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Topic: Risk Assessment of a Lab Procedure  (Read 6616 times)

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Offline jubba

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Risk Assessment of a Lab Procedure
« on: September 02, 2006, 11:43:23 PM »
We had to do the gravimetric determination of the sulfur content in a fertiliser as a practical task. (precipitation of barium sulfate)

For the task we had to fill in a risk assesment table.
Acetone was used to dry the barium sulfate faster. SInce its flammable I included it in the risk assesment.
However, the table only asked for "reagents" so we had to put barium nitrate/ and barium sulfate (which basically have no risks) but were penalised for putting acetone.

Is their anyway i can somehow argue that acetone is a reagent?  ::)

Offline Donaldson Tan

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Re: Stupid Risk assesment
« Reply #1 on: September 03, 2006, 05:53:25 PM »
Does the fertiliser itself pose any hazard? It is after-all a mixture of a many components. There would be hazard signs (if there is) indicated on the label of the fertiliser container.
"Say you're in a [chemical] plant and there's a snake on the floor. What are you going to do? Call a consultant? Get a meeting together to talk about which color is the snake? Employees should do one thing: walk over there and you step on the friggin� snake." - Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of Glaxosmithkline, June 2006

Offline mike

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Re: Risk Assessment of a Lab Procedure
« Reply #2 on: September 03, 2006, 08:03:05 PM »
Sounds ridiculous to be penalised for putting extra information. Usually a risk assessment covers every aspect of the experiment, including equipment, clean-up, waste disposal etc.
There is no science without fancy, and no art without facts.

Offline jubba

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Re: Stupid Risk assesment
« Reply #3 on: September 04, 2006, 08:14:39 AM »
Does the fertiliser itself pose any hazard? It is after-all a mixture of a many components. There would be hazard signs (if there is) indicated on the label of the fertiliser container.

we didn't really use fertiliser we just used ammonia sulfate.

Offline Donaldson Tan

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Re: Risk Assessment of a Lab Procedure
« Reply #4 on: September 04, 2006, 09:04:30 PM »
I second Mike
"Say you're in a [chemical] plant and there's a snake on the floor. What are you going to do? Call a consultant? Get a meeting together to talk about which color is the snake? Employees should do one thing: walk over there and you step on the friggin� snake." - Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of Glaxosmithkline, June 2006

Offline KyleDiLeo

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Re: Risk Assessment of a Lab Procedure
« Reply #5 on: September 28, 2006, 04:51:41 PM »
I also agree with what Mike said. At the end of our lab reports in our conclusions we usually wrote what could have contributed to error in the lab, and I definately would have instated the use of Acetone in the sources of error, especially if it was not fully dried, and still if it was fully dried. That's why I stopped using it to dry things, added to lab error in quantitative lab.

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