[Histonet] lab spill clean-up

Fri Nov 6 04:14:08 CST 2009

As far as I know, there are no federal regulations as to the amount someone
can clean up. It's about safety for the person cleaning it up.

At our institution, for most employees, it's the size of 1 container of
reagent that could get spilled, which corresponds very nicely to one
container of spill absorbent/neutralizer.

Formalin - 1 gallon. 

Solvents (alcohol, acetone, xylene) - We could do 1 gallon (need 4
containers of spill absorbent), but since the spill absorbent only comes in
1 quart size, that's why we say 1 quart (500 mL) is the limit for most
employees cleaning it up.

Bleach (chlorine) - 1 quart (500 mL)

Acids - 500 mL

Bases/Caustic (ammonia, sodium hydroxide, etc.) - 500mL

(Warning - editorial to follow:)

That being said, as Safety Officer, I have a respirator with additional
filters for various chemicals, so I get to clean up more volume. But if it's
more than I think I can safely handle, we call in an outside company first.
They pick up our hazardous chemicals and waste formalin/tissues, so they
have training and the respirators and the suits to handle bigger spills. If
it's too big for them, then we go with the county's hazmat team.

Some of the problem with saying a lab employee can clean up 5 gallons is:
- time it takes (hours) for 1 person to clean up
- downtime in lab with everyone standing out in the hall until it's all
cleaned up (hours)
- amount of vapors in the room (even with telling facilities management to
boost ventilation to maximum). I would not want someone cleaning up 5
gallons for formalin for hours, and breathing in all the vapors. They would
need a respirator with formalin filters.
- where do you dispose of 5 gallons of chemical with 5 gallons of
neutralizer?

For example: I got called into endoscopy area, after hours, for a 5 gallon
Metricide (2.5% gluteraldehyde used to clean endoscopy instruments) spill
clean up. That took me hours, and in retrospect, I wish I had pulled in the
outside company. 
- 5 gallons of formalin neutralizer would neutralized the 5 gallons of
Metricide, but it was too soupy to scoop up. So I added twice as much
(actually a total of 12 gallons of Poly-form-F), to thicken it, so I could
scoop it. Do most labs have 5-10 gallons of neutralizers around? I had to
borrow from many labs, and pray that no one spilled any formalin until the
order for more came in.
- The little scraper and bags that come with kits were obviously too small
to handle the job. (Think emptying out a large sandbox with a kid size pail
and scooper.) I got a large broom and a large dust pan with a long handle
from housekeeping. (Now think emptying the large sandbox with a regular size
shovel. Still would take a couple of hours.) These had to be properly
disposed of afterwards.
- The plastic bag that comes with the kit won't hold more than 1 gallon of
spill with 1 gallon of neutralizer. I figured out that I had available an
empty 50 gallon waste barrel lined with a large thick plastic bag (used to
dispose tissues/formalin from histology). So I scooped up the 5 gallons of
Metricide and 12 gallons of neutralizer into the barrel. I don't know what
we would have done if our waste barrels hadn't been swapped out that day, so
that there was an empty barrel I could use. Where would your lab put 10+
gallons of spill/neutralizer for disposal?
- Spilled occurred about 7 pm. I was contacted 8:30 pm. (long story, it's
not even my responsibility to have cleaned it up.) I started cleaning at
9:30 pm, took me until 1:00 am to clean up the spill, and then housekeeping
had to mop the floors over and over again, and clean mats, until 3 am. So
imagine 6 hours of downtime if this had taken place during the day. So a
team of 2-4 could have gotten it cleaned up in 1-2 hours.
- I had changed into scrubs to clean it up, and put on my regular clothes to
drive home. But I reeked for hours afterwards. I went home and took a long
shower and shampoo. I think it got into my pores, as I could still smell it
on me afterwards. The clothes were put in the washer immediately, as they
smelled, and they were only on me for the 45 minutes it took to drive home.
I really would have liked a spaceman's suit.
- I had someone outside the room, watching me through a glass window in a
door, making certain I was OK. That meant the hospital payed someone 3.5
hours to watch me.

And I had some advantages. It was gluteraldehyde, not formalin. 
- Gluteraldehyde outgasses less than formalin, so less vapors
- Gluteraldehyde is heavier than formain, so stuck around the floor more
(hence the long handled dust pan)
- The room was designed for a possible gluteraldehyde spill. It had vents
around the baseboards, so it could suck in the fumes. Even with these vents
and having ventilation increased to maximum, the fumes inside the room
(without the respirator) were high
- The floor was a 1 piece vinyl, that went up the baseboard by about 6". The
floor was designed for a spill. Not 1' square tiles where the chemical could
seep between and under. Or where the wall meets the floor, so the chemical
can wick up the wall.
- Endoscopy was closed for the night.
- I had a respirator fit tested for me, the right filters, and lots of
experience cleaning up spills
(That's why I thought I could handle this spill. But it ended up being right
at the edge of my comfort level.)

I would not have tried to clean up 5 gallons for formalin in a lab - too
much outgassing, ventilation is in the ceiling (going past the nose),
formalin getting between tiles and being absorbed into the walls. I
definitely would have called in the outside company if it had been a 5
gallon formalin spill in the lab.

Now imagine regular lab employees trying to clean up a 5 gallon spill,
without a respirator, without a lot of training, without a lot of
experience, in a lab setting not designed for spills, with the pressure to
hurry up so people could get back to work and make slides. That's what we
need to be thinking about, when setting the limits that people can clean up.
The safety of the regular employees.

(End of editorial.)

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)SLS
Safety Officer, Anatomic Pathology
Beaumont Hospital
Royal Oak, MI 48073

-----Original Message-----
From: histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
[mailto:histonet-bounces <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of kristen
arvidson
Sent: Thursday, November 05, 2009 3:22 PM
To: histonet
Subject: [Histonet] lab spill clean-up

I am looking for quantities of various lab chemicals that are considered
safe for lab personnel to clean up.  Are there set guidelines for when you
should call for help?

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