Welcome to an on-line

1. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Welcome to an on-line health and safety awareness package intended for staff and students working within UofE buildings on the Little France campus. Information contained within these pages is intended for use by University of Edinburgh staff and students only.

2. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT This on-line awareness package is intended principally for laboratory workers and others handing substances in the workplace that might present a hazard to health. Last updated: August, 2018

3. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Please take time to view the following material, and direct any urgent questions to your H&S Advisor, Laboratory Manager or the Little France Buildings H&S Manager (the contact details for whom are shown towards the end of this presentation). Thank you.

4. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Separate e-learning and awareness packages are available on this web site dealing with health and safety implications related to risk assessment, skin protection, sharps injuries, handling cryogenic materials, spill management, and ethidium bromide etc, any one or all of which may also be relevant to the work that you are proposing to do.

5. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT The Law (1) ThePersonal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended) andPersonal Protective Equipment Regulations 2002 set out the main requirements.

6. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT The Law (2) Respiratory protective equipment at work: A practical guide (HSG53),andA short guide to the Personal Protective equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (Leaflet INDG174),represent some relevant further reading.

7. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT The Law (3) Essentially, employers have a number of duties concerning the provision of personal protective equipment at work, with which employees have a certain obligation to comply.

8. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT The Law (4) The employer’s duties include providing instructions, procedures, training and supervision to encourage people to work safely and responsibly.

9. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT The Law (5) The employee’s responsibilities include making full and proper use of such personal protective equipment as may have been provided.

10. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Potential for Injury • Even where safe systems of work have been put in place, there may remain some potential for injuries to: • Eyes (from splashes of chemicals, etc); • Skin (from sharp objects, etc); • Lungs (from exposure to aerosols, etc); or • Hands and feet (from heavy falling objects, etc).

11. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Hierarchy of Controls (1) The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and several other safety organisations advocate taking a hierarchic approach to management of risk, whereby those responsible for assessing risk are first guided to consideration of justification of the risks associated with an activity, well before considering whatever physical and procedural controls might be most appropriate.

12. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Hierarchy of Controls (2) • Elimination • Reduction (substitution) • Innovation • Controls • Personal protective equipment (PPE) • Discipline ERIC Prevents Death

13. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Hierarchy of Controls (3) Note that in the hierarchy of controls, PPE come second from last – A long way down the list. In other words, for PPE to be effective, all preceding measures would have had to fail.

14. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Hierarchy of Controls (4) That’s not to say that PPE doesn’t have a role. But workers mustn’t start out with PPE and place sole reliance upon it.

15. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Hierarchy of Controls (5) Safe experimental design demands prior consideration of the justification of doing potentially hazardous work in the first place, possible alternative methodologies using less risky techniques and materials, and the supporting role of fume hoods and biological safety cabinets.

16. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT A purist might claim that a good microbiologist would never allow himself or herself to get into such intimate contact with a micro-organism that PPE would ever be necessary in the first place.

17. But it needs to be properly thought through, as one component of a comprehensive strategy … and that’s where Risk Assessmentcomes into play HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT That’s perhaps an extreme argument. There undoubtedly is justification for including PPE in the overall strategy of protection for workers in very many cases.

18. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT A manufacturer or supplier’s product or Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) represents a useful “starter for ten” • Look for references to requirements for Personal Protective Equipment(though you might not always find these, but that shouldn’t be taken to mean that the need for PPE does not exist). • But look first for Risk Phrases(aka Precautionary Statements).

19. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

20. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Of these (in the example just shown), in the context of skin protection alone, particular note should be made of Risk Phrases R24 (Toxic in contact with skin), R27 (Very toxic in contact with skin), R34 (Causes burns), and R43(May cause sensitisation by skin contact), suggesting that serious consideration needs to be given to skin protection, particularly of hands, possibly including gloves.

21. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Risk Assessment The Material Safety Data Sheet will guide preparation of a formal written risk assessment. The University of Edinburgh offers a comprehensive menu of risk assessment forms, covering a range of hazard types. Those likely to be of most relevance to this package on personal protective are …

22. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT • General Risk Assessment - Form RA1 and notes for guidance • COSHH: Hazardous Substances – Form and notes for guidance   • COSHH: Biological Agents - Form BA1 and notes for guidance • Radiation generic risk assessments • GM forms • Manual handling operations http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/health-safety/ risk-assessments-checklists/risk-assessments

23. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT So, the need for personal protective equipment may be specified in a MSDS, and the process of risk assessment may result in the assessor specifying use of personal protective equipment for all those who will be handing the material.

24. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Properly used, the risk assessment forms enable not only satisfaction of the legal requirements, but often represent useful tools to aid good experimental design. A COSHH Risk Assessment form may include a section that looks something like ...

25. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) PPE must never be used as the first option of control, but must only be used where adequate control of exposure to the hazardous substance(s) cannot be achieved by substitution or engineering controls alone, or where operating practicalities make their choice unavoidable (e.g. transient site working). The following types(s) of PPE will be required for part or all of the activity: (Tick appropriate box) Eye protection Face protection Hand protection Respiratory protection Specialist clothing Other Specify the type(s) and grade(s) of PPE to be worn: (Tick as appropriate) Eye protection: Safety spectacles Impact resistant goggles Chemical resistant goggles Face protection: Impact resistant face shield Chemical resistant face shield Face shield with chin guard

26. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT The form continues, and asks more questions related to PPE. It may very well suggest to the person carrying out the risk assessment, some aspect of personal protection that he or she may not otherwise have thought of, as well as consideration of measures higher up in the hierarchy of controls, such as local exhaust ventilation.

27. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Selection and Use (1) • The following points should be carefully considered: • Who is exposed, and to what? • How long and how often are they likely to be exposed? • How much of the potentially harmful agent are they likely to be exposed to?

28. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Selection and Use (2) • In general: • Chose and use only products that are CE marked in accordance with the PPE Regulations 2002; • Chose and use only equipment that is suitable for the user and nature of work that is to be done; • Consider compatibility where several items of PPE must be used together; and • Ensure that suitable instruction and training are in place

29. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT So, now, dealing specifically with different types of personal protective equipment commonly used in our laboratories …

30. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Personal protective equipment commonly used in Little France buildings comes in several different forms, including: • Laboratory coats • Gloves (of various types) • Eye and face protection • Hearing protection • Respiratory protection

31. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT In some circumstances, use of personal protective equipment may be mandatory in law. Failure to comply not only puts you at risk, but means that you may be about to break the law.

32. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Lab Coats Given that virtually all of our wet labs are designated as Containment Laboratories, laboratory coats are not discretionary ... They are mandatory! And they must be worn properly fastened up. And those rules are not suspended outside hours of expected buildings occupancy either.

33. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Neither should they be found decorating lab furniture while the worker toils away unprotected. Nor draped around the shoulders like Batman’s cape.

34. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Wear lab coats in the lab This scientist is notwearing an approved type of lab coat, it is notfastened properly, he’s notwearing gloves or respiratory protection and, if he’s intending to work with radioactivity, he’s not wearing a film badge (or at least not where it’s supposed to be worn). That may be why he’s green and has only four digits on each hand. On the plus side, it looks as if he is at least wearing some form of eye protection and possibly also what amounts to appropriate footwear.

35. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Do not wear lab coats (nor gloves) outside of the lab (including rest areas) Others have no way of knowing whether your lab coat is clean or, like this one seems to be, probably dripping with contaminants. And if gloves are being worn to protect against possible contamination while carrying material, it can only be because you’ve not properly prepared the material for transport in the first place!

36. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Gloves In our buildings, gloves tend to be worn for either or two different reasons: • To protect us against “stuff”; or • To protect “stuff” against us.

37. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Whether our concern is to protect us against “stuff” (chemicals, micro-organisms, cryogens etc.), or to protect “stuff” against us (contamination of cell cultures etc.), thought should be given to selection of the most appropriate glove material, risks that exist which are associated with some glove material, how and when they are to be worn, and disposal of the used product after concluding the work.

38. People following along behind will have no idea whether the gloves are clean or contaminated, and whether the door handle that they too will then have to touch may be similarly contaminated, and colleagues should not be put in the position of having to worry about that possibility. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT But, at the risk of labouring the point, gloves for use in labs should notbe worn outside labs where, inevitably, they will come into contact with door handles, banisters, lift buttons etc.

39. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Glove breakthrough timemay be affected by: • Thickness of glove material; • Concentration of the chemical that is being worked with; • Amount of chemical the glove comes in contact with; • Length of time that the glove is exposed to the chemical; • Temperature at which the work is done; and • Possibility of abrasion or puncture.

40. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Information regarding breakthrough times and glove properties are available from manufacturers and suppliers in the form of product safety data sheets in exactly the same way as you can obtain materials safety data from manufacturers and suppliers of chemicals.

41. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Correct technique for removing gloves Source: West Virginia University

42. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT • Once removed, dispose of used glove material promptly, safety and correctly in accordance with laboratory and building waste disposal policies (see Section 18 of the Safety Manual and/or Ask Someone!). • Do not dispose of even unused gloves on the general domestic waste stream.

43. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT And, just to remind you, the Little France buildings policy is that onlyin exceptional circumstances will latex gloves be permitted for use within the buildings, and only then where very special care is taken to ensure that users and others are not adversely affected (including preparation of a formal risk assessment and safe system of work).

44. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT • Around one per cent of people experience an allergic response to latex protein. • Healthcare workers and people who had a lot of medical care as children seem to be particularly susceptible. • The default position, therefore, should be to eliminate use of latex gloves in our laboratories.

45. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Now wash your hands!

46. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Eye and Face Protection Eye protection, in our buildings, tends to take the form of glasses or goggles, or full-face visors to be worn (for example) when bringing hot medium out of a microwave oven or when handling cryogenic gases.

47. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Care should be taken to ensure, on each occasion that eye protection is to be worn, that the equipment is both clean and undamaged. The equipment should also be kept where it is needed, otherwise there may be a temptation for the worker to proceed without using it simply because it wasn’t to hand when it was needed.

48. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT Hearing Protection There is little that is done on this site that dictates the need for hearing protection, other perhaps than sonication. Where that is taking place, use should be made of warning signage, acoustic booths etc, but there may be a need for workers to wear ear defenders too.

49. HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT • Workers should be aware of noise action levels that may, in some situations, apply to the work that is being done. • Further information is available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/noise/index.htm

50. And users shouldn’t hope that by sticking their fingers in their ears, they can do without ear defenders! HEALTH & SAFETY @ LITTLE FRANCE PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT As with all other items of personal protective equipment, especially equipment that is to be shared, care should be taken to ensure, on each occasion that it is to be used, that it is both clean and undamaged. The equipment should also be kept where it is needed, and used appropriately ….