Safe Use of Environmental Rooms

Evaluate the possible hazards of the materials and processes you intend to use in an environmental room, with particular attention to inhalation hazards.

• Consult these safety resources:
  • Safety Data Sheet (SDS) Sources
  • Prudent Practices in the Laboratory: Handling and Disposal of Chemicals, The National Academies Press, 1995
• Contact Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) if you have questions about safe use of materials or processes you intend to use.
  • Find the EH&S Research Assistance Program specialist assigned to your building.

Because environmental rooms have limited or no mechanical ventilation, release of any toxic substance into an environmental room presents a hazard to occupants, and potential cross-contamination of research projects.

Because hazardous vapors and fumes are not actively removed from the environmental room environment, work involving any hazardous materials should only be done in closed systems.

Take great care to control hazards and ensure a safe working environment:

• Prevent the release of gases or aerosols at all times.
• Use a less hazerdous product that can perform the same task, if possible.
• Do not perform work in environmental rooms with these materials and equipment:
  • Flammable solvents
  • Corrosives
  • Asphyxiants (e.g., nitrogen and carbon dioxide)
  • Open flames (e.g., Bunsen burners)
• Use an oxygen monitor if required. If EH&S determines that a project may suppress oxygen levels in an environmental room, an oxygen sensor will be required.

The principal investigator (PI) or a knowledgeable designee must provide appropriate safety training, including the basic laboratory safety topics:

• Follow general chemical safety guidelines at all times.
• Inform employees about the safe use of environmental rooms.
• Explain possible routes of exposure of hazardous material, as appropriate:
  • Skin contact
  • Eye exposure
  • Inhalation
• Provide personal protective equipment and engineering controls, and train employees in their proper use.
• Keep training records on file, including:
  • Information covered
  • Date
  • Names
  • Employee signatures

• Read How to Handle Chemical Spills in Laboratories.
• Keep a chemical spill kit easily accessible.
• Make sure Safety Data Sheets are available when using hazardous materials.
• Know the location of safety equipment, including eye wash, emergency shower, first aid kit, and Emergency Guide.
• Clean up only incidental spills, and only if you have been properly trained.
  • Read How to Handle Chemical Spills in Laboratories.

Never store these materials in an environmental room:

• Flammables: Flammable vapors (acetone, ethanol, methanol, etc.) could accumulate in an environmental room leading to dangerous conditions. Transfer buffer, for example, typically contains methanol. The best practice is to add methanol just before use.
• Corrosive materials: Corrosive material can corrode cooling coils in the refrigeration system, causing Freon leaks. Examples: Acids, bases, sodium hypochlorite (bleach), halogens, and phenol.
• Compressed gas cylinders: Compressed gas cylinders present a serious hazard if an undetected leak occurs. Asphyxiant gases can displace oxygen due to the low ventilation rate, causing an oxygen-deficient work environment. Cylinders may also corrode or rust if stored at an incorrect temperature, creating an additional hazard.
• Dry ice: Undetected carbon dioxide vapors from dry ice could fill an environmental cold room and possibly cause an oxygen-deficient environment.
• Food and drink: Do not store food and drink, including beer, in environmental rooms, even temporarily. Designate a Laboratory Clean Area outside the environmental room for this purpose.

Mold is a serious indoor-air quality health issue.

Prevent mold.

• Remove old culture plates and tubes (a food source for mold and mildew).
• Remove all cardboard. Mold and mildew can easily grow on old or damp cardboard. Use plastic containers or foil to store light-sensitive items.

Remediation  

• Contact your lab supervisor about corrective action if mold appears.
• Work with your lab and all other occupying labs to remove and or decontaminate the supplies, equipment, surfaces, etc. that show any evidence of mold.
• If the mold reoccurs quickly, contact the Department Safety Officer for assistance in scheduling a deeper decontamination of the cold room evaporators and condensing units with a mold-remediation company and coordinate this with Facilities Management. 

• Dispose of unused or old chemicals.
  • Read How to Store and Dispose of Hazardous Chemical Waste.
  • Consider donating unused or gently used chemicals to ChemCycle.
• Clearly delineate and label the space assigned to your lab.
• Schedule routine checks to clean and remove legacy materials (e.g., tubes, samples, expired media/kits) as part of your lab procedures. 

• Repairs: Contact Facilities Management, (858) 534-2930, for room repairs.
• Inspections: Contact the EH&S Research Assistance Program specialist assigned to your building for an environmental room safety inspection.