Safety Committee Meeting
School of Engineering
January 27, 2022
In Attendance: Hussein Abdeltawab, Chris Bartlett, Dave Honard, Phil Jones, Mario Loreti, Nancy Study, Joy Armbruster
Members Unavailable: Glenn Craig, Brian Lani, Lucy Lenhardt, Fred Nitterright, Steve Nozaki
Phil Jones called the meeting to order at 2:30 pm.
Each committee member covered their Lab/s Risk Assessment /Activity Report. Any reports of new, moved, or deleted equipment will be added to the equipment database. Any lab concerns/new business reported on the forms will be addressed.
- Mario reported that he added a tabletop drill press to his shop. It was moved from another lab on campus where it was in storage not being used.
Accident/Incident/Best Practices Report
No new injuries or near misses to report.
Joy shared with the committee that there was a recent accident being reviewed in Chemistry where a student spilled Nitric Acid on themselves while working in the lab. The committee discussed the event and will use this information to remind those in the SOE who work with etching chemicals to review their safety policies for handling like chemicals.
Nancy shared that a clause has been added to her course syllabus stating that students who work independently in Burke 119 will have their lab privileges revoked if they are seen without a mask. This is due to the number of students seen regularly not wearing masks as required in many of the SOE labs.
Continuing Business
The minutes from the December 2021 meeting were reviewed.
Joy reported that the eye-wash station inspections are not required over break if no one is working in the lab. If people are working in the lab over break, the inspection is required. Resolved.
Lab Card Access to Burke 123 was discussed by the committee. We would like to invite Dipo to the January committee meeting to discuss. Brief discussion ensued and the committee would like to keep this topic current and ask Dipo to address the faculty at the next school meeting.
New Business
The committee was asked about the possibility of adding a fume hood to the soldering lab, Burke 145. A faculty member in ECE recently needed a fume hood for research and will use the hood in the AMIC lab this semester. The committee shared concerns about adding a fume hood to Burke 145. Safety concerns about the room not being a lab with fire walls, the size of the space, and that it should be designated just for soldering were some of the comments shared. They would like to see maintenance add a ceiling vent to the exhaust unit that is in the room for extra ventilation for soldering. This information will be shared with the SOE director.
Internal lab audit mid-year. Further discussion is needed and will be tabled until next meeting.
Ladder inspections are complete in all labs. Brian Lani reported a ladder in AMIC without a manufacturer label.
Annual lab inspections are currently being conducted in all SOE labs.
Previous Action Items
Brian and Chetan are developing the plan for the MTS while Chetan is out. Action item is ongoing.
The committee had a discussion on sponsor-owned equipment. Lucy noted that the contract should include maintenance and usage protocol. Action Item is ongoing.
Mario suggested that students using Burke 145 should have training on soldering before using the lab. He also suggested that we ask maintenance to look at the ventilation in the space. There is currently a fume vent in the lab. Action item is ongoing.
The unit specific plans have been reviewed and signed in the labs. Fred shared concern that in Burke 118 more faculty and students are using the lab than he is aware of and would like a better list of who is assigned or approved to use the lab. This action item will be addressed in the Fall '22 semester if still a concern. Resolved.
Card Access: The committee discussed the card access process for Burke 117. The Supermileage and Robotics clubs have grown to 30-40 students and the normal card access procedure where each student is required to meet with the lab access coordinator has become very difficult. Action Item is ongoing.
Mario and Lucy reported some of the No Food/Drink signs are missing from the labs. Joy will ask the student work-study to go around and add any missing signage. Resolved.
The meeting concluded at 3:15 p.m. The next meeting will be scheduled for February.