[Histonet] Fume hood

[Joseph Saby]

Brandi-

Having gone through and even designed lab renovations, my advice is:

Have a different hood for each function if possible.  Renovations cannot see into the future to know what technologies you might need later.  An extra hood now can very easily seem like too few later.  Also, many functions need to be separated, a fact that administrators will never understand.  You might need vents over your processors, a vented area for special stains, a hood for grossing and a hood for stainers/ coverslippers.  Cytology may need several hoods also.  If genetic determination requirements become standard, will this be in your lab?

Emergency power for each hood.  Also processors and other necessary equipment (stainers, etc.).

Desktop height for many histology applications, especially grossing, embedding and sectioning.  Otherwise, the ergonomics are terrible.

I would suggest backdraft enclosed hoods for grossing, vented covered areas for processors, stainers/coverslippers.  If using xylenes, enclose as much as possible and use backdraft.  Be sure to keep in mind that with backdraft hoods, there may need to be face opening restrictions to achieve the majic number of 100 cfm you need for safety.

If you have anyother questions, please get back with me.

Joe Saby, BA HT



________________________________
From: Walter Benton <WBENTON <@t> umm.edu>
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
Sent: Tue, June 15, 2010 12:49:25 PM
Subject: [Histonet] Fume hood

Brandi,

I have been through several renovations and highly recommend that you get a hood that exhaust outside. Depending upon what applications you plan to carry out under the hood, filters may not do the trick. It is also important to have someone from your facilities or engineering department conduct an air exchange analysis to make sure that you have proper airflow and exchanges within the room, since the two operations are being combined. I would also recommend that you have your area monitored for air quality while performing the various tasks that you perform now in you current configuration to see if you are OSHA compliant or whatever regulatory body you wish to follow. Downdraft ventilation is great for Xylene, because Xylene vapor is heavier than air, thus the reason those systems work well. Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions.

Walter Benton, HT(ASCP)QIHC
Histology Supervisor
University of Maryland Medical Center
Anatomic Pathology
22 S. Greene St 
Room NBW65
Baltimore MD 21201
(Direct) 410-328-0930
(Lab) 410-328-5524
(Fax) 410-328-5508


>>> On 6/15/2010 at 12:31 PM, <histonet-request <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu> wrote:

Message: 13
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:51:04 -0400
From: Brandi Higgins <brandihiggins <@t> gmail.com>
Subject: [Histonet] fume hood
To: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu 
Message-ID:
<AANLkTimL4gBsGE6C_gbNGAa1qcDfWTVQQ4UEYXxaH2WR <@t> mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hello,

Our hospital is doing some renovation and we need to look into new fume
hoods for our new location.  Currently we have one fume hood over our
grossing area, and one fume hood in our coverslipping area (two different
rooms).  The hospital wants to put our grossing room and histo/cyto rooms
together.  I am still going to need two separate hoods.  Does anyone have
any experience/knowledge/input about fume hoods?  I'm trying to look into
the ductless ones, although I imagine changing the filters will end up being
more expensive over time (I have no idea what would be involved in running a
duct/vent).  Also I have seen a benchtop downdraft type that sucks the air
down, and does not have a top.  It is advertised as being good for xylene.
Does anyone use this in their coverslipping area?  Any input would be
greatly appreciated.  I'm pretty clueless on the whole issue.  I want to
make sure that what I get will be safe for me and my coworker as we will be
spending most of our day in this room.  Any input is appreciated!  Thank
You!

Brandi Higgins, BS, HT(ASCP)



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