From: Eric Clark <erclark**At_Symbol_Here**ph.lacounty.gov>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Drinking Fountain in the Lab
Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 20:57:09 +0000
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 17A66C0B22391144A0BEE1CA471703EA77BB9A06**At_Symbol_Here**ITSSDOWEXMB11.HOSTED.LAC.COM
In-Reply-To <6b8ff15bd04d4ad0acc688bf2d66402d**At_Symbol_Here**BY2PR08MB298.namprd08.prod.outlook.com>


Of course there are alternate uses to consider …

Years ago as an undergraduate chemistry major taking an analytical laboratory course, we used the water from the laboratory drinking fountain as a convenient source for identifying metal ions.  On Monday morning after the water fountain had gone unused for the weekend, the concentrations were quite high for a variety of metals; by Friday the metal concentrations had gone down by about 70%. 

Eric

 

Eric Clark, MS, CHMM, CCHO

Safety Officer, Public Health Scientist III

Los Angeles County Public Health Laboratory

 

 

From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of Debbie M. Decker
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2014 10:15 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Drinking Fountain in the Lab

 

Gotta love a lab designer who doesn’t know anything about labs.

 

Rip ‘em out.  Make the designer pay for it. They have insurance for these types of “errors and omissions.”

 

I hope you would have a policy statement somewhere that states “no food and drink in the lab.”  If you have such a statement, then it makes the case for taking them out.

 

It’s the policy of UC Davis to prohibit eating and drinking in the laboratory.  Here’s our policy statement:  http://manuals.ucdavis.edu/PPM/290/290-65.pdf (paragraph 12).

 

Hope this helps.

 

Debbie

 

Debbie M. Decker, CCHO

Safety Manager

Department of Chemistry

University of California, Davis

122 Chemistry

1 Shields Ave.

Davis, CA  95616

(530)754-7964

(530)304-6728

dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**ucdavis.edu

 

Birkett's hypothesis: "Any chemical reaction

that proceeds smoothly under normal conditions,

can proceed violently in the presence of an idiot."

 

 

 

 

From: DCHAS-L Discussion List [mailto:dchas-l**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU] On Behalf Of Michael Hojjatie
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2014 8:06 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU
Subject: [DCHAS-L] Drinking Fountain in the Lab

 

 

We are in the process of building a new Lab and it is almost ready for occupation.

 

The Lab designer has put two drinking fountains in the Lab. I believe this is not allowed per OSHA’s Laboratory Standards, however, the discussion is that “there is minimum chance of chemical contamination” with these drinking fountains. I have requested the removal of these, but it would be costly at this point. I have two questions:

 

Are the drinking fountains allowed in the Lab area?

 

Is it OK to shut down the water source at this point and leave the fountains there?

 

I appreciate the expert opinions on this subject.

 

 

Michael Hojjatie, Ph.D.  

 

 

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