Arizona State University

Tri-University Lab Safety Committee

INCIDENT
REPORTING
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR THE Committee
ON CHEMICAL SAFETY :
 Email: Safety@acs.org
 Website: www.acs.org/safety
 Learning from Incidents
 Recommendations
 Establish and maintain an Incident Reporting System, an Incident Investigation
System, and an Incident Database that should include, not only employees, but
students also – graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and other
nonemployees
 Establish an internal review process of incidents and corrective actions with
Departmental Safety Committee (faculty, staff, students, graduate students, and
postdoctoral scholars), and provide periodic safety seminars on lessons learned
from incidents
 Publish or share the stories of incidents and the lessons learned (case studies) to
your institution’s website, a public website or an appropriate journal where
students and colleagues from other institutions may also use these as case
studies for learning more about safety
 Why develop this Incident Reporting system?
 Best Practice demonstrated in industry
 Influential and respected organizations in lab safety
recommend it.
• U.S. Chemical Safety Board
• American Chemical Society
 Heightens safety awareness and provides opportunity
to prevent similar incidents at other institutions.
AIHA Committee's Incident Reports Reinforce Health and Safety Practices in Laboratories

The AIHA Laboratory Health and Safety Committee (LHSC) maintains a section of the
AIHA website containing more than 90 summary reports that describe incidents in
laboratories.

The reports are prepared by AIHA LHSC members, and are based on experience in their
organizations or incidents that are brought to their attention by colleagues in other
laboratories. Each report is a concise summary that includes key learnings, the effects of
the incident (for example, injury or explosion), a description of the incident, causation,
and corrective actions.

Access all laboratory lessons-learned incident reports and learn how to submit your
own reports via the committee’s website.

For more information, visit the AIHA website to read the full version of this article by
LHSC members Joe Damiano, MS, CIH, CSP, Mike Miller, MHS, CIH, and Charlyn M.
Reihman, MPH, CIH.
 CSHeMA Safety Climate Survey
 Participating institutions can better understand and measure
the extent that safety has been integrated.

 Results used to compare between different institutions and to

evaluate how your campus has changed longitudinally over
time.

 The survey will be customized to your campus to allow

employees to share concerns and comments. Tips for doing
randomly valid surveys are provided.

 This survey will be available annually for a cost of $99.

INCIDENTS AT ASU
 Descriptions

 HCL monitor malfunction from excessive rain led to building shutdown.

 In June, 2014, operations were interrupted and a laboratory cleared due to a leak in a
compressed gas system utilizing carbon monoxide. The situation was resolved by
Chemistry and Biochemistry staff and Tempe Fire was not contacted. Significant
changes were made the equipment to prevent future release and to monitor potential
leaks.

 The second involved a small fire in a hood in April 2014, started due to a procedural
error while handling mineral oil near a hot plate. The fire was extinguished by
laboratory personnel and a building alarm was not activated.

 The third incident involved the malfunction of a microwave heating system in July,
2014. Laboratory personnel were able to contain acid fumes in the system, but
received minor injuries. A similar situation in 2012, resulted in a response by the
Tempe Fire Department and closure of the building.