Personnel with the K-State department of environmental health and safety are currently conducting their annual inspection of laboratories, shops, studios and other areas that use hazardous materials and may have hazardous waste.
These inspections are being conducted to evaluate, note discrepancies and to assist in the improvement of hazardous waste, hazardous materials and general safety programs.
Personnel will have Environmental Health and Safety badges and are looking at the following areas:
* Open containers of materials and waste.
* Missing dates on containers. Full hazardous waste containers must be dated when full.
* Lack of hazardous waste label. Hazardous waste containers must have the words "hazardous waste" on the container. Free labels are provided by K-State's department of environmental health and safety.
* Unidentified contents. All containers of material and waste must be labeled, even water. Contents of hazardous waste containers must be written on the hazardous waste label.
* Container contents must be identified using words. Acronyms, abbreviations and chemical formulas are not allowed.
* Multiple containers of the same hazardous waste stream. Only one container of each type of hazardous waste is allowed.
* Other items such as medical waste and laboratory safety.
After the inspections, the department head and environmental health and safety committee chair at K-State will receive a letter regarding the inspections and the findings.
For any questions regarding these inspections, contact Kelly Phillips, environmental manager, at 785-532-5856 or klp@k-state.edu.[an error occurred while processing this directive]