Chemical Hygiene

CSUN's Chemical Hygiene Program is a resource for all CSUN personnel that interact with any sort of chemical hazards, intended to outline the best work practices and procedures to ensure that members of the university community are protected from health hazards associated with the use of hazardous chemicals that are used, stored, handled, or generated on campus. Below, please find the Chemical Hygiene Program itself, along with useful forms, template, and references linked below. 

Forms

Introduction

Cal/OSHA requires that standard operating procedures (SOPs) be established for work with any hazardous chemicals. This requirement is stated in 8 CCR §5191external site (Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories, “Laboratory Standard”) under the provisions of the Chemical Hygiene Plan. SOPs document the laboratory-specific procedures for the safe handling, storage and disposal of hazardous chemicals.

Principal investigators and laboratory supervisors are responsible for establishing SOPs relevant to health and safety for laboratory activities under their direction that involve hazardous chemicals.

To alleviate the need for hundreds or thousands of chemical specific SOPs for all of the hazardous chemicals in a lab’s inventory, CSUN's Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S) has introduced the system of control banding SOPs.

What is a control banded SOP?

Control banding is a process that matches a control measure (e.g., ventilation, engineering controls, containment, etc.) to a range or “band” of hazards and exposures. The control banding system group chemicals in a lab’s inventory according to similar physical and chemical characteristics, how the chemical is handled or processed, and what the anticipated exposure is expected to be.

EH&S groups chemicals based on their hazard classes and assigns a unique control banded SOP template to each hazard class.

Hazard classes and H-codes

All chemicals are assigned codes (GHS#s/H-codes) based on the nature and severity of the hazards. H-codes are useful in determining which materials require a SOP as the definitions are standardized worldwide.

Each of the control banded SOP templates correlates to a hazard class that is encompassed by one or more H-codes as listed below.

Control Banded SOP

Hazard Class

H-Codes
Acutely Toxic ChemicalsH300 H301 H302 H303 H310 H311 H312 H313 H330 H331 H332 H333
CarcinogensH350 H351
Compressed GasesH280
CorrosivesH290 H314
Cryogenic liquidsH281
Explosive and Potentially Explosive CompoundsH200 H201 H202 H203 H204 H205. Other potentially explosive compounds based on structure. 
Flammable gasesH220 H221
Flammable liquidsH224 H225 H226 H227
Flammable solidsH228
Peroxide Forming ChemicalsNo H codes. 
Pyrophoric liquidsH250
Pyrophoric solidsH250
Reproductive HazardsH360 H361 H362
SensitizersH317 H334
Strong OxidizersH270 H271 H272
Water ReactivesH260 H261

Determining the control banded SOP template needed for a chemical

Principal Investigators (PIs) and researchers must first identify which hazard class a chemical belongs to from their H codes. Following the classification, they will choose a control banded SOP using the table above.

Information about hazard classification of a chemical can be found on the container label or Safety Data Sheet (SDS). SDSs are available from manufacturers or via CSUN RSS/ SDS. H-codes may not always be present on a SDS, but the associated hazard statement will always be present. You can also look up H-codes for chemicals in your RSS- Chemical inventory.

Completing a control banded SOP template

Each control banded SOP template has sections marked with red text where laboratory-specific information & safe working procedures must be added.

Upon completion of the template, the SOP must be reviewed and signed by the PI and all researchers planning to use the chemical. A copy of the SOP must be uploaded to and stored in the Departments Research Student Safety Canvas Page in the PIs module. SOPs will be inspected by EH&S during their inspections.

All lab personnel, who perform hazardous operations, need to document that they have read and understand all SOPs relevant to their research. New students/employees must be given hands-on training for hazardous operations, which should include a review of all relevant SOPs.

Please click below Lab SOPs for Control banded substances templates

**For assistance with using these templates, consult with your Department Safety Coordinator (DSC) or EH&S.

 

A written Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for all potentially hazardous processes, equipment, or materials must be available in a hard copy (binder) or electronic format inside the associated lab. EH&S provides pre-written SOPs for the equipment below. Select the name of the equipment to access its associated SOP.

Equipment SOPs

Resources

References