From:
David C. Finster <dfinster**At_Symbol_Here**WITTENBERG.EDU>
Subject:
Re: [DCHAS-L] [EXTERNAL] Re: [DCHAS-L] Kitchen microwaves in experiments?
Date:
Jan 27, 2023 20:34 UTC
Reply-To:
ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID:
<CH0PR04MB81156F13400376A74A165FB4B2CC9**At_Symbol_Here**CH0PR04MB8115.namprd04.prod.outlook.com>
In-Reply-To:
<9a00c028-c5ac-ba12-fc58-14b7d4ac20dc**At_Symbol_Here**retired.appstate.edu>
Another resource about microwave ovens in the lab:
http://science.widener.edu/svb/olcc_safety/papers/foster_2.pdf
Dave
David C. Finster
Professor Emeritus, Department of Chemistry
Wittenberg University
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
On Behalf Of Samuella Sigmann
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2023 8:42 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [DCHAS-L] Kitchen microwaves in experiments?
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*** This email was sent from a non-Wittenberg email service ***
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Hi Jessica - I do not think that kitchen microwaves are suitable for use in laboratory environments. This Interpretation Letter from OSHA may help.
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2002-08-08-0
Here are a couple of other links from RANKIN.
https://rankinbiomed.com/2014/06/13/microwave-devices-cant-use-one-bought-appliance-store-part-1-html/
https://rankinbiomed.com/2014/07/18/microwave-devices-cant-use-microwave-oven-can-buy-appliance-store-part-2-html/
S-
On 1/24/2023 8:31 AM, Jessica Martin wrote:
Hello all,
I had a question come up from someone and wanted to get a perspective on this issue from the group here.
When I worked in 3 different molecular biology labs, we had a kitchen microwave available in the lab that we used in our work (it was labeled as “lab use only” so no one’s food was ever inside of it). From what I recall, we primarily used
this to quickly heat up agarose for PCR gels - so I can’t think of any other uses off the top of my head.
From what I can recall, I have NEVER seen a kitchen microwave inside of a chemistry lab. Also, as a chemist, I personally wouldn’t even know what I would use a kitchen microwave for in a chemistry lab since the work I did required quite
a bit of rather exacting control over temperature. Also, I worked with flammable liquids, so this just sounds dangerous (and pointless) to me to be putting that in a microwave. However, the person asking is thinking about it more in the context of educational
demonstrations.
Does anyone here have some sort of policy in place at their institutions on the use of kitchen microwaves, either in educational demonstrations or in actual research labs?
Best,
NSF Graduate Research Fellow (2018-2021)
Joint Safety Team, Founding Member (2018-2021)
Pinkhassik Group, Department of Chemistry (2016-2021)
University of Connecticut
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