DCHAS-L Discussion List Archive
From: Monona Rossol <actsnyc**At_Symbol_Here**cs.com>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Drinking Fountain in the Lab
Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 07:41:26 -0500
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: 8D1CEE89A7870C0-810-29626**At_Symbol_Here**webmail-vm178.sysops.aol.com
In-Reply-To <17A66C0B22391144A0BEE1CA471703EA77BB9A06**At_Symbol_Here**ITSSDOWEXMB11.HOSTED.LAC.COM>
If I'm reading you right, that makes an additional argument for flushing the eye washes once a week.
Monona Rossol, M.S., M.F.A., Industrial Hygienist
President: Arts, Crafts & Theater Safety, Inc.
Safety Officer: Local USA829, IATSE
181 Thompson St., #23
New York, NY 10012 212-777-0062
-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Clark <erclark**At_Symbol_Here**PH.LACOUNTY.GOV>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Sent: Sat, Nov 15, 2014 12:07 am
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Drinking Fountain in the Lab
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
Gotta love a lab designer who doesn't know anything about labs.
Rip =E2=80=98em 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.
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
Birkett's hypothesis: "Any chemical reaction
that proceeds smoothly under normal conditions,
can proceed violently in the presence of an idiot."
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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