Chemical Safety

The Laboratory Safety and Compliance training course is now “required initial training” for all Principal Investigators, lab managers, lab chemical hygiene officers, and people working in a supervisory role in research and teaching laboratories. The class provides essential information on regulatory, policy, and permit requirements, and addresses hazards and risk assessment to ensure lab safety and compliance.

EH&S has developed a new online Hydrofluoric Acid Safety Training course to help those who work with or may be exposed to hydrofluoric acid (HF) in the workplace. HF exposures can lead to some serious injuries or fatalities.

Why should labs have a standard operating procedure (SOP) for a chemical when the manufacturer safety data sheet (SDS) is available?

Both documents are “required” in the lab but offer different types of important information about a chemical. SDSs can be a good source of information when assessing risks associated with the storage, use, and transport of a chemical or product, whereas an SOP gives the researcher detailed lab-specific information for handling of a chemical at every stage of its presence in the lab.

EH&S has developed a new online Formaldehyde Safety Training module to help principal investigators (PIs), lab managers, researchers and others meet the federal and WA State Formaldehyde worker safety standards for this widely used chemical. The target audience for this training is laboratory and research personnel, including those who work in research, clinical

MyChem has new features to make it easier for users to dispose of chemical waste. Now users can electronically request chemical waste collections with just a few clicks.

Quickly flag chemicals in an inventory and build a hazardous waste collection report for electronic submission to EH&S with the click of a button. Include chemicals not yet listed in your inventory! For additional details log into MyChem to view the MyChem User Guide.

Nitric acid is a highly-corrosive mineral acid and strong oxidizer used primarily for nitration of organic molecules. Nitric acid reacts violently with alcohols, alkalis, reducing agents, combustible materials, organic materials, metals, acids, cyanides, terpenes, charcoal, and acetone. Not only does it produce exothermic reactions but also toxic, corrosive, and flammable vapors. The violent, reactive nature of nitric acid has led to major incidents at research universities such as Tufts, Texas Tech, and, recently, here at the University of Washington.

EH&S collaborated with the Materials Science & Engineering Department to develop a short video about the UW’s chemical waste management process.

Watch the video to get your common waste management questions answered and learn more about properly labeling, storing, and managing hazardous chemical waste.