Laboratories and workshops

The layout suggested for the chemical plant complex includes a central control room to operate all three plants. Administration, laboratory, and workshop areas are also common. The nitric acid plant is small, occupying less than 1 hectare. There is space on the 1 hectare plot for inclusion of a second parallel process train for possible future expansion. 

In time also Lawford Place was closed, the staff scattered, and the land sold for building. To clear space for more homes, the laboratories and workshops were demolished (in one instance, presumably by accident, burned) and at the date of writing only the shell of the original house remains—stripped of lead and other fittings—in its small way an allegory.)... 

There are a wide variety of solvents used in industrial processes, and exposure can also occur in other occupational settings such as laboratories and workshops. Solvents can have toxic effects ranging from narcosis, irritation, and degreasing of skin to effects on major organs such as the central nervous and reproductive systems. The trend of inhaling solvents, for their narcotic effects, which became popular in teenagers will be discussed on p. 198. 

Most laboratories have a compressed air plant installed in the building. The compressed air is then reticulated to all laboratories and workshops. The pressure at the glassblower s bench should be about 0-7 kg/cm (10 Ib/in ), and where necessary this should be controlled by a pressure regulator. 

CWIS (2000), Li - Good Laboratory Practice, Liverpool John Moores University, Campus Wide Information Service, Health and Safety Unit, Laboratory and Workshop Safety Notes (www.cwis.liyjm.ac.uk/hse)... 

It should be noted that although high pressure pumps and valves are standard and readily available, most of the high pressure containers and cells have been constructed in individual investigators laboratories and workshops, and are not commercially available. 

Bom of aristocratic lineage, Henry Cavendish had no title, but he was independently wealthy all his life. He went to Cambridge but took no degree, a practice not uncommon for a person in his position. After Cambridge he lived with his father in London, where he built a laboratory and workshop, then started on his unique career of unrestricted scientific investigation. 

The bulk of the substances studied by eighteenth-century chemists originated in the artisanal world, and many of the new chemical substances that were discovered in academic chemists laboratories soon became transformed into remedies and other commodities. In the eighteenth century substances traveled from pharmaceutical laboratories and workshops to academic chemical laboratories, and vice versa, to become reproduced, analyzed, technically improved, and applied as useful materials. But were the materials studied, produced, and applied by apprenticed artisans and craftsmen and investigated by academic chemists actually identical kinds of objects of inquiry This is a key question tackled in detail in parts II and III of our book. 

In the eighteenth century the term laboratory referred both to academic sites where chemical and pharmaceutical operations were performed and to the workplaces of apothecaries, assayers, gunpowder makers, and distillers. The Latin word labor are, from which laboratory is derived, points to the similarity between academic laboratories and workshops. For a chemist, a laboratory was a necessity. Anyone who would become a chemist, Macquer pointed out, must indispensably have a laboratory. This was different in the core areas of experimental philosophy, where physical cabinets and physical theaters theatrum physicum) were estabhshed. As is almost apparent from these latter terms, these institutions frequently served as locations for the collection and exhibition of instruments and for the demonstration of curious experimental effects rather than as actual places of work. By contrast, an eighteenth-century chemical laboratory was a site of daily experimental work. ... 

Leading U.S. prosthetics manufacturers, such as Becker Orthopedic and the Hanger Orthopedic Group, sell primarily to special laboratories and workshops. Such workshops are staffed by trained and certified prosthetists and orthotists. Physicians contact these workshops to place an order or fill a prescription for a prosthesis to be fitted on a patient. 

This particular aspect of the Act is to be strengthened by the introduction of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations. These far-reaching regulations will affect museums primarily in their laboratories and workshops, and their main thrust will be to introduce the concept of occupational hygiene and health principles into every workplace. 

An earlier chapter has described the importance of safety policies. While, in the United Kingdom and some other countries, there are legal reasons for employers to commit their safety policies to paper, the value of these policies hes in how they can be applied as an effective means of managing safety. This chapter examines some ways in which a formal policy document can become a useful and practical tool for laboratories and workshops. 

Of course, not every task lends itself to SOPs. Many jobs, especially in laboratories and workshops, will be singular, or may need to be done only occasionally. In these cases, there should be a mechanism for reviewing the proposed system of work before the job starts. One such mechanism is the permit to work. This is, essentially, a checklist of hazards, together with a system of authorization, to show that each hazard has been given proper consideration, and that appropriate counter-measures have been taken. An example of a permit is shown in Figure 1. Although this example was designed mainly for use in factories, it is used successfully by research laboratories, and forms a model which could be adapted easily for museum use. 

The principles of passive and active fire safety apply just as strongly to the ancillary and workplace activities of the museum as to those of the public areas. Laboratories and workshops may be located in basement or other areas remote from the public galleries, and it may be necessary to consider additional escape routes and exits to avoid dead end situations. There may be also certain structural requirements associated with workplace activities involving highly flammable or otherwise hazardous substances. 

In most laboratories and workshops where highly flammable liquids or combustible gases are used there is a strong prohahihty that a vapour-air mixture within the flammable limits will persist for some period of time. Whether a fire results will depend upon whether this transient flammable mixture contacts an ignition source. All workplaces contain a variety of potential ignition sources, ranging from the obvious open flames, electrical equipment and installations, and heating apphances which are necessary for the work activities, to the surreptitious smoker who is a hazard to the work activities. 

In museum laboratories and workshops the fuels are most likely to be ordinary combustible materials (paper, wood, etc.) and highly flammable liquids, so that protection is required for general and special risks. For general fire protection water is by far the most effective, since it has excellent cooling properties and can penetrate to... 

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