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Safety

• The following is a safety “short list” of common things to remember, but know that you are responsible for knowing ALL safety rules and procedures and to take the required safety training. Never do anything in lab you are not sure is safe. o
• You must wear safety glasses, close-toed shoes, and long pants at ALL times in the lab
• No food or drink is allowed in the lab.
• Be aware of the nearest fire extinguisher, eye wash, and safety shower.
• Avoid working in the lab alone.
• Do not handle any chemical without knowledge of safe handling procedures.
• Label Your Samples.
• Make sure you have completed all required safety training. Contact Ben (benjamin.fairbanks@colorado.edu), or the current lab safety proctor, if you have questions about safety training.

Community property

• All equipment and chemicals in the lab are for use by everyone.
• Put equipment/chemicals back in the appropriate place when you are done using them.
• Do not “hide” a commonly-used chemical in your own drawers. This makes life really difficult for the next person who has to waste their precious time searching through the lab for something they need.
• If a common chemical runs out, reorder it (or buy it downstairs if available). If you aren’t sure how to do this, tell someone who is!

Clean-up

• All lab members are required to keep common areas clean. This includes shared fume hoods, areas around instruments, and areas near the balances – do not just leave your chemicals out and expect someone else to put them away.
• You are responsible for keeping your bench work area clean.

Hazardous waste disposal

• The below is a “short list” for common things to remember, but know that you are responsible for knowing ALL procedures and rules for hazardous waste disposal. o Only nontoxic, water-soluble waste may be washed down the sink.
• Liquid wastes need to be put in labeled waste containers. Extra EHS hazardous waste tags are found in the back of the lab in the labeled drawer.
• The following types of liquid waste should be kept separately:
  • Organic non-halogenated waste
  • Organic halogenated waste (e.g. DCM, chloroform, etc.)
  • Aqueous waste (highly acidic or basic waste kept separately)
  • Thiol-containing waste with a strong odor
  • Piranha waste (special protocol, must be trained)
• Solid wastes are disposed in solid waste containers.
• Use a sharps container for needles, syringes, razor blades, and other sharp metal objects. Plastic syringes also go in here, even without a needle. “If it looks like it belongs in a hospital, put it in the sharps waste.”
• Uncontaminated glass waste goes in the cardboard glass boxes. We have a separate waste (near Hood 1) for glass waste with fully-cured polymer stuck to it. Be careful when disposing glass that has been used with thiols – even residual trace thiol can stink up the lab! A 5% bleach solution or base bath are useful for getting rid of thiol smells.

Rotavaps

• You need to be properly trained on the rotavaps before you use them. o You must have dry ice in isopropanol in the trap at all times while you are using it. Dry ice is available to purchase downstairs in the loading dock area, using your BuffOne card.
• Vacuum power should be turned up gradually with an appropriate adjustment to the bath temperature, instead of starting the vacuum on maximum power and walking away. Your goal is to have most of your solvent condense in the cold water condenser, rather than in the dry ice trap.
• Clean out the solvent from the traps after you use them, including the bump traps!

Schlenk Lines (High Vacuum)

• You need to be trained by someone who is in charge of a Schlenk line before you use them.
• Do not connect your sample directly to the line – always use tubing or a bump trap. Make sure you have dried your sample adequately on the rotavap before putting it on the high vac. If your sample gets blown into the manifold, YOU are responsible for cleaning it up!
• The vacuum should always be used in conjunction with a trap placed in liquid nitrogen. Make sure to check the trap regularly to make sure the liquid nitrogen doesn’t run out. Solvent getting sucked into the vacuum is not good for the pump.
• Always clean the trap after you are done using it.

Base baths / glassware

• There are laminated instruction sheets on top of the base baths. Read them! They will tell you how to properly clean your glassware BEFORE putting it in the base bath.
• Things that should NOT go into the base bath include: ! Fritted glassware ! Volumetric glassware (e.g. graduated cylinders) ! Plastics ! Heavily soiled glassware - must be cleaned separately first ! Cuvettes ! Glassware contaminated with metal compounds or oxidizers.
• Be considerate of your fellow lab-mates. We all use the glassware and base baths, so do your part to help clean it out and put away dried glassware, especially if you are using the base bath a lot.
• Glassware is a shared resource. If you break something, reorder it (CU Marketplace can be used to find the best prices). Breaking and not replacing a piece of uncommon glassware (or hiding it in your drawer) makes it extremely inconvenient for the next person, who has to waste time searching for it.

Piranha

• Piranha solution is a highly reactive mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide, often used to prepare glass for subsequent functionalization. If you want to use piranha, you MUST be trained and follow the proper safety procedures for its use and disposal.
• Per EHS, piranha should only be used when there are no other alternatives. (Consider, for example, asking the Anseth or Falconer/Noble groups for use of their plasma cleaners.) Piranha reacts violently with organic solvents and other organic material, and it should be treated with utmost respect.
• EHS information can be found here: http://www.colorado.edu/ehs/pdf/piranha_disp.pdf

Instrument training

• Instruments such as the FTIR, DMA, rheometer, GPC, and others require training before use. Every instrument has a person assigned to be in charge of it
• If you are in charge of an instrument, you are responsible to train new users, make sure it is working properly, and troubleshoot if something goes wrong.
• Most instruments have a Google calendar for sign ups. Once you are trained you can be added to the calendar.