ORS spoke at an American Nuclear Society (ANS) Student Chapter meeting, helped with a Freshman Honors Chemistry lecture, held a laser pointer testing workshop, and provided assistance for a Boy Scouts of America Nuclear Science Merit Badge workshop.

When a partially used chemical container is put away we want to protect what is left and want to keep vapors from escaping. Many attempt to accomplish this by tightening the cap as tight as possible. This doesn’t really work. Overtightening can damage the top to the point of failure – leading to escape of the material we’ve had a number of recent incidents where this has led to spills and exposure. 

On Thursday, February 5, in the College of Computing, a Teaching Assistant poured some excess nitric acid into a solvent waste bottle, producing a potentially dangerous and explosive mixture. The mixture lived up to its potential. Luckily, the reaction takes some time to occur and the lab was empty when the explosion took place – anyone in the lab at the time would very likely been seriously injured – glass shards and other debris were hurled at least 34 feet from the fume hood. As it was there were several thousand dollars of damage.

Who’s Monitoring GT Air Emissions?

Title V Air Quality? What’s that? A lot of people out there may not realize all of the hard work that goes on behind the scenes to ensure that our campus remains in good standing with the EPA. Learn more about EHS Environmental Programs and see what role you might personally play in keeping our air clean here at Georgia Tech.

The Southeastern Biosafety Association will be hosting their 2015 annual Biosafety Symposium at Georgia Tech on May 14-15, 2015. The GT Biosafety Office is handling local arrangements for the symposium. For more information and registration please visit www.sebsa.org.

Our basic lab safety training has gone electronic! The once-classroom-taught class is now in an electronic version (entitled Lab Safety 101) allowing end-users to complete the training on their own time.

Available here, users now have a one-stop-shop to identify which trainings they need to take. The interactive training tool assesses affiliation, potential routes of exposure, and job duties to better inform the users of the appropriate EHS trainings for them. The webpage will direct the users to links for signing-up or the training course itself, as well as the expirations of the trainings. We hope that this tool will make the training process more user-friendly and transparent.

GT launched its first written Electrical Safety Program in December 2014 to provide detailed safety guidance for all GT Employees that work around or with electrical equipment.
The Electrical Safety Program explains typical electrical hazards and the different ways employees can be injured on the job. The Program covers the different classes of employees, the risk of injury for each class, approved task lists and appropriate personnel protective clothing. 

On 3/25/15 Anna Hawkins retired from GT Environmental Health and Safety after 28 years of service. Anna started as a Tech Temp in the Budget and Planning Office in 1987, later becoming a permanent employee as Administrative Secretary for the Department of Environmental Health and Safety.