This maintenance procedure is designed to guarantee the proper operation of laboratory hoods for all users. The procedure sets out the steps required to perform work properly while protecting Physical Resources employees against exposure to toxic substances on roofs, in laboratories and in mechanical rooms.

In this procedure, work on laboratory fume hoods refers to all preventive or corrective maintenance work on exhaust systems during which staff could be exposed to the contents of the system itself, for example chemical, biological or radioactive deposits or emissions.

Here are the main regulatory requirements that apply to the laboratory hood maintenance systems and to the use of personal protective equipment. Please refer to these regulations for more details.  

• Regulation 851 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act of Ontario;
• Fume Hoods and Associated Exhaust Systems Standard, CSA Z.316.5-94 (used as a reference);
• Policies of the University (77 and 91);
• Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Regulation R-52 (Design Guide for Basic and Intermediate Level Radioisotope Laboratories).
• Ontario Fire Code (part IV);

There are three types of maintenance operations under consideration :

1. Scheduled maintenance (preventive) – work scheduled in advance of the work date, and not in response to a repair requirement.
2. Breakdown maintenance (responsive) – a fume hood system is not functioning properly, but maintenance work can be conducted during the next working day without risk to health and safety to building personnel.
3. Emergency maintenance – a breakdown not meeting the above criteria, e.g. reaction that cannot be stopped is occurring in a fume hood which is no longer exhausting the airborne contaminants.

The maintenance of laboratory hoods involves several risks, the three main ones being:,

• exposure to unknown chemical, biological or radioactive substances ;
• contact between skin or clothing and dangerous material;
• initiation of a vigorous chemical reaction (explosion) by disturbance of chemical residues.

Preventive measures are therefore needed to reduce these risks:

• Laboratory hood users carefully close, remove (if possible), identify and seal their products or substances before employees come in to perform maintenance;
• Physical Resources staff must receive training on the use of Personal protective equipment, including yearly refresher sessions.
• Supervisors of Physical Resources must be notified by the workers of anomalies, problems and conditions that pose a potential danger.

Buildings are classified in three (3) classes of potential airborne exposure. This classification comes from Phoenix OHC Inc. who revised the procedure and their risk assessment (Appendix 1.)

• Ten working days before begins, announce the date and time of the maintenance to the administrative officer, the facilities and safety officer or the delegated authority ( lead hand/worker) .

• Ensure that the laboratory supervisor closes or seals dangerous substance containers and thus takes every precaution to protect his or her safety; this work is done with the facility and safety officer (lead hand/worker) .

• Ensure that all workers and lead hands comply with the standards set out in the maintenance program (supervisors) .

• Ensure that personal protective equipment is available and is worn according to this procedure (garments, respirators, masks, gloves) (supervisors) .

• Ensure that workers have been properly informed on how to use their personal protective equipment (supervisors) .

• Attend training.

   

• Announce the upcoming maintenance work one week in advance to researcher and Laboratory supervisors, using the same e-mail message sent earlier by the Physical Resources lead hands.

• Just before work begins, and in the company of maintenance workers, inspect the laboratories affected by the hood shutdown to ensure that all products in the hoods are sealed off and that both the users and laboratory supervisors have complied with the directives set out.

• Become familiar and comply with this procedure to reduce risks for Physical Resources employees and for laboratory users.
• Advise concerned parties 5 days in advance of intended shut down.

• Place notice stickers on hoods to indicate that maintenance work is underway.
• Lock out fume hoods.
• Notify supervisors of potential problems or conditions that may impact the health and safety of workers.
• Use the equipment and wear the material and personal safety garments required by the employer.
• Attend training

• Ensure that procedures are well known and properly applied; also ensure that staff members comply with these procedures.
• Revise and update the maintenance program and ensure that the preventive or emergency maintenance work is entered into the MAXIMO database.
• Co-ordinate procedures for tests and activities linked to hood maintenance.

• Remain available for information or recommendations on environmental, health and safety activities.
• Add hood-maintenance information or data to the MAXIMO database, in co-operation with the Physical Resources Service.
• Provide updated information on activities that may pose undue risk to personnel working on fume hood system e.g. use of radioiodine, perchloric acid or picric acid.

• Provides information and or recommendations regarding issues affecting the health of workers.
• Provide medical follow-up every two years for workers who participate in the health surveillance program.

• Perform maintenance work twice a year, in the spring and fall, to avoid difficult winter Conditions; work according to the maintenance system's computerized timetable.
• Perform all work in teams of two.
• When working laboratories (ex: plumbers, electricians), ensure the immediate surroundings are hazard-free , i.e., the work area is clean and safe. If need be, ask users to clean the area.
• Take every precaution needed to guarantee the safety of everyone affected by the work.Contact lab personnel or faculty designated personnel for assistance if required. Never remove hazardous materials or lab equipment.
• Workers should take a shower after working on fume hoods fans systems.

• For work performed on rooftops and in mechanical rooms, workers will refer to appendix 1 for the building classification, and subsequent level of respiratory protection required. The compressed-air line filtered through the PL50 system, along with a tube and a flow-regulating valve will be used. Hoods or full face masks will be worn depending on where the work is performed (see appendix 1 for more details).Nitrile safety gloves, safety boots or shoes, as well as Tyvek overalls and Tyvek protective sleeves and boot covers, that resist chemical dust and residues, are also REQUIRED.

• For the plumbing sector: personal safety garments and equipment (double gloves, safety goggles and Tyvek protective sleeves) are to be worn; also ensure that cabinets are free of chemical containers (contact lab / faculty staff for assistance).

• Individual workers must maintain their personal protective equipment according to the m anufacturer's specifications and the training provided. Clean the inside of the hood with non-alcohol pads designed for this purpose.

• Ensure that tools and accessories used have been properly cleaned. Clean all parts of the body that may have been exposed. Discard all disposable protective equipment (e.g. Tyvek overalls, gloves, sleeve protectors and boot covers) after each job in the receptacle provided. If the overalls are kept, make sure to clean them with water and soap (Spic & Span).

• The lead hand or worker must send an e-mail to the building officer, to the administrative officer or to the person delegated, and one of these persons forwards the note to laboratory technicians, researchers and anyone else in the faculty affected by the work. The notice must be sent ten days before work is scheduled to begin.

• The memo must give the date and time of the maintenance work, the exact system shutdown dates, the approximate duration of the work and an alternate date if work has to be postponed (bad weather, emergencies, ect.).

• The lead hand or worker must prepared a sticker note and place it on the laboratory hood to notify that work is in progress and that the users should not use or handle substances at that time. In addition, the notice must state the time at which the work is scheduled to end.

• The lead hand or worker must make an inspection several minutes before work begins (in the company of the building officer or delegated person) to ensure that users comply with stated requirements.

• The lead hand or worker must safety-lock the laboratory hood to ensure no users handlechemical products during maintenance, just prior to initiating the work.

• For special jobs, for instance, when ducts are open or when the cage has to be changed, staff must use a blocking device such as an inflatable diaphragm. This is especially important when the ventilation duct remains open.

• The supervisor or lead hand / worker must inform the administrative officer or the facilities and safety officer (as soon as possible) that ventilation has been shut off for the designated hoods and also indicate when will be back in operation. During emergency maintenance, hoods must be turned off and workers must apply a sticker notice on sashes to advise users that work is in progress.

• During emergency maintenance, hoods must be turned off and workers must apply a sticker notice on sashes to advise users that work is in progress and that there must not be any open containers of chemicals inside the hoods, or any use of the hoods at this time.

• Workers performing the repairs must make sure the warning sticker is well applied and The fume hood is locked out; if there is any doubt about the products that are under or near the hood, the workers must contact the building officer or the laboratory supervisor first. If these two employees are not available, the workers will then contact the faculty designate or Physical Resources.

• Supervisors must ensure that maintenance workers wear their personal protective equipment properly and lock out the fume hoods.

• I f repairs must be performed right away, the workers (a team of at least two) must shut down the hood, place a notice sticker on the sash and lock out the fume hood.
• In case of doubt, or if workers believe that substances must first have to be moved or sealed off, they must not begin work without having the user or the laboratory supervisor move or seal the hood containers.

When emergency maintenance work must be carried out on rooftops in the winter where required , workers must wear the supplied-air respirators; they also spend as little time as possible outside when the weather is very cold, to avoid fogging up the inside of the safety hood or becoming subject to hypothermia; wearing a warm thin hat is also recommended.

When laboratory hoods are used for radioactive substances, WORKERS MUST wear a dosimeter is, however, very low for workers repairing exhaust systems.

Class 1: no Significant expose NO respiratory equipment Basic ppe

Class 2: Potential for exposure to levels in excess of OEL

Supplied air respiratory with a hood and specific ppe

Class 3: Unknown/potential high exposure that may be hazardous

NAME

Facilities and Safety Officer (Science)

DRO, GNN, VCN, MCD, MRN, VNR

Dave
Armstrong

Pierrette Strasbourg

Gaétane Maltais

Administrative Officer (Human Kinetics)

Jean Bjornson

Laboratory Technician (Geography)

France Vachon

Administrative Officer (Psychology)

Isabelle Régimbald

Administrative Officer (Education)

Philippe
St-Pierre

Supervisor, Electricity And Instrumentation

Mario Boileau

Nancy Delcellier

Andrew Zlotorzynsk

Marie-France Malo

EHSO (Physical Resources)