The Environmental Health and Radiation Safety Department (EHRS) is responsible for ensuring the safe use of radioactive materials, radiation- producing equipment, chemicals and biological substances at the University, Hospital and affiliated institutions. EHRS is responsible for identifying safety problems; initiating, recommending, or providing corrective actions; verifying implementation of corrective actions; and ensuring compliance with regulations and University policies for the use of hazardous substances.
ADVISORIES
Eyewash and Drench Hose Checksheets for 2013 Available
Any eyewash and/or drench hose must be inspected weekly. The checksheet for Eyewashes is here and the Drench Hose checksheet is available here.
New Initial Safety Training Schedule effective May 1, 2012
Sections on chemical inventory management and Shipping of Dangerous Goods added
Effective May 1, 2012, all Initial Safety Training classes will be held in the EHRS offices at HSC. EHRS is located in the Pharmacy-Allied Health Building (3307 N. Broad Street) in Room B-49. The Initial Safety portion of the training will begin at 9 AM. Depending on the attendee’s work responsibilities, the training may last until 3:00 PM (including a one hour break for lunch).
Initial Safety Training will now include sections on CEMS (the online chemical inventory database) and Shipping of Dangerous Goods. The CEMS portion of training will start at 11 AM, while the Shipping segment will begin at 1 PM. Attendees who do not require CEMS and/or Shipping training will be released at 11 AM. Anyone who has fulfilled Initial Safety Training requirements in the past can attend just CEMS and/or Shipping training, as necessary. No matter what kind of training you need, you must register in advance with Kisha Grady at kgrady@temple.edu.
Security of Hazardous Materials Reminder
Environmental Health & Radiation Safety would like to remind all hazardous material users of the institutional policies and government regulations that cover hazardous materials/equipment areas:
- Areas must be secured from unauthorized access at all times.
- Individuals whose job does not require them to be present must be questioned as to why they have entered the area.
- All unauthorized individuals must be escorted at all times.
- Any missing hazardous materials must immediately be reported to EHRS and Campus Security.
New Visitor and Volunteer Policy for All Laboratories
Temple University has a new Visitor and Volunteer Policy that applies to all labs. If you are planning on having a visitor or volunteer enter your lab, even for a short period of time, you must follow the policy. This policy also pertains to minors who may be entering a lab.
NEWS
Coming Soon: Global Harmonization System
The Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has issued its final rule on the revised changes to the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) on March 26, 2012. This revision will align the HCS with the Global Harmonized System (GHS) of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals. The major changes to the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS) are:
- Hazard classification: Chemical manufacturers and importers are required to determine the hazards of the chemicals they produce or import. Hazard classification under the new, updated standard provides specific criteria to address health and physical hazards as well as classification of mixtures.
- Labels: Chemical manufacturers and importers must provide a label that includes a signal word, pictogram, hazard statement, and precautionary statement for each hazard class or category. Refer to section below for additional information on Labels.
- Safety Data Sheets (SDS - no longer called MSDS): The new format requires 16 specific sections, ensuring consistency in presentation of important product information. Refer to the OSHA quick card on SDS for additional information on SDS.
- Information and training: To facilitate understanding of the new system, the new standard requires that workers be trained by December 1, 2013 on the new label elements and safety data sheet (SDS) format, in addition to current training requirements.
More information on the Global Harmonization System can be found here.
Changes made to CEMS system
The CEMS chemical inventory system was recently updated. This update should not cause its users any major issues, though there were a few changes that regular users should know about:
1) The Add Chemical Container module is a little different. You will still enter the same information into CEMS, but the system will prompt you in a different order. It is also now required that you enter an expiration date and container type when entering a new container. If your chemical does not have a given expiration date you can put a date either a year from the date it was received or from the day you are entering it into CEMS.
2) The Update Inventory function has been renamed Multi-Update Inventory. If you need to update multiple containers (for example, you need to mark 10 containers as empty), you should now click on the Multi-Update Chemical Inventory link. From there you can perform the same steps as with the earlier versions of CEMS.
Information Form for New Faculty
A form has been created to help familiarize new faculty with Temple University's policies and procedures, as well as training requirements. Completing this form can also help prevent any delay when seeking approval of research applications. The form can be found here.
New Chemical Redistribution List Available
EHRS maintains a Chemical Redistribution List. These are chemicals that have been picked up by EHRS and are still in usable condition. If a lab is interested in obtaining any of the chemicals on the list, please send an e-mail to ehrs@temple.edu. In the e-mail include your name, the PI name (if different), the lab location, and a contact phone number. EHRS personnel will be in touch regarding delivery of the chemical.
The current Chemical Redistribution list can be found here.
