In this issue of the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Listserv, June
8, 2005:
1. June is National Safety Month - "Safety where we live, work and play"
2. Recall of Circular Saws
3. It Happens... At Other Universities
4. New and Revised Safe Operating Procedures (SOPs)
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1. June is National Safety Month - "Safety where we live, work and play"
Each year more than 20 million Americans suffer disabling injuries.
Another 100,000 die from their injuries. Nearly two-thirds of those who
die are workers or their family members.
UNL can help reduce these numbers by promoting on and off-the-job safety
and health to employees during National Safety Month and throughout the
year.
For safety tip sheets to post in your work area, visit the National
Safety Council website at <http://www.nsc.org/nsm/risktip.htm>.
For safety meeting ideas, handouts, posters, mini safety
presentations, etc. for supervisors to present to departments,
contact EHS at (402) 472-4925 or [log in to unmask]
2. Recall of Circular Saws
CPSC, Robert Bosch Tool Corp. Announce Recall of Circular Saws
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announces the following recall
in voluntary cooperation with the firm below. Consumers should stop using
recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
Name of Product: BOSCH Circular Saws
Units: 69,000
Manufacturer: Robert Bosch Tool Corp., of Mount Prospect, Ill.
Hazard: The lower blade guard can malfunction, creating a risk of injury as
severe as amputation.
Incidents/Injuries: The firm has received three reports of malfunctioning
lower guards, including one amputation.
Description: The recall circular saws include the BOSCH CS10, CS20 and
CS20-XC models, which can be identified on the product nameplate mounted on
the top of the motor housing. The recalled models do not have an asterisk
(*) in the serial number box. The circular saw uses a 7¼-inch blade and has
a blue handle and motor enclosure, and a metal guarding system. The name
"BOSCH" is printed on the blade guard.
Sold At: Home Depot, Lowe's and Menards nationwide, as well as independent
hardware retailers and industrial distributors, from February 2004 through
April 2005 for between $120 and $150.
Manufactured in: United States
Remedy: Consumer should stop using the circular saws immediately and
contact Robert Bosch Tool Corp. to receive a repair kit. The kit includes
hardware and instructions for installation.
Consumer Contact: Robert Bosch Tool Corp. at (800) 856-9683 between 7 a.m.
and 7 p.m. CT Monday through Friday or visit the BOSCH Web site
(See attached file: Bosch.pdf)
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3. It Happens... At Other Universities
Lab Fire article in Chemical & Engineering News:
Classical example of graduate students doing whatever it takes to get their
work done.
Grad students were responsible for jury-rigging shelving from Justrite
cabinet to Eagle cabinet. What was missing was the classic statement from
one of the students, "this isn't the first time the shelf tipped and
containers of flammables fell to the floor and broke". Evidently, this had
happened before with a more manageable volume of liquid to contain and
clean-up. The irony is that none of the students or the faculty member
made any attempt to correct the problem. Lab had multiple ignition sources
so there were apparently a number of near misses. Although the article
leads one to believe that the faculty member and the grad students were
cooperative and on top of the situation, that was not how it happened. The
faculty member actually advised the grad students not to talk to anyone
conducting an investigation of the incident. Of course, they did not
initially cooperate. The group was ultimately threatened by officials from
Columbus Fire Dept. and OSU Public Safety. The root cause analysis clearly
indicated that the research group was aware of the problem with the storage
cabinet shelving and took no actions to correct. Consequently, the Dept.
and faculty member are paying for the clean-up and renovations. Finally,
none of the investigators were informed that, "We had put out a number of
other fires in the lab," the first student says, until we read the article.
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4. New and Revised Safe Operating Procedures (SOPs)
EHS has posted new SOP's on the web site:
Brown Recluse Spiders http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/s-brown_recluse.pdf
Laboratory Hood/Cabinet Identification and Use
http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/s-lab_hood_use.pdf
Safe Use of Cell Cultures http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/s-cell_cultures.pdf
EHS has revised several SOPs on the web site:
Autoclave Operation and Safety
http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/s-autoclavesafety.pdf
Chemical Security http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/s-chemsecurity.pdf
Emergency Eye Wash and Shower Equipment
http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/s-emerg_eyewash_shower.pdf
General Safety Tips for Working with Hazardous Chemicals
http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/s-usechem.pdf
Hazardous Material Collection Procedures
http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/s-chem_collection_procedures.pdf
Hazardous Material Collection Tag Instructions
http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/s-collectiontags.pdf
Microtome Safety http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/s-microtomes.pdf
Personal Protective Equipment for Chemical Exposures
http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/s-ppe.pdf
SOPs can be found on the EHS web site at <http://ehs.unl.edu/SOP/index.cfm
>.
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