Laboratory Chemical Safety Summaries

The committee encourages the dissemination of these summaries as a means of promoting the prudent use of hazardous chemicals in laboratory work. It anticipates that these summaries will also serve as models for the preparation of additional LCSSs for chemicals not included in this appendix. In fact, the committee recommends that laboratory workers routinely prepare new LCSSs for unfamiliar substances as part of the risk assessment they should carry out for each experiment as outlined at the conclusion of Chapter 3. 

The preparation and use of Laboratory Chemical Safety Summaries as described here are consistent with the Chemical Hygiene Plans required for every laboratory under the OSHA Laboratory Standard. Thus, the identification of substances that meet the OSHA criteria for particularly hazardous substances or select carcinogens should be facilitated by the use of these summaries. 

The information contained in these summaries is believed to be accurate at the time of publication of this volume. A recent MSDS should be consulted for updated information, especially on exposure limits. 

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The Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for each hazardous chemical is one of the resources that should be incorporated into experiment planning. However, because of the inconsistent quality of information found in MSDSs, Laboratory Chemical Safety Summaries (LCSSs), which are compiled in Appendix B, should be consulted or developed for the materials involved. In any case, the experiment planner needs to be aware that the existing regulations do not necessarily represent the full complement of prudent practices for handling hazardous materials and that other input is therefore essential. 

As discussed above, although MSDSs are invaluable resources, they suffo- some limitations as applied to risk assessment in the specific context of the laboratory. Appendix B introduces the concept of the Laboratory Chemical Safety Summary (LCSS), which is specifically tailored to the needs of the laboratory worker. As indicated in their name, LCSSs provide information on chemicals in the context of laboratory use. These documents are summaries and are not intended to be comprehensive or to fulfill the needs of all conceivable users of a chemical. In conjunction with the guidelines described in this chapte, the LCSS provides essential information required to assess the risks associated with the use of a particular chemical in the laboratory. 

Section 4.C.1 above notes the prudence of establishing a central network of MSDSs. Including MSDSs and Laboratory Chemical Safety Summaries (LCSSs) (see Chapter 3 and Appendix B) in the inventory s database is highly desirable. The quality of MSDSs varies significantly from one manufacturer to another. LCSSs, which are targeted to the needs of the typical laboratory worker, are a useful supplement to the information provided by MSDSs. 

The physical and health hazards associated with chemicals should be determined before working with them This determination may involve consulting literature references. Laboratory Chemical Safety Summaries (LCSSs), Matmal Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs), or other reference materials (see also Chapter 3, section 3.B) and may require discussions with the laboratory supervisor and consultants such as safety and industrial hygiene officers. Every step of the waste minimization and removal processes should be checked against federal, state, and local regulations. Production of mixed chemical-radioactive-biological waste (see Chapter 7, section 7.C.1.3) should not be considered without discussions with environmental health and safety experts. 

All laboratory personnel should know the properties of chemicals they are handling as well as have a basic understanding of how these properties might be affected by the variety of conditions found in the laboratory. As stated in section 5.B, Laboratory Chemical Safety Summaries (LCSSs) or other sources of information should be consulted for further information such as vapor pressure, flash point, and explosive limit in air. The use of flammable substances is common, and their properties are also discussed in Chapter 3, section 3.D. 

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