Biohazard
Research Guidelines for
Psychology
Department Animal Research Laboratories
TOPICS COVERED IN THIS DOCUMENT:
The Psychology
Department has assigned Hazardous waste Management concerns in research labs to
the faculty member responsible for them.
The faculty member will be responsible for ensuring that all occupants
of the laboratory are properly trained by the Office of Environmental Health and
Safety (OEHS) on the correct methods of Hazardous Waste Collection. In the case of common use areas, the
Department Chair will assign responsibility to one faculty member. In the case
of teaching labs, the instructor of each lab will be responsible for the
Hazardous Waste Program in that particular lab. If Teaching Assistants are used on a day-to-day basis in the lab,
the instructor should be aware that they too must be properly trained by OEHS
in Hazardous Waste Handling and Collection Methods. Teaching Assistants must be strongly urged to make sure all
containers are labeled, capped when not in use, and properly stored. The
instructor will be responsible for ensuring the clean up of the laboratory area
and the end of the teaching session.
All Principal
Investigators must register with the University of Virginia Institutional
Biosafety Committee (IBC) by declaring the hazard potential of the agents
manipulated in their respective laboratories.
In addition, those who conduct research with agents designated Biosafety
Level 2, or above, must formally document the fact that their protocols and
facilities do not jeopardize the health and well-being of themselves, their
employees, or the general public.
Biosafety Level
2 agents and required follow-up activities are described in detail at the OEHS
Biosafety Homepage at http://keats.admin.virginia.edu/bio.
Biological
safety cabinets (which are frequently, though incorrectly, referred to as
“Laminar Flow Hoods”) are certified according to prescribed criteria under a
contract with a certified vender. This
contract is administered by the OEHS.
Because routine services are paid for out of research overhead funds,
there are no additional fees assessed to the Principal Investigator. Researchers are, however, expected to make
there own arrangements for these services.
The toll-free number is available through the OEHS at 2-4909.
Chemical
Safety and Waste Training (UVA POLICY: XIV.R.1)
Annual Chemical Safety and Waste Training is required for all faculty, staff and students who meet any of the following criteria:
1. The person performs work in a laboratory.
2. The person works with or around chemicals or chemical products (e.g. cleaning materials) in the performance of her/his job duties.
3. The person generates HAZARDOUS WASTE (see definition below, under Hazardous Waste Collection and Disposal) at the University of Virginia.
OEHS provides Chemical Safety and Waste Training, free-of-charge, to any faculty, staff or student member identified above.
TRAINING RESOURCES
Fire Safety (UVA
POLICY: XIV.K.1 & XIV.G.1)
Hazardous
Waste Collection and Disposal (UVA POLICY: XIV.Q.1)
OEHS manages all
aspects of Hazardous Waste Collection and Disposal at UVA. All Hazardous Waste must be reported to OEHS
to ensure proper handling and disposal.
OEHS is available to assist UVA Departments/Laboratories with questions,
concerns and compliance regarding Hazardous Waste Regulations. If a Department/Laboratory is unsure about
whether a waste is a Hazardous Waste, OEHS must be contacted to provide
assistance with the classification of the waste. All persons generating and/or collecting HAZARDOUS WASTE must
receive annual training from OEHS (UVA POLICY XIV.R.1 – see above).
HAZARDOUS WASTE
Any waste or
combination of wastes which pose a substantial, present or potential, hazard to
human health or living organisms because such wastes are non degradable or
persistent in nature or because they can be biologically magnified, or because
they can be lethal, or because they may otherwise cause or tend to cause
detrimental cumulative effects.
Hazardous
(Chemical) Waste at the University of Virginia may include but is not limited
to the following:
HAZARDOUS WASTE
COLLECTION GUIDELINES
The following
guidelines MUST be followed during the collection of HAZARDOUS WASTE at the
University of Virginia:
AVAILABLE
RESOURCES (Call 2-4911 or http://keats.admin.virginia.edu)
To assist
faculty, staff and students OEHS provides the following:
Consultation
with OEHS is required if a Department/Laboratory has a work environment or
performs work processes that can generate harmful air contaminants or involve
other potentially hazardous activities (including nonionizing radiation,
biohazards, high noise levels, confined space entry, temperature extremes, or
excessive vibration). OEHS will provide
consultative services at no charge to the Department/Laboratory. There may, however, be charges applied to
the requesting Department/Laboratory if environmental samples are collected and
subsequently analyzed by a certified commercial laboratory. The fees will not exceed those charged by
the commercial laboratory.
OEHS provides
annual inspection of this critical laboratory safety device. The inspection includes an assessment of the
hood’s capacity to efficiently capture and contain toxic compounds generated by
research activities conducted within the device. A sticker, which provides the survey results, along with their
significance and recommendations for user precautions, is affixed to the face
of the hood each year. The sticker also
describes steps to be taken in the event that the hood does not pass the
performance test.
To use
Radioactive Material and/or Radiation Producing Equipment at UVA, you must be
an “Approved” User. OEHS grants this
approval. Obtaining the approval is absolutely
required. The elements in the approval
are as follows:
No one at UVA is
allowed to work with Radioactive Material and/or Radiation Producing Equipment
without being an “Approved” User.
Annual Radiation
& Chemical Safety Training is required for all Approved Users at
UVA.
TRAINING RESOURCES
Regulated
Medical Waste Management (UVA POLICY: XIV.I.1)
Any waste that meets the definition, see below, must be considered RMW. All sharps RMW must be disposed of using sharps containers. All non-sharps RMW must either be placed in clear autoclavable waste bags and steam sterilized in accordance with the Virginia RMW regulations (i.e. certain time, temperature and pressure, regular spore testing, recordkeeping, etc.), placed inside a properly constructed CMC, or in the case of the UVA Health Care Facilities, placed in a re-useable RMW container (i.e. large red rolling cart or Rubbermaid step-on can). All autoclaved RMW must be labeled as follows:
The autoclaved
waste can then be disposed of as normal trash.
Once a CMC is full, the top must be taped closed and properly labeled with the generator’s name, building, room number, phone extension and date. In the Health Care Facilities, the CMC’s must be removed by UVA Environmental Services Department and transported to the appropriate storage site for pickup by the contracted RMW transporter. In all other areas, the CMC’s must be brought to the appropriate RMW storage area for your building (contact the Office of Environmental Health & Safety-OEHS for information on this location) where it will be removed and managed either by OEHS or by the Contracted RMW transporter.
Within the UVA Health Care Facilities, the re-useable RMW containers must be removed either by Hospital Environmental Services or by other specially assigned staff member. These containers must be labeled prior to removal with the location, contact name, phone number, and the date of closure. These containers must be brought to the applicable storage site (Contact Environmental Services Dept. for this location) for pick-up by the Contracted RMW transporter.
All pathological waste (non-RMW) must be packaged in 6-mil green polyethylene bags (available from Hospital Stores), twisted and taped closed, and then brought by the generator to the applicable cold storage area in your building (contact OEHS for this location). OEHS will remove this waste on a regular basis for treatment at the UVA incineration plant.
The disposal of RMW is both highly regulated and very costly. University of Virginia faculty, staff and students must use the utmost care to segregate all waste materials properly. No Radioactive or Hazardous Waste shall be placed within the RMW stream. Also, no normal unregulated trash or recyclable materials shall be put into RMW containers. Each UVA Department shall decide which individual materials qualify only as RMW and which must by treated differently. Training of individuals who make these determinations must be done as part of the annual OSHA Blood Borne Pathogens Regulations training, performed by the Hospital Epidemiology Department.
Regulated Medical Waste (RMW)
Any waste materials that are capable of producing an infectious disease by an
organism likely to be pathogenic to healthy humans, such as the following:
BIO-SAFETY LEVEL 2 AGENTS
Organisms present in the community that are associated with human diseases of
varying severity.
ETIOLOGIC AGENTS
Organisms that cause a particular disease.
PATHOGENS
Disease causing agents.
SHARPS
Needles, scalpels, knives, glass, syringes, Pasteur pipettes and similar items
having a point or sharp edge or that are likely to break during transportation
and result in a point or sharp edge.
SHARPS CONTAINER
Plastic, highly needle puncture resistant waste container used for disposal of
needles and associated syringes.
CONTAMINATED MATERIALS CONTAINER (CMC)
A customized corrugated cardboard box system with an integral red plastic bag
and cardboard liner used within the UVA research departments and Health
Sciences Center for disposal of non-sharp RMW.
PATHOLOGICAL WASTE
Animal carcasses that are not pathogenic to healthy humans (animals not
infected with human pathogens), or human cadavers which have been embalmed such
that they are no longer potentially pathogenic to healthy humans. These are not
RMW.