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A policy is established for the "Laboratory Clean-Out of Hazardous Materials" to assure that hazardous
materials are disposed of properly when faculty, staff, postdoctoral
associate, or graduate student transfers to a different laboratory
or leaves the University. This policy will reduce the number of
unwanted and unknown hazardous materials in laboratories, reduce
waste disposal costs, and provide laboratory personnel with a healthful,
safe, and clean place to work. This policy specifies responsibilities
of the i ndividual and department and the procedures that must be
followed for the proper disposition of hazardous materials.
The faculty member assigned to a
laboratory is responsible for the proper use and disposal of all
hazardous materials in his/her assigned laboratory space. When a
faculty member or personnel under his/her supervision transfers
to a new laboratory or l eaves the University, she/he must follow
proper "clean-out" procedures. Each department will be responsible
for developing written checkout procedures and inspecting facilities
for hazardous materials when laboratory close out procedures have
been comple ted. Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) will review
checkout procedures and provide information on hazardous materials,
proper disposal procedures, and regulations governing disposal of
hazardous materials.
Any problems resulting from improper
management of hazardous materials at close-out will be addressed
by the department head/chairperson, appropriate dean, director of
EH&S and the chairperson of the appropriate safety committee (Chemical
Hazards Use, Radiations Use, or Biological Hazards Committee). EH&S
will not be responsible for any additional cleanup costs, regulatory
action or fines resulting from non-compliance with this policy.
In these instances, the responsible department head will arrange
for the necessary remediation funds.
Procedures
Remove and properly dispose of
all hazardous materials from the main laboratory and also from any
shared storage units such as refrigerators, cold rooms, stock rooms,
and waste collection areas. Please refer to the Environmental Health
and Safety (EH &S) publications, "Laboratory Safety Manual", "Waste
Management at Umass", "Radiation Safety Manual"and a suggested Laboratory
Checkout List .
Clean and decontaminate all laboratory
equipment, fume hoods, benchtops, cabinets, floors, and shelves.
If laboratory equipment is to be
discarded, the following is necessary:
Be aware that hazardous materials (e.g., batteries, capacitors,
transformers, mercury switches, mercury thermometers, oil, asbestos
linings, radioactive sources, and CFCs from refrigerators, etc.)
may be in equipment and must be removed before disposal. Contact
EH&S for assistance
To dispose of equipment (not containing hazardous materials), notify
the Property and Inventory Control Office.
The supervising faculty member
of the laboratory shall inspect the facilities and notify the department
head/chairperson that graduate students, postdoctoral associates,
and employees under his/her supervision have followed the proper
disposal procedu res and fulfilled his/her responsibilities for
cleanup.
In the absence of a supervising
faculty member, the department head/chairperson shall appoint a
faculty member to inspect the facilities or request that EH&S inspect
the facilities to determine if the laboratory has been properly
cleaned and decontami nated.
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