From:Date: January 29, 2009 10:25:11 AM EST (CA) Subject: RE: [DCHAS-L] Testing regular Laboratory Fume hoods ducts for perchlorates as a standard practice before dismantling >I will also be involved in dismantling a fume hood that used HF. What should I be concerned with? Not sure if this is what you are looking for or not, but thought I would throw it out there. AIHA/ANSI has a standard regarding laboratory decommissioning which may provide some insight. I have attached the link to the AIHA market place for information regarding the document. http://iweb.aiha.org/iweb/Purchase/ProductDetail.aspx?Product_code=IVEA08-751 Best Regards, Brian M. Spears, CIH, CSP, CHMM Associate Industrial Hygiene Specialist Safe Work IS Our Job Dow Corning Corporation 4770 Highway 42 East Carrollton, KY 41008 office: (502) 732-2726 mobile: (502) 682-8593 = From: "Long, Don" Date: January 29, 2009 10:37:15 AM EST (CA) Subject: RE: [DCHAS-L] Testing regular Laboratory Fume hoods ducts for perchlorates as a standard practice before dismantling I don't know if this will provide any help at all, but working in a Chemical Weapons Demil Lab we've had similar experiences, whether it be dismantling the hoods due to building demo or work within the duct work itself. We performed wipe sampling on our hoods and associated ductwork, and then developed analytical methods to extract and analyze these samples to ensure that they we're "chemical agent free". This was later turned into an actual SW-846 method. I say all of this because there may or may not be published methods out there for these circumstances (although we all know that someone has done it), so depending on your expected level of contamination, safety concerns, etc, you may end up having to develop your own sampling and test methods. I also would be interested in if there is any additional info out there since in our line of work, we seem to get more concerned with the chemical agents we deal with than the other "less glamorous" chemicals that are no less hazardous. Don A. Long CHO / STS Southwest Research Institute Laboratory Pine Bluff Chemical Agent Disposal Facility PO Box 20130 White Hall, AR 71612 870-541-4930 == From: "Dr. Jay A. Young" Date: January 29, 2009 10:50:06 AM EST (CA) Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Testing regular Laboratory Fume hoods ducts for perchlorates as a standard practice before dismantling >Before dismantling for disposal, do you have a standard practice of testing regular Laboratory Chemical Fume hoods ducts for the presence of perchlorates? (I'm not talking about Perchloric Acid Fume hood here). Dear Prabhat, The possible consequences of dismantling a hood and ducts and fan that in fact contain residues from past perchloric acid usage can be catastrophic, even fatal. The fact that you have had no incidents thus far could mean one of two possibilities: 1. The hoods were not ever used for perchloric acid treatments of any kind. Or, 2. The hoods were used for perchloric acid treatments and you have somehow been lucky. Conclusion: Choose 1 or choose 2 and accept the consequences. (As for myself, I would choose 2 and dismantle the remaining hoods assuming that they were contaminated.) Jay Young
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