At the recent safety coordinator luncheon, I spoke about protecting our house with our emergency patient decontamination strike-force and the importance of SIN (Safety, Isolate, and Notify) pertaining to large scale hazmat events. Well today, I wanted to scale down the SIN principle and explain how everyone on campus should use this, even for the smallest of mishaps whether working in a lab, on a unit, or in an office.
Remember, our first operational thought is Safety, which is a shared responsibility across our fine organization. If handling a chemical and there is a spill or release, get to a Safe location: even if the substance is relatively benign. Do a self assessment to ensure you are not contaminated. If you are contaminated, then change your level D protective clothing (aka everyday work wear) and wash hands or body & flush eyes as needed.
The big miss-step I have seen is in Isolating the spill. If a person spills a chemical that they work with everyday they may take this situation for granted. Even when I am notified of a spill, I have shown up and witnessed people still working in the area, and even though your diligence is inspirational, it is not Safe to yourself or the environment. Additionally, it complicates the spill cleanup process via cross contamination. Walking through the contaminated area only slows the remediation process because it will take longer to properly clean a larger area from tracking it around. Isolation is a very important step in the SIN method, ifIsolation does not take place than Safety is not an operational thought.
Once the area is Safely Isolated, Notifications must be made. First, communicate this information to people who work in the area (including supervisors); they can help with Isolation. Most units and labs have a limited capability to Safely clean up small spills, if you can do it Safely, clean up the spill. At this point, submit a hazardous waste removal form to EH&S which can be found on our web page. If the chemical spill is beyond your capability or you need technical assistance, please notify us immediately. After hours Security Control Center has our on-call group on speed dial—someone is always available to help.
Read more about other safety issues in Environmental Health & Safety's "Speaking of Safety" blog.
For questions regarding Environmental Health & Safety or the "Speaking of Safety" blog, please contact Vicki Brown at vibrown@llu.edu.