Chemical safety (was: Re: [Noisebridge-discuss] darkroom at the noisebridge space)

[Seth David Schoen]

Audrey Penven writes:

> We'll need to figure out the details of each chemical process that
> will happen in the space.  I imagine that some of them will be
> compatible, use the same chemicals, and otherwise coexist nicely.
> Some of them, not so much.  We can make sure to have a bunch of trays
> on hand, labeled with the chemical bath they can hold.
> 
> As far as disposal goes - regular developer and stop baths can be
> mixed together and poured down the drain safely.  Fixer needs more
> care.  I believe that Rayko takes used fixer and recycles it for a
> fee.  I'll find out the details of this.

This reminds me of safety questions that I had about both the darkroom
and chemistry lab.  I guess that the same safety questions apply to each
since each will be using some chemicals that may have safety concerns.
So I think I'll take this opportunity to write up all the safety
questions that I've thought about so far:

(1) segregation of chemicals and food

We have some food preparation space and a stove that people are
apparently planning to use on occasion for preparing and eating in the
space.  What do we need to do to minimize the risk that the food
preparation space becomes contaminated with materials used for chemistry
or photographic work?  (One particular issue is about the sink, which
I'll break out into another point:)

(2) safe storage and disposal of chemicals

What do we need to do to ensure that we store and dispose of chemicals
safely?  If the kitchen sink is going to be used for food preparation
and washing dishes, it should probably not be used for chemical disposal
even for some chemicals that could otherwise legally be disposed of this
way.  Should we install a separate sink or other facilities for chemical
disposal or washing glassware and photo trays?

(3) ventilation

Meredith has been working on planning a fume hood for chemistry work.
Does the darkroom also need special ventilation arrangements in order
to protect people working there (or elsewhere in the space)?

What prevents fumes captured by the fume hood from exiting back into
the space through the kitchen stove vent intake?

Does the fishbowl room or other parts of the space require particular
ventilation for safety apart from the fume hood?  (Especially if
particular equipment ... like soldering irons ... may produce various
kinds of fumes.)

(4) training

Further to a note on Talk:Safety by Shannon Clark, should there be some
kind of training or briefing that people have to do before they can
start using particular materials or equipment?  (This applies to _all_
tools and equipment in the space, not just chemicals!)  Shannon wrote:

   a thought, should we have some system akin to how TechShop handles
   letting people use certain types of tools (i.e. in our case chemistry,
   perhaps the darkroom, perhaps soldering tools) of only after they have
   taken a course on Safety and Basic Usage (which in TechShop's case is
   usually 1hr long)? --Shannonclark 23:42, 1 October 2008 (PDT) 

-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> | Wol dir, werlt, daz du bist
     http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/   | also freudenriche!
     http://vitanuova.loyalty.org/     |           -- Carmina Burana