Hey, who is this "Masked Man"??  He sure has a bead on flammable storage.

Thanks for the great layout of info.

Don

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don Hammer, Administrative Director            UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Hospital Pathology, Box 356100                     MEDICAL CENTER
1995 NE Pacific St.
Seattle Washington, 98195                  ~Where Knowledge Comes To Life~
(206) 548-6401 Fax: (206) 548-4928
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On Mon, 30 Nov 1998, Mathew Osborn wrote:

> Histonetters,
>
> Recently a question was posed regarding the allowable volumes of alcohol
> in a lab.  I hope what follows sheds some light on this issue.
>
> Ethanol is classified as a Class IB combustible liquid. Class IB liquids
> have a maximum allowable container capacity of 20 liters in "metal (non
> DOT
> approved) or approved plastic containers, safety cans or DOT spec metal
> drums."
>
> The amount of combustible liquids allowable is determined by the size of
> the "laboratory unit". For hospitals with sprinkler systems, per 100 sq.
> feet of lab space, Class I, II and IIIA (including IB) flammable liquids
> are limited to 4 L (1.1 gallons) not in approved storage containers or
> safety cans and 7.5 L (2 gal) total including quantities in storage
> cabinets and safety cans. That is, only half of the combustibles in a
> lab
> can be outside of approved storage containers. Note that there is no
> rule
> governing total volume except as it pertains to lab area and to
> container
> size.
>
> The key definition here is "laboratory unit". Some EH&S officers define
> laboratory unit roughly as the space enclosed by fire doors. Thus, for
> all
> but the smallest hospitals and labs, there should be few restrictions
> because of space-related alcohol volume limitations. As an example, one
> Sakura VIP has 21 L of ethanol and 9 L of Xylene (Class IIIA). Assuming
> that a tissue processor is not an approved storage container, this means
> that the "lab unit" would need to be a minimum of 750 sq. ft. (30x25
> ft.)
> for each tissue processor to be "legal" ((30 L — 4 L) X 100 sq. ft. ).
> For
> a tissue processor that is considered to be an approved storage
> container,
> then the space requirements are halved.
>
> I hope this helps to answer the question.
>
> If you have concerns or questions about cost effectively recycling these
> solvents, please contact me.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Matt Osborn
> Product Manager
> Naiad Technologies, Inc.
> osborn@naiadtech.com
> 503-274-4407
>
>
>
>