University buildings contain array of hazardous chemicals By John Burket Of IIm Kmerald Hazardous chemicals are a fact of 20th century life Broadly defined, a hazardous chemical is any substance that poses a threat to human health and safety. That includes many everyday household items as well as specialized-use chemicals found at the University. ‘'Probably every building on campus contains hazardous chemicals.” said Tom Hicks. University environmental health officer. "Paint thinner, photographic fixer, printing ink. bottled gases — all of these are considered hazardous, mostly because they are either flammable or toxic," Hicks said. Governmental agencies that monitor hazardous materials separate them into four categories: flammable, cor rosive. reactive and toxic. Examples of each category are gasoline, which is a flammable chemical; powerful acids and bases, which are corrosives; ex plosive chemicals (that can ex plode sometimes in the presence of only air or water), which are reactives; and poisonous or carcinogenic chemicals, which are toxics. 1 he three places on campus where hazardous chemicals are consolidated into relatively small storage areas are the Physical Plant, the art depart ment and the chemistry storage room,” Hicks said. Chemistry Storage Manager Have Senkovich said. “We store a lot of vet;y dangerous chemicals here in one place." "It’s not so much what is stored, but how it is stored that is essential for safety. For in stance, simply storing certain chemicals alphabetically on a shelf could be disasterous. If three chemicals such as acetone, manganese and per chloric acid got knocked over at the same time you would have an unbelievably explosive reac tion and a fire that is nearly im possible to control.” Senkovich said. "Chemicals are arranged by their own storage code that places those which would react with each other in completely different areas.” Hicks and Senkovich both say flammable chemicals stored on campus pose the greatest danger. ‘‘We store about 4,800 pounds of flammable organic chemicals here. That's about one fourth of what used to be stored. We have a policy of keeping on hand only what is used up quickly,” Senkovich said. “By holding our inventory in line with demand, we can cut down on the need to store ex cessive amounts of flam mables," he added Flammable organic chemicals such as alcohols are stored in a separate fireproof room that is well ventilated. “Our storage of flammables complies with and in some ways exceeds the state fire mar shal’s guidelines," Senkovich said. Repairs • Buy and Sell STEREO WORKSHOP 1409 M*tn SpringltaM 741*1597 "The regulations say that flammables may be stored only in containers of 2 gallons or less, so that is what we do even though 5-gallon containers are much less expensive per unit volume," he said. "We even have a fireproof cabinet inside our fireproof room.” Senkovich added smil ing. "How is that for safety?" Toxic chemicals also are on stock in Chemical Storage. A tour through the carefully ar ranged shelves reveals items such as arsenic, mercury and cyanide. Carbon monoxide, a very deadly gas used for metal work in the art department, is stored in large tanks at the end of one aisle. Several known car cinogens. such as carbon tetrachloride and benzene, also are found in Chemical Storage. “We have on hand about 25 pounds at a time of the highly toxic chemicals. The things that are real bad I special order only the amount I need," Senkovich said. I he storage ot hazardous chemicals is only one aspect of their presence at the University; what happens to the chemicals after they are used by the various departments is the con cern of the Environmental Health Office. Before 1982. most hazardous chemicals used at the Universi ty were flushed down the drain when they were no longer need ed. Hicks said. Because of stricter laws, hazardous wastes are no longer flushed into the sewage system or sent to local landfills. About 50 percent of the University's hazardous waste goes to the hazardous waste disposal facility in Arlington. Ore.. Hicks said. Thirty per cent. including sulfuric acid, mercury, paint thinner and sodium metal is sent to various ★ COPIES ★ Krazy Kats Try Us/ 884 East 13th ft places to be recycled, while 5 percent is in good enough shape to be stored and reused. The rest, which is made up of non-hazardous insolubles, is put in barrels and sent to the Short Mountain landfill. Hicks added. "We also handle about 40 cubic feet a month of low-level radioactive wastes." Hicks said. All radioactive material arriv ing at the University goes first to the Environmental Health Of fice so its type, quantity and destination can lie checked before going on to one of the 35 authorized users, he said. The radioactive waste is then returned to Hicks and checked again, he said. "About 80 percent of what we first receive comes back to us in the form of waste." flicks said. "The rest can l>e accounted for by the decay of short-lived isotopes and some limited spillage." Short-lived radioactive isotopes arc stored for quick decay and are then either burn ed at the Physical Plant in cinerator or flushed down the drain when their radioactivity has reached the legally accep table level for these procedures, he said. Long-lived isotopes, such as carbon-14. an; shipped to the radioactive waste disposal site at Hanford. Wash., Hicks said. Both Hicks and Senkovich believe channeling the pur chase of all hazardous chemicals through Chemical Storage, coupled with more ex tensive computerized record keeping, would increase the already high safety standards for handling hazardous chemicals. "For less than $20.1)00 we can have a system that will toll us exactly who has how much of a certain chemical, its date of purchase and its hazard level. 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