BOOKS

Making the Lab Safer

Reviewed by Leonard W. Gray

A collection of papers written for presentation at a symposium and published as chapters in a book has both strengths and weaknesses. The information, indeed, appears in print quickly. However, a sympo­sium typically does not give a bal­anced treatment to all aspects of a topic. Some areas are ignored, whereas others receive repeated treatment by various authors.

"Health and Safety in the Chemi­cal Laboratory: Where Do We Go from Here?/7 which is based on a symposium organized by the U.K/s Royal Society of Chemistry, is no ex­ception. For instance, 2-naphthyl-amine (a cause of bladder cancer) and asbestos (a cause of cancer of the lungs and gastrointestinal tract) are highlighted in three or four differ­ent chapters. Although the term "teratogenesis" does appear in a ta­ble, teratogenic substances are not discussed. Corrosive and mutagenic chemicals, embryotoxins, neurotox­ins, and allergens are totally ig­nored.

Four chapters provide an interest­ing approach to statistics on acci­dents, dangerous occurrences, mor­bidity, and mortality. The book points out that, although chemists working in industrial laboratories often have the naive attitude that they are much safer than other in­dustrial workers, statistics do not support this perception.

Among the conclusions that can be drawn from the statistics given are:

• Falls, muscular injuries, and blows and cuts from tools, equip­ment, and other objects account for more than half of all industrial acci­dents. These accidents stem from the violation of working practices that require operator alertness and involve situations in which physical precautions, such as safety barriers, can play only a small part. These problems can be reduced only by improved worker training, better

Chemists need to know more about lab

hazards, as well as the legal liabilities for

professional negligence

"Health and Safety in the Chemi­cal Laboratory: Where Do We Go from Here?" Proceedings of a sym­posium organized by the Profes­sional Affairs Board of the U.K/s Royal Society of Chemistry, Hey den & Son, 247 South 41st St., Philadel­phia, Pa. 19104,1984,198 pages, $30

Leonard W. Gray, a research staff chem­ist for the past 15 years at the Savannah River Laboratory operated by Du Pont at Aiken, S.C., for the Department of Energy, has been a member of the Amer-ican Chemical Society's Committee on Chemical Safety for the past five years

supervision, and an awareness by all concerned of the dangers in­volved.

• Accidents involving chemicals account for only a small part of all industrial accidents (2% of those in all industry and 5.6% of those in re­search and development). However, their severity may be greater. In France, for example, the average cost of an accident in the chemical industry is about 15% more than that in industry as a whole.

• Many long-term effects of chemicals are not recognized and, hence, are not included in industrial statistics.

Several of the book's chapters dis­cuss the economics of health and safety measures. Although the like­lihood of an accident's occurring di­minishes with increasing preven­tion cost, it is difficult to do a cost-benefit analysis. Nevertheless,

statistics given in this book demon­strate that training, together with clearly understood work procedures and employees' personal involve­ment with safety, will achieve more dollar for dollar than money spent on physical precautions. This does not mean, however, that physical precautions should be ignored.

In a series of seven chapters, the book provides a good historical overview of the administrative, le­gal, and technical approaches to the regulation of occupational safety and health hazards in the U.S., U.K., West Germany, France, and, collec­tively, the nations of the European Economic Community. However, with the exception of West Germa­ny, the information presented is for workplaces other than the chemical laboratory. In West Germany, acci­dent prevention in laboratories is regulated by a set of so-called gener­al regulations, which are supple­mented by guidelines for laborato­ries. These guidelines apply to lab­oratories in which dangerous materials are handled, analyzed, prepared, or tested.

In the U.S., the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) regulates exposures to toxic chemicals under its General Indus­try Health Standards. In response to requests for special regulations for laboratories, OSHA has proposed standards for those that use OSHA-regulated chemicals. These stan­dards (dated Oct. 7,1982, but not yet adopted) deal only with worker pro­tection against the toxic effects of laboratory chemicals. OSHA's gen­eral safety requirements are deemed to be applicable to laboratories as well.

One chapter discusses the legal responsibilities arising from the negligence of professional employ­ees. Particularly relevant to chem­ists is the possibility that they or their employers may be fined for negligence if they fail to carry out sufficient investigative work. With the kinds of legal responsibilities

48 September 23, 1985 C&EN

that have been spelled out in recent years by U.S. courts, professional chemists should at least be aware of their potential liabilities.

This chapter, called "Professional Negligence, Liability, and Indemni­ty," ends with the questions asked by members of the audience after the original paper was presented. One of the questions asked of the speaker, a law professor at the Uni­versity of Bristol, was: "If an acci­dent occurs to a student in a univer­sity laboratory, can the professor be held liable?"

The reply: "The first thing one is taught asj a lawyer is that you don't waste time suing people with no money! The obvious course is to sue the university. But, yes, technically someone in the department would almost certainly be liable."

Two chapters discuss the hazards of handling chemicals, scientific ap­paratus, equipment, utilities, and services, such as compressed-gas piping systems. They point out that the hazards of chemicals may arise from their inherent instability or from their interaction with other chemicals. The authors describe sev­eral laboratory accidents that could have been prevented had the re­searchers used better techniques or checked standard reference books before starting their experiments. Unfortunately, too many people working in labs do not take proper advantage of the information al­ready available in the literature re­garding chemical hazards.

One chapter discusses the control and supervision of by far the most complex laboratory component, sometimes capable of totally irratio­nal action—the research staff. This chapter covers very well a method for the proper safety training of new chemistry graduates and describes the range of safety advice available and the accepted safety practices that apply to chemists. The method encourages professional behavior, self-analysis, and a willing coopera­tion with good safety procedures.

As an overview of the current safety field, "Health and Safety in the Chemical Laboratory" makes in­teresting reading and provides much good information. However, it is far from being a complete guide to the safety and health aspects of

the practice of chemistry. For read­ers looking for useful overall guides to safety and health in the chemical laboratory, other books are much better. See, for example, "Prudent Practices for Handling Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories" by the National Research Council, or "Hazards in the Chemical Labora­tory" by the Royal Society of Chem­istry. But readers seeking a general understanding of the directions in which safety regulations are mov­ing in the U.S. and abroad, as well as information about personal legal li­ability in matters relating to safety and health, will find "Health and Safety in the Chemical Laboratory" a good beginning. D

The Pharmacological Effect of Lipids II. Jon J. Kabara, editor, χ + 353 pages. American Oil Chemists' Society, 508 South Sixth St., Cham­paign, 111. 61820. 1985. $30 AOCS members, $45 nonmembers.

Photochemistry. Vol. 15. D. Bryce-Smith et al. xx + 555 pages. Royal Society of Chemistry, Distribution Centre, Blackhorse Rd., Letch-worth, Herts., SG6 1HN, England. 1985. $197.

Physical Chemistry. 2nd Ed. Ignacio Tinoco Jr., Kenneth Sauer, James C. Wang, xiv + 706 pages. Prentice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 07632. 1985. $32.95.

Polymer Stabilization and Degradation. ACS Symposium Series 280. Peter P. Klemchuk, editor, xi + 446 pages. American Chemical Society, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. 1985. $79.95.

Solid State Chemistry in Catalysis. ACS Symposium Series 279. Robert K. Grasselli, James F. Brazdil, editors, χ + 365 pages. American Chemical Society, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. 1985. $64.95.

Methods of Experimental Physics. Vol. 22. Solid State Physics: Surfaces. Robert L. Park, Max G. Lagally, editors, xx + 543 pages. Aca­demic Press, 111 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10003.1985. $80.

Spectroscopy of Condensed Media. C. H. Wang, xiii + 356 pages. Academic Press, 111 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10003.1985. $74.

Standard Handbook of Engineering Calcu­lations. Tyler G. Hicks, editor, xviii + 1468 pages. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1221 Ave. of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020. 1985. $59.50.

Surface Coatings. Vol. 2, Paints and Their Applications. Oil and Colour Chemists' As­sociation of Australia. 490 pages. Chapman & Hall, 733 Third Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017. 1985. $65.

Symmetry in Bonding and Spectra. Bodie E. Douglas, Charles A. Hollingsworth. xii + 456 pages. Academic Press, 111 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10003.1985. $39.

Theilheimer's Synthetic Methods of Organic Chemistry. Vol. 39. Alan F. Finch, editor, xxiv + 544 pages. S. Karger, AG Basel, P.O. Box, Postfach, CH-4009 Basel, Switzerland. 1985. $243.75.

Paperbacks AIChE Modular Instruction. Series D: Ther­modynamics. Vol. 5: Thermodynamic Theory. G. A. Mansoori, editor, vi + 74 pages. Ameri­can Institute of Chemical Engineers, 345 East 47th St., New York, N.Y. 10017. 1984. $15 AIChE members, $30 nonmembers.

IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans. Vol. 34, Pt. 3. 219 pages. World Health Orga­nization, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. 1984. $20.

IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of the Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans. Vol. 35. Pt. 4. 271 pages. World Health Orga­nization, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland. 1985. $25.

Indicators of Precollege Education in Science and Mathematics: a Preliminary Review. Senta A. Raizen, Lyle V. Jones, editors, ix + 200 pages. National Academy Press, 2101 Consti­tution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20418. 1985. $16.50.

An Introduction to Project Planning. 2nd Ed. Jack Gido. xiii + 155 pages. Industrial Press, 200 Madison Ave., New York, N.Y. 10157. 1984. $12.

Macromolecular Structure and Specificity: Computer-Assisted Modeling and Applica­tions. Babu Venkataraghavan, Richard J. Feldmann, editors, viii + 209 pages. New York Academy of Sciences, 2 East 63rd St., New York, N.Y. 10021.1985. $48.

Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics. S. R. De Groot, P. Mazur. χ + 510 pages. Dover Publi­cations, 31 East Second St., Mineola, N.Y. 11501.1984. $10.95.

Organotin Compounds in the Aquatic En­vironment: Scientific Criteria for Assessing Their Effects on Environmental Quality. J. A. J. Thompson et al. 284 pages. Publications, NRCC/CNRC, Ottawa, Ont., Canada K1À 0R6.

1985. $10.

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