course: "Do you have a clear sense of which audience you're working to inform?" My sense is that we an obligation to inform two distinct audiences. 1) Fi refighters will look for NFPA diamonds, and we are obligated to provide tha t information. Having said that (and now speaking as a volunteer firefight er) I don't think that in middle of a raging fire a firefighter is going to care about looking at hundreds of labels in a stockroom, particularly when the volumes and amounts are relatively small. Firefighters will care more about 55 gallons drums. Labs and stockrooms with "many chemicals" are "ta rget hazards" and (hopefully) the responding department will have a pre-pla n about what to do and what not to do. 2) My concern, and source of my qu estion, is more about how we label chemicals for the laboratorians and, in particular, students in academic labs. They are likely to be trained (I ho pe!) on the NFPA diamonds because this symbols are ubiquitous. But, we kno w these diamonds are not ideal under ambient lab conditions. They sometime s "overstate" the hazards with regard to health and reactivity. Perhaps th is is OK but I'd prefer to use a system designed for laboratorians and this is the motivation of my original question. Thus, seems like two labels mi ght be best. (FYI, some folks have responded to my initial query privately. I'll write a response to the list that collects what I've learned if that seems approp riate and possible!) Dave David C. Finster Professor of Chemistry University Chemical Hygiene Officer Department of Chemistry Wittenberg University dfinster**At_Symbol_Here**wittenberg.edu ________________________________________ From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Ralph Stu art [rstuart**At_Symbol_Here**UVM.EDU] Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 1:49 PM To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Laboratory chemical labelling systems query > > what chemical labelling system they use in labs and stockrooms, > particularly with regard to safety diagrams and pictograms. My experience is that one labelling system doesn't fit all the various audiences interested in the information. Emergency responders have very different interests in chemicals than people in laboratories. We've focused on the laboratorians' needs for container labelling and emergency responders' needs through a homemade online system somewhat similar to the NFPA system. The latter is still in development, but the general idea (similar to Stanford's Chemtracker system) is to take information from laboratory workers and convert it into something useful for emergency planning purposes. Do you have a clear sense of which audience you're working to inform? - Ralph Ralph Stuart, CIH Environmental Safety Manager University of Vermont Environmental Safety Facility 667 Spear St. Burlington, VT 05405 rstuart**At_Symbol_Here**uvm.edu fax: (802)656-8682
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