That's the tune I hear over and over " When the bond money ran out." Safety is not thought about as it should be in the original planning of buildings. And the few safety provisions that are planned are the first thing cut when the money gets tight. The appearance of the outside of the building and the things that impress visitors are the sacred issues -- things on which architects build their portfolios and donors can proudly show as their legacy. As we say in my business: Planners can cut anything that can't be seen by the audience when the footlights are on.
Also to you and all the CHAS members who fight for school safety: Kudos on getting good press on this issue. Fear of a public relations problem is the only thing that will stop glib administrators in their tracks.
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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: Samuella Sigmann <sigmannsb**At_Symbol_Here**APPSTATE.EDU>
To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
Sent: Sat, May 12, 2018 8:39 am
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Elevator Entrapment while Transporting a Liquid Nitrogen Dewar
We too struggled with this for years. When our building was built
20 years ago, the freight elevator was nixed when the bond money ran
out. To my knowledge, there was nobody with any chemical health and
safety background involved in the construction at that time to
advocate for the importance of a freight elevator in a science
building. We have 2 very small passenger elevators with carpet in
them and getting equipment to upper floors is not easy. As we have
a renovation approaching this summer they are already talking about
how equipment and supplies will be brought in.
Moving waste was our biggest issue, but we also have to move the
large LN2 tanks. We use the already suggested buddy system with
signs, but I finally got the physical plant to give us a key to lock
out an elevator so it won't stop on the other floors during the
process a couple of years ago. This has made the process much
better. We also time the transport at non-heavy traffic periods,
such as late afternoons or during class times.
Sammye
On 5/11/2018 2:59 PM, Michael Ahler
wrote:
All,
In past years when I had
the need to move something hazardous (hazardous waste in my
case) using an elevator, none of our multi-story buildings had
"freight" elevators. Everything was open to the public.
In those cases we used a leap frog technique to move material
through multiple floors - moving the unoccupied elevator one
floor at a time. The loaded, unoccupied elevator would be
sent from the 4th floor to the 3rd floor to be met there by a
co-worker. The co-worker would wait until the 4th floor
sender had hustled down the stairs to the 2nd. The
unoccupied elevator was then sent down one more floor - you
get the pattern. This was just before the age when everyone
had a cell phone. Our office actually had a collection of
two-way radios we carried around to coordinate moves like this
when "out in the field".
By the way, these
collections of hazardous waste were "lab packed" by me in
sturdy plastic closed containers (secondary containment) to
facilitate moving them with a dolley and transport on campus
(department truck) back to our Accumulation Area without
breaking anything ("Lab Pack" is actually a DOT designation
that uses a 55 gallon or smaller drum in which to pack bottles
surrounded by vermiculite.)
Now I am glad to be
teaching part time elsewhere. Life is easier.
Thanks for listening.
Michael Ahler
Associate Faculty Member
LPS (Chemistry)
Allan Hancock College
and CHO (retired) Cal Poly
San Luis Obispo
From: ACS
Division of Chemical Health and Safety
<DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU> on behalf of James Kaufman
<jim**At_Symbol_Here**LABSAFETY.ORG>
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2018 7:25:09 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Elevator Entrapment while
Transporting a Liquid Nitrogen Dewar
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There have been fatalities that have resulted
from not following the prudent practice. Use the elevator as
a dumbwaiter. ... Jim
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President/CEO
The Laboratory Safety Institute
(LSI)
A Nonprofit Educational Organization
for Safety in Science,
Industry, and Education192 Worcester Street,
Natick, MA 01760-2252
508-647-1900 Fax: 508-647-0062
Cell: 508-574-6264 Res:
781-237-1335
Skype: labsafe; 508-401-7406 Teach, Learn, and
Practice Science Safely
On Fri, May 11, 2018 at 9:33 AM,
Meschewski, Brian D
<bmesche2**At_Symbol_Here**illinois.edu>
wrote:
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Hi Martin,
Our policy is to simply not
travel in an elevator with liquid nitrogen. We
tell personnel to place the container inside the
elevator and place this sign on it facing the
door:
http://www.drs.illinois.edu/
Brian Meschewski
Research Safety
Professional
Division of
Research Safety
University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
(217)333-2423
From: ACS Division of
Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU>
On Behalf Of Bell,Martin
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2018 7:54 AM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**PRINCETON.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Elevator
Entrapment while Transporting a Liquid
Nitrogen Dewar
Good morning,
We recently had an incident where a
researcher was momentarily trapped in an elevator
while transporting a 230 liter Dewar of liquid
nitrogen. Thankfully the researcher walked out of
the elevator a few seconds later.
This incident raised a concern about
the potential for asphyxiation if an entrapment
occurred and the Dewar released nitrogen gas into
the elevator cab (unlikely but need to prepare).
We have elevator rescue protocols in place but the
response time depends on the time of day.
Has anyone addressed this type of
concern?
Martin
W. Bell, M.S. CIH CSP
Director,
Environmental Compliance
Department
of Environmental Health and Safety
Drexel
University
Tel: 215.895.5892 | Fax: 215.895.5926
Mobile: 215-778-4278
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We, the willing,
led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the
ungrateful. We have done
so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified
to do everything
with nothing. Teresa
Arnold
paraphrased from Konstantin
Josef Jire=C4=8Dek (1854 - 1918)
Samuella B. Sigmann, MS, NRCC-CHO
Senior
Lecturer/Safety Committee
Chair/Director of Stockroom
A. R.
Smith Department of Chemistry
Appalachian
State University
525
Rivers Street
Boone,
NC 28608
Phone:
828 262 2755
Fax:
828 262 6558