From:
Samuella Sigmann <sigmannsb**At_Symbol_Here**RETIRED.APPSTATE.EDU>
Subject:
Re: [DCHAS-L] Kitchen microwaves in experiments?
Date:
Jan 28, 2023 22:21 UTC
Reply-To:
ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID:
<bb65a4af-c2e7-6be4-0880-19780dae1a11**At_Symbol_Here**retired.appstate.edu>
In-Reply-To:
<4E21CA87-4B6C-4F74-AB50-5C486207B13C**At_Symbol_Here**uconn.edu>
Great. I just happened upon that.
I also know that in my previous life as an embedded safety
professional with no mechanisms for enforcement and no EHS taking on
policy making it was very difficult to try and get kitchen
microwaves out of labs. The last time that I tried to persuade a
researcher with limited funds to purchase a lab rated unit she was
not at all willing to spend several thousand $$ vs. <$100.
Sigh....
S-
On 1/27/2023 4:16 PM, Jessica Martin
wrote:
Hi Sammye,
The OSHA letter response is very helpful. Thank you.
Best,
Jessica
A. Martin,
Ph.D.
NSF
Graduate
Research
Fellow
(2018-2021)
Joint
Safety Team,
Founding
Member
(2018-2021)
Pinkhassik
Group,
Department of
Chemistry
(2016-2021)
University
of Connecticut
323-327-3974
ACS
CHAS PEER-LED
WORKSHOPS
The Workshop
ACS CHAS
Empowering Academic
Researchers to
Strengthen Safety Culture is being held next on
March 5, 2023!
Follow this
link for more
information
and
to register:
https://LSTWorkshopMarch2023.eventbrite.com
The
Workshop ACS
CHAS RAMP in
the Research
Lab is being
held next on April
13, 2023!
*Message sent from a
system outside of UConn.*
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?
Thanks!
Best,
Jessica
A. Martin,
Ph.D.
NSF
Graduate
Research
Fellow
(2018-2021)
Joint
Safety Team,
Founding
Member
(2018-2021)
Pinkhassik
Group,
Department of
Chemistry
(2016-2021)
University
of Connecticut
323-327-3974
ACS
CHAS PEER-LED
WORKSHOPS
The Workshop
ACS CHAS
Empowering Academic
Researchers to
Strengthen Safety Culture is being held next on
March 5, 2023!
Follow this
link for more
information
and
to register:
https://LSTWorkshopMarch2023.eventbrite.com
The
Workshop ACS
CHAS RAMP in
the Research
Lab is being
held next on April
13, 2023!
--
******************************************************************************
Samuella
B. Sigmann, MS, NRCC-CHO
Appalachian
State University, Retired
Phone:
336 877 5147
--- For more information about the DCHAS-L e-mail
list, contact the Divisional membership chair at
membership**At_Symbol_Here**dchas.org
