Journal of chemical health & safety最新文献

The commercial application of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) has rapidly increased as their unique properties are useful to improve many products. ENPs, however, can pose a major health risk to workers through exposure routes such as inhalation and dermal contact. Research is lacking on the protective nature of lab coats when challenged with ENPs. This study investigated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon black (CB), and nano aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃) penetration through four types of lab coat fabrics (cotton, polypropylene, polyester cotton, and Tyvek). Penetration efficiency was determined with direct reading instruments. The front and back of contaminated fabric swatches were further assessed with microscopy analysis to determine fabric structure with contaminated and penetrated particle morphology and level of fabric contamination. Fabric thickness, porosity, structure, surface chemistry, and ENP characteristics such as shape, morphology, and hydrophobicity were assessed to determine the mechanisms behind particle capture on the four common fabrics. CNTs penetrated all fabrics significantly less than the other ENPs. CNT average penetration across all fabrics was 1.83% compared to 15.74 and 11.65% for CB and Al₂O₃, respectively. This can be attributed to their fiber shape and larger agglomerates than those of other ENPs. Tyvek fabric was found to be the most protective against CB and Al₂O₃ penetration, with an average penetration of 0.06 and 0.11%, respectively, while polypropylene was the least protective with an average penetration of 40.36 and 15.77%, respectively. Tyvek was the most nonporous fabric with a porosity of 0.50, as well as the most hydrophobic fabric, explaining the low penetration across all three ENPs. Polypropylene is the most porous fabric with a porosity of 0.77, making it the least protective against ENPs. We conclude that porosity, fabric structure, and thickness are more important fabric characteristics to consider when discussing particle penetration through protective clothing fabrics than surface chemistry.

The primary objective of this case study is to determine the applicability and feasibility of a framework that leverages occupational incident details to prospectively identify “potential Serious Injury or Fatality” (pSIF) cases. This study comprehensively reviewed a random sample of 1,081 injury and illness cases across 21 generalized incident types spanning over a decade at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), a U.S. Department of Energy research and development facility with more than 9,000 employees. The review applied a general framework that classified each case on information suitability, potential severity, and future incident mitigation. The findings from the study indicate that 86.6% of the cases had sufficient information to make a high-confidence determination on potential severity, underscoring the feasibility of applying this general framework. Additionally, cases with a higher pSIF score had, on average, a higher level of institutional response. Implementing a simplified methodology for incident classification that emphasizes incidents that pose high potential severity, regardless of incident type, can help LLNL prioritize resources and tailor responses to such incidents using a graded approach. LLNL has recognized the value of this capability and is integrating the framework into their injury and illness process in the 2024 calendar year.

Against the backdrop of the latest engineering and technical disciplines, cross-disciplinary fusion is a new strategy to cultivate high-level composite talents in the chemical safety field. Regulating China’s severe safety production situation is crucial. As an essential source of talent, universities should promptly reconstruct the discipline system according to the new framework under the guiding spirit of Emerging Engineering Education. The innovation and application of intelligent technology have led to a technological revolution in chemistry fields. Therefore, universities should reasonably adjust and optimize the knowledge structure to address the social situations and the development needs of the industry for ensuring the safety of the entire chemical production process. This paper investigates the chemical industry safety production to innovatively present the fresh concept of “5 flows, 3 tactics, and 3 controls,” with “5 flows” as the core, “3 tactics” as the focus, and “3 controls” as the goal. This concept serves as a significant reference for the reformation of the safety curriculum system.

The Joint Safety Team (JST) of the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is a well-established researcher-led safety team that recently developed a new Community Connections Committee (CCC) to build on its history of collaboration with other student-led Lab Safety Teams (LSTs) around the country. The CCC aims to engage with the larger scientific community by connecting with high school science instructors, early stage researchers at primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs), and local chemical industries. As part of its early work, the CCC developed a safety workshop for high school chemistry teachers to help them identify and address common safety issues. Participants are introduced to fundamental safety concepts and new tools to understand and address safety concerns through classroom lectures and hands-on laboratories, all aimed at improving safety in their classrooms. Through an ongoing exchange of experiences and resources with PUIs, the CCC helped undergraduate students and faculty create an independent and resourceful student safety team that has engaged students in safety accountability, fostered leadership, and influenced safety practices at the PUI. Finally, this work discusses the collaboration between the CCC and industry partners that focuses on informing University of Minnesota graduate students of the safety standards of the industry so that they can best prepare themselves to be desirable hires and therefore benefit industries. Overall, the CCC is a powerful tool to expand the JST’s positive impacts to the broader chemistry community, helping pass on the JST’s safety practices to PUIs and high schools while also learning of industrial safety standards.

This study conducted a questionnaire survey to examine the influence mechanism of perceived management commitment on the safety compliance and participation of graduate students and to verify the mediating role of psychological capital. The questionnaire was distributed to graduate students through the MyCOS network platform. SPSS was used to conduct reliability and validity tests,test, correlation analysis, and bootstrapping mediation effect test. The results demonstrated that the perceived management commitment has a positive effect on both safety compliance and safety participation, with psychological capital as the mediating role. This study explains how graduate students’ perceived management commitment from their supervisors influences their safety behaviors.