Hello everyone,

I wanted to share with you a recent safety incident and some near misses that occurred in our School after the restart of research operations in June (see attached document). The general recommendations at the end of the document provide good information for  preventing safety incidents from happening.

I am also sharing the updated “Gas Cylinder Handling Procedures for FRNY” document (with updates highlighted in yellow for easy identification); this needed to be updated in response to the recent safety incident. The updated document is also available on our website (https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChE/aboutus/safety/index_html) under the “Laboratory Safety Requirements” section. Please familiarize yourself with the information in this important document.

Safety reminders:

1. Face masks (face coverings) are required to be worn at all times in the building, unless you are alone in an office. Even when you are alone in an office, have a face mask close by to be able to put it on immediately when someone enters your office.
2. As of now, and at least until the end of July, the University guidelines are that all work that can be done remotely should continue to be completed this way. Thus, researchers should only come to campus (and to the building) if they are scheduled to work in the lab, and complete all other work (including computational research) remotely. Please follow the protocols in the “Covid-19 Research Space SOP” for your area, which was approved by the University. You signed that document to confirm you will follow the safety protocols stated in the document, which were put in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus. If your research space (e.g. office) doesn’t have an approved Covid-19 research Space SOP, or you were not included on the SOP as person who can use that space, please continue to work from home until further notice.

Stay safe, and should you have any questions, please let me know.

Sincerely,

Gabriela

On behalf of the ChE safety committee

__________________

Gabriela Nagy, PhD

Industrial Education Director

Davidson School of Chemical Engineering

Room FRNY G051

Purdue University

Tel: (765)-496-1710

E-mail: nagyg@purdue.edu