Waste audit of the Chemical Engineering Building
Creators: name: Chow, Norman
name: Ding, Yuehan
name: Lee, Michael
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2014

description: The objective of this report was to perform a chemical and hazardous waste inventory audit of the chemical engineering (CHML) building and to make recommendations regarding the current hazardous material management policies. The findings of this report are limited to only research laboratories inside CHML building. A standard walkthrough of the building was first performed to identify the research laboratories and to gauge the state of the laboratories. Simultaneously, chemical and waste inventory forms were emailed to principle investigators (PIs) for them to complete regarding their respective laboratories. Afterwards, interviews were conducted with PIs to determine their hazardous waste management practices and with Mr. Horace Lam and Dr. Madjid Mohseni to understand the current chemical engineering department’s (CHBE’s) waste management policies. Lastly, laboratories were inspected to verify the findings from the interviews. All PIs, except Dr. Oloman, that operates a research laboratory in CHML were interviewed. Following the interview, two laboratories were inspected: room 26 had hazardous waste and unlabelled chemicals and room 316C had no hazardous waste on hand. Policy comparison between UBC and CHBE’s safety policy and exit protocol revealed the two are very similar. Through talking to researchers, the CHML store supervisor, and the CHBE safety committee member, six recommendations are made to improve the current CHBE hazardous waste management policies. These recommendations include: (1) developing a colour dot system for quick chemical identification, (2) establishing an intradepartmental chemical exchange program to share unwanted chemicals, (3) allocating space in each laboratory for waste and recyclable chemicals to help distinguish what is not needed, (4) creating a departmental waste disposal procedure for new researchers to read and reference, (5) performing laboratory inspection together between the PI and the CHBE safety committee member for leaving researchers to ensure proper cleanup, and (6) creating incentives for PIs and researchers to follow good waste management techniques. The continuation of this project should include: performing chemical and hazardous waste audit of other buildings used by CHBE PIs, identifying which PI/researcher is not following good laboratory practice (i.e. proper labeling), and assessing the effectiveness of CHBE safety video given to new researchers whom have missed the health, safety and environment department’s orientation. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”