Tag: research safety
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Does Your Lab Require a Department of Defense Certificate of Environmental Compliance?
To obtain a signature on the Department of Defense Certificate of Environmental Compliance (DOD-CEC) from the Director of EHSO, each PI will need to submit the following documents: Scientific Abstract from Grant Proposal, PI Assurance document, and the Certificate of Environmental Compliance. EHSO will conduct a lab inspection, review the scientific abstract, and verify the…
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Changes to the NIH Guidelines & Biosafety Training
On September 12th, 2012, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published a revision to the NIH Guidelines that will go into effect on March 5th, 2013. The most significant change to the Guidelines was the incorporation of research involving synthetic nucleic acid molecules. Due to the inclusion of these experiments to the document, the NIH…
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Hazardous Waste Compliance for Laboratories
Federal regulations governing management of chemical waste are written and enforced with the goal of protecting our environment. EHSO interprets these very complex regulations and implements programs, such as the Laboratory Self-Inspection Program, that assist laboratories with compliance. The lab inspection process is a tool researchers should use to evaluate compliance with laboratory waste management.…
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Alternatives to Traditional Thermal Distillation
Distillation of organic solvents is a necessary part of academic research. Typically, researchers use the distillation process to remove water, oxygen, and other contaminants from organic solvents. This process can be hazardous for several reasons: Reactive metals are used as drying agents Many organic solvents are flammable, and the heat required in the distillation process…
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Is Your Lab Leaving Emory or Relocating to Another Location?
If so, prior to departing from your research space, all labs are requested to contact EHSO to schedule a Lab Decommissioning meeting. During this meeting, our office provides a comprehensive overview of the decommissioning process to discuss the safety requirements that apply to your lab move. Additionally, at the meeting, we assist with identifying the various waste streams…
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Relocation Procedures for Equipment with Sealed Sources
Many labs use equipment that may contain sealed or embedded sources of radioactive material. A sealed source is a metal housing that has a specific amount of radioactive material inside. Examples of pieces of equipment with sealed or embedded sources are Liquid Scintillation Counters, Gas Chromatography Equipment, Micro PET units and Gamma Counters. The source…