Procedure 1:
Planning for Chemical Hazards
and Pollution Prevention Opportunities

Policy

The UVM Chemical Hygiene Plan sets forth criteria for the identification of physical and chemical hazards and the measures to be used for control of these hazards.

Laboratory supervisors are responsible for developing and implementing appropriate chemical hygiene policies and practices specific to the operations in their labs. These policies and procedures will be developed and recorded with the assistance of the UVM Hazardous Chemical Use Registration Form or equivalent document. Control measures for managing the use of hazardous chemicals are fully described in the Chemical Hygiene Plan.

In addition to considerations of worker safety, federal regulations and UVM policy require that laboratory work be planned to minimize the use of hazardous and toxic chemicals, and thus the amount of hazardous waste.

Methods for doing this include, in order of preference:

• Source reduction or substitution
• Recycling of waste components
• Hazard reduction of waste (detoxification or neutralization).

Plan

Who:

The laboratory supervisor prepares the UVM Hazardous Chemical Use Registration Form with the assistance of the Chemical Hygiene Officer for that laboratory and the Environmental Safety Facility staff. The laboratory supervisor is responsible for considering procedure modifications that reduce the risk to lab personnel as well as reduce the amount of hazardous laboratory waste generated; ESF staff will assist in these efforts by providing technical and research support (see the Pollution Prevention Program Procedure 13 for more details).

When:

Laboratory workers will prepare the UVM Hazardous Chemical Use Registration Form prior to working with a chemical new to that laboratory.

Pollution prevention strategies will be considered whenever laboratories implement a new research procedure, or when lab personnel are made aware of new technologies or procedures that have pollution prevention potential.

Where:

UVM Hazardous Chemical Use Registration Form will be used in all laboratories covered by the UVM Chemical Hygiene Plan or the UVM Environmental Management Plan.

Procedure

Records

Completed Chemical Use Registration Forms will be maintained by the laboratory supervisors for access by laboratory workers, ESF Staff, campus facility planners, emergency responders and auditors.