AllIDoIsSWIM
Rising Star
This is going to be long and involved. If you're scared of heights, don't look down! :shock: The Preface will contain content that some might find irrelevant, but I have provided it first with the belief that it is a necessary part of the whole. Do with it, and the rest of what I present, as you will, and I do hope you find it intriguing/promising/useful enough for me to continue on. =)
PREFACE (Initial Presentation; Revision 002, 20110815-AC-0115)
-------
00. I don't mean to step on toes or to presume how safely individuals perform the techniques outlined and shared here, nor do I consider myself Dr. King of Kitchen Science and expect special attention because of my (licit) chemical experience, but already there are specific things I've read and seen that flat-out scare me, fortunately (or gravely regrettably) in most cases because they are/were so, so easily avoidable or because they could've been handled better with a modicum of advice/training. However, these experiences are the minority! I will not single anyone or any post. Rather, my goal is to provide a solid list of items, questions and practices that I really hope you guys will consider (and that I believe are worth writing down for consideration) purchasing or doing to incorporate further safety measures and GLP (Good Laboratory Practices) concepts into your personal projects. Unless explicitly stated, these are not devices or practices that I have originally come up with but rather are consistent, validated (through my own experience and my observation of those I have worked/currently work with who I know have benefited as well!) things that I was lucky to have people who knew teach to and provide for me.
01. I realize how much of this is going to look/actually be presumptuously and/or patronizing, and obviously certain parts of it come as I said from a very real source of distaste and judgmental head-waggling, but I take chemical safety very seriously (much more than my desire for any of the natural products, wonderful though they may be, that we share the goal of isolating and experiencing) and try to keep it in my mind at all times when in the lab or when suggesting or commenting on anything. To that end, I have taken care concerning not only my accuracy but also whether my ideas are "generally reasonable" (whatever that means) and will not suggest or state ANYTHING that I have yet to, do not or would not readily do or provide for myself, or suggest any standard or liability I do not hold myself to or above, or knowingly provide false, deceptive, manipulative or worst of all risky information.
02. It is therefore very important and will be equally appreciated that those reading ASK ANY QUESTIONS they have have and moreover COMMENT and POINT OUT ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS I have made, even if you aren't sure yourself about what is more or less correct (feel free to be as harsh as you like if I've said something egregiously stupid or confusing that introduces more risk; I tend to learn better that way
. Not only do you stand to benefit, but it is my view that one does not truly understand something until he can successfully teach it to another, so that they can successfully teach it to another (and so on) and until he can learn and teach others to not only recognize issues and successes but can inspire them to actively seek further and the most current information out of their own volition.
03. While I am putting the initial stuff together and still visible as viewing the thread, I would highly, highly suggest refreshing the page regularly to check for any edits I have made or for replies from me and/or from others you see viewing--and there WILL be at least minor edits; this is just my nature--and I will do my best to document these changes and the reasoning and to make sure I leave my posts in a state I feel comfortable having others read without being present to answer questions or concerns. Considerations will first be made for content, rather than for grammar, syntax, etc.
04. You and I are very fortunate (and I think this doesn't even need to be said, which is a great comfort) to have many extremely intelligent, patient, caring and helpful compatriots and moderators who know these things as well as anyone and in probably many cases better than I do, particularly when applied to a particular tek, but I assume a sense of personal responsibility--to the extent that one anonymous, self-appointed Lifeguard can assume with SWIMmers and Surfers who probably do not yet have enough reason to believe or trust him in general (though I hope to change this!), some of whom are surely wondering who the hell this new guy is and why he assumes anyone reading wouldn't know these things. (If it is the belief of the moderators and admins, and/or the overall feeling of those who care enough to read and speak up, that I am totally out of line in doing this, please, please let me know so I can correct my mindset and cease being antagonistic/irresponsible with the privilege I have been handed to use and add to the forum.)
05. Though I did not intend to when I started writing, I feel compelled to extend the universal DISCLAIMER that you are in >95% of your waking life significantly or almost absolutely responsible for your own actions and that this is a good-faith effort on my part, provided with the earnest, honest. positive intentions to make your tek, your life and this forum better (and I know what they say about intentions...). I am, according to what I perceive as one of the core value of the forum, operating under the belief for the most part that you do in fact have a work setting that is under your control and allows you to experiment safely and without having to conceal all of your actions. I am not naive enough to believe this is true for everyone, but at the same time I am very wary of that kind of irresponsible behavior and have human sympathies that I assure you can and do stop at some point.
((**Sections 06 and 07 were already removed before delivery of the initial revision because they were tangential at best.))
08. That said, please keep in mind that as much as you don't want to be injured, arrested, caught by your parents/partner/spouse, lied to or misled by some dude on the internet, having your kidney stolen by Armenian gangsters, or even disappointed with a yield of performance of a technique, I wish as much for your safety and health and happiness and completeness of your internal organ configuration and of those around and dear to you (I really do!) and, more selfishly, do not want to live with anything else haunting me for the rest of my life that I caused someone to do, directly or indirectly. Please be careful out there, and THANK YOU! to anyone taking the time to scan, peruse, comment on, individually verify, correct, care enough about to criticize and challenge, or even to attempt or incorporate any of the material I have presented in a manner that enhances their practices.
---
09. This post is already quite long, so I will leave the first (and easiest) section here and will add the first section on personal protective gear if you guys think this is going in a good direction. I will omit for now several of the points that I had about goggles, gloves, etc., as I see they have been adequately covered by other threads, including ones in the same subforum. I will likely add them if this project gains steam and as I learn new things more directly applicable to teks. Also, please be patient as I decide how I want to organize these sections and make the formatting not so awful! If deemed useful enough for inclusion, Wiki syntax would probably be much more amenable to this type of thing than BBCode. I would also ideally--again, if good enough--integrate or interlink in a useful manner with the contents of some of the other threads, mostly the ones that are more "tips & tricks" type things rather than broadly focused guides, like as an addendum to the Wiki/guide. This section will be removed at some point, but I forgot to remove the number and really don't want to adjust everything after it right now.
---
PART I: Basic Considerations, Simple Techniques, Miscellaneous Concerns
10. If you use a lab coat (and you should be using a lab coat! They are not expensive!), it should over most of you (fully-covered arms, roughly knee length). In my experience, chemistry lab coats are going to be made of thick poplin or another material that offers splash protection and would prevent chemicals from reaching your skin long enough to tear it off. Different materials and styles work better for different applications. Pockets are also highly useful, and most lab coats have at least two hip pockets and a breast pocket. How often you launder it (please don't heat it in dryer if it's soaked in naphtha or other oils/petroleum products; it's a well-known fire hazard) is a personal preference, but you should regularly check it for loose threads and tears, etc. You don't want a splash of lye to to find the hole before you do, and you most likely don't want to have to wear a stretched, sweaty lab coat all the time. More importantly, loose clothing (and hair) can become trapped or catch on things, significantly increasing the risk of spillage, loss of product or most importantly serious injury.
11. If you have a shower near your work area (a dedicated chemical shower or a regular shower with at least with a stone or treated floor and open drain area rather than a plastic tub is best, but this is obviously not always an option), it may prove to be very valuable in the event of an accident. If nothing else, you should have water ready, or perhaps a garden hose, to rinse off what you can, and be sure to have towels (or better yet, one of the absorbant items that will be mentioned in the next section) on hand in case you need to dry off and handle a spill or other accident very quickly. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE should you get in any shower or other forced water stream with the wet, contaminated clothing still on. It will only cause it to soak through and probably cause much more damage if there's any damage to be done! A home shower is likely not going to have the pressure and drain capacity necessary to evacuate the contaminant fast enough to prevent it coming into contact with your skin, so even if it rinsed off the surface, you could find yourself standing in a pool of caustic liquid. However, people still do it, and so as anyone who's made this mistake--and I know a few--will tell you, "JUST GET NAKED"!)
12. If you do find yourself having to make the choice between your property and your body, there is no question that the latter should be attended to first. However, there is a chance that not dealing with a spill or other accident could cause you to be prevented from escape or to force you to inhale or come into further contact with it, there's not as simple an answer for those working solo. This is, among other reasons, why you should ALWAYS work with a partner whenever it is even remotely feasible.
13. Anyone you work with and anyone around you who could be affected by your work area should have the same or similar knowledge (or BETTER!) as the main operator regarding to how to deal with these things. Obviously, you should both be sober and should not be doing _anything_ that requires you to more than rarely bring your hands, let alone any chemicals other than your final, purified product, anywhere near your face or someone else's, like eating, drinking or smoking. Smoking in particular is simply a really stupid thing to do in a lab, especially around naphtha. And I mean weed or tobacco or whatever. And no, your vaporizer's not appreciably better. You're taking frequent deep breaths while making the air less amenable to breathing and are unnecessarily risking a fire. Just go outside.
14, Be aware of and practice the "half-filled lungs" technique. It's very simple and quite useful if you for whatever reason forgo using or cannot acquire a cartridge or better yet pump-based breathing assembly when dealing with caustic chemicals or volatile hydrocarbons. you should half-fill your lungs with fresh air before doing things like pouring, opening bottles and stepping into a room with chemical vapors. Your first reaction upon smelling something your brain doesn't like will likely be to breathe in sharply, which is the the opposite of what you want to do do. This way, you will be able to xpel the air from your lungs and help clear out your airways and nasal passage while you move away from the source and get protective equipment.
15. In terms of damage to your property (and to the environment), please remember that evaporating solvents do not just disappear. In particular, please do NOT attempt to use your oven's exhaust system as a fume hood with hot or boiling mineral acids or other caustic solutions. If these vapors are allowed to rise and cool, they will condense and could even drip back down onto you or the stove, or you may accidentally come into contact with this condensate. You might also find it difficult to explain to your landlord or to a repairman why there are a bunch of perforations in the ducts and why the wires are all oxidized. (**TODO: Does naphtha cause problems in stove exhaust systems??? Limonene/Xylene/etc.?**)
16. Concerning solvents again, unless you are experienced or have very good airflow and waste control techniques in place, PLEASE avoid using the commonly available halogenated hydrocarbon solvents ({bromo|chloro|iodo|fluoro}form, D{B|C|I|F}M (di-X-methane, methylene {bromide|chloride|iodide|fluo[ride}), tri{bromo|chloro|iodo|chloro}methane, carbon tetra{bromide|chloride|iodide|fluoride}). These are unnecessarily dangerous for both people and for the environment, and individuals are most likely not going to be able to dispose of the waste in a manner that's safe or let alone consistent with laws on any level of government, where applicable. Similarly, I would suggest refraining from or at least being very, very cautious about recommending the use of these solvents to anyone else. Personally, I wouldn't even open something like choloroform outside of a fume hood. In every lab I have worked in, these solvents had to be stored in separate waste vessels, both for separate treatment as a toxic waste and because of build pressure inside a containment tank. I single these out in particular, but I cannot possibly cover every reason why their use outside of a proper laboratory setting is a really, really bad idea. Please see the other applicable threads. You are also obligated to check your local/state/provincial/federal/etc. laws regarding these substances, which I suggest doing even if you have no plans to use them.
17. Do not automatically consider impact glasses to be on the same level in terms of eye protection as splash-proof, chemically resistant goggles, although for certain purposes they are acceptable. These goggles are in no way hard to get and should not cost you more than $15-$50. Please see the other threads in this subforum. You should also use a face shield when dealing with volatile, toxic and caustic/corrosive substances ((**More will be added in the next part on masks and other shielding).
18. Do you use labels (pre-made or otherwise)? Not only do labels mitigate errors on your part, e.g. in pouring the wrong thing into the wrong container, but they are a demonstration of more responsible attitudes toward chemicals. More importantly, consider what would happen if your home or apartment caught fire or had filled with a noxious vapor while you were gone. First responders would try to establish any possible serious hazards to themselves and other residents by identifying the source of the problem and what chemicals are there to be burned or inhaled. Do you want an officer or fireperson in there staring at a blank jar or bottle filled with an unidentifiable intermediate, final product or reagent? Consider not only the legal issues but their safety!
19. Keeping a log book is a core concept in GLP and also demonstrates a safety-, accountability- and detail-oriented attitude and will allow you to not only keep.. notes! but also to record receipt dates, amounts, prices and sources of the materials you use. Did your tek fail? You can check to see if your sample was very old. Did you get great spice a year ago from vendor Y's mimosa, or was it the result of a great combination of reagents? With a well-kept logbook, you will have this and much more useful information on hand, rather than having to guess. (**I can expand on what I mean by "well-kept" if so desired, but in general the more detail the better.) As a general rule, you should use a liquid-resistant pen only. Liquid and tear-resistant field and lab notebooks are commercially available. Generally, any changes should not be scribbled or blacked over or whited out, though this is really only an issue when you have a supply chain and strict chain of custody to maintain, in which case it's common to also initial and date any and all redactions. Instead of covering up a mistake or otherwise entirely, simply strike the errant addition out. This will allow you to still see what was marked out. You may also wish to provide yourself a reminder as to why what you put down is incorrect, if it would be applicable or useful to you in the future. However, I understand that this is a very concrete way of incriminating yourself, so you should keep your notes and other materials secure if you choose to produce them.
20. ((TODO: Pressure buildup considerations))
[**More to come! I need a smoke, and my hands need some rest! I hope it's okay so far. I'd love some feedback as to the content, whether any of this is necessary or just a restatement of the same information already easily found somewhere else, etc. as I'm a bit anxious after typing all of this out without asking if it was even worthwhile. :? )
--
001: Revising and clarifying the section about showers so it doesn't look like it's contradicting itself.
002: Forgot a halogen
PREFACE (Initial Presentation; Revision 002, 20110815-AC-0115)
-------
00. I don't mean to step on toes or to presume how safely individuals perform the techniques outlined and shared here, nor do I consider myself Dr. King of Kitchen Science and expect special attention because of my (licit) chemical experience, but already there are specific things I've read and seen that flat-out scare me, fortunately (or gravely regrettably) in most cases because they are/were so, so easily avoidable or because they could've been handled better with a modicum of advice/training. However, these experiences are the minority! I will not single anyone or any post. Rather, my goal is to provide a solid list of items, questions and practices that I really hope you guys will consider (and that I believe are worth writing down for consideration) purchasing or doing to incorporate further safety measures and GLP (Good Laboratory Practices) concepts into your personal projects. Unless explicitly stated, these are not devices or practices that I have originally come up with but rather are consistent, validated (through my own experience and my observation of those I have worked/currently work with who I know have benefited as well!) things that I was lucky to have people who knew teach to and provide for me.
01. I realize how much of this is going to look/actually be presumptuously and/or patronizing, and obviously certain parts of it come as I said from a very real source of distaste and judgmental head-waggling, but I take chemical safety very seriously (much more than my desire for any of the natural products, wonderful though they may be, that we share the goal of isolating and experiencing) and try to keep it in my mind at all times when in the lab or when suggesting or commenting on anything. To that end, I have taken care concerning not only my accuracy but also whether my ideas are "generally reasonable" (whatever that means) and will not suggest or state ANYTHING that I have yet to, do not or would not readily do or provide for myself, or suggest any standard or liability I do not hold myself to or above, or knowingly provide false, deceptive, manipulative or worst of all risky information.
02. It is therefore very important and will be equally appreciated that those reading ASK ANY QUESTIONS they have have and moreover COMMENT and POINT OUT ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS I have made, even if you aren't sure yourself about what is more or less correct (feel free to be as harsh as you like if I've said something egregiously stupid or confusing that introduces more risk; I tend to learn better that way
. Not only do you stand to benefit, but it is my view that one does not truly understand something until he can successfully teach it to another, so that they can successfully teach it to another (and so on) and until he can learn and teach others to not only recognize issues and successes but can inspire them to actively seek further and the most current information out of their own volition.03. While I am putting the initial stuff together and still visible as viewing the thread, I would highly, highly suggest refreshing the page regularly to check for any edits I have made or for replies from me and/or from others you see viewing--and there WILL be at least minor edits; this is just my nature--and I will do my best to document these changes and the reasoning and to make sure I leave my posts in a state I feel comfortable having others read without being present to answer questions or concerns. Considerations will first be made for content, rather than for grammar, syntax, etc.
04. You and I are very fortunate (and I think this doesn't even need to be said, which is a great comfort) to have many extremely intelligent, patient, caring and helpful compatriots and moderators who know these things as well as anyone and in probably many cases better than I do, particularly when applied to a particular tek, but I assume a sense of personal responsibility--to the extent that one anonymous, self-appointed Lifeguard can assume with SWIMmers and Surfers who probably do not yet have enough reason to believe or trust him in general (though I hope to change this!), some of whom are surely wondering who the hell this new guy is and why he assumes anyone reading wouldn't know these things. (If it is the belief of the moderators and admins, and/or the overall feeling of those who care enough to read and speak up, that I am totally out of line in doing this, please, please let me know so I can correct my mindset and cease being antagonistic/irresponsible with the privilege I have been handed to use and add to the forum.)
05. Though I did not intend to when I started writing, I feel compelled to extend the universal DISCLAIMER that you are in >95% of your waking life significantly or almost absolutely responsible for your own actions and that this is a good-faith effort on my part, provided with the earnest, honest. positive intentions to make your tek, your life and this forum better (and I know what they say about intentions...). I am, according to what I perceive as one of the core value of the forum, operating under the belief for the most part that you do in fact have a work setting that is under your control and allows you to experiment safely and without having to conceal all of your actions. I am not naive enough to believe this is true for everyone, but at the same time I am very wary of that kind of irresponsible behavior and have human sympathies that I assure you can and do stop at some point.
((**Sections 06 and 07 were already removed before delivery of the initial revision because they were tangential at best.))
08. That said, please keep in mind that as much as you don't want to be injured, arrested, caught by your parents/partner/spouse, lied to or misled by some dude on the internet, having your kidney stolen by Armenian gangsters, or even disappointed with a yield of performance of a technique, I wish as much for your safety and health and happiness and completeness of your internal organ configuration and of those around and dear to you (I really do!) and, more selfishly, do not want to live with anything else haunting me for the rest of my life that I caused someone to do, directly or indirectly. Please be careful out there, and THANK YOU! to anyone taking the time to scan, peruse, comment on, individually verify, correct, care enough about to criticize and challenge, or even to attempt or incorporate any of the material I have presented in a manner that enhances their practices.
---
09. This post is already quite long, so I will leave the first (and easiest) section here and will add the first section on personal protective gear if you guys think this is going in a good direction.
I will omit for now several of the points that I had about goggles, gloves, etc., as I see they have been adequately covered by other threads, including ones in the same subforum. I will likely add them if this project gains steam and as I learn new things more directly applicable to teks. Also, please be patient as I decide how I want to organize these sections and make the formatting not so awful! If deemed useful enough for inclusion, Wiki syntax would probably be much more amenable to this type of thing than BBCode. I would also ideally--again, if good enough--integrate or interlink in a useful manner with the contents of some of the other threads, mostly the ones that are more "tips & tricks" type things rather than broadly focused guides, like as an addendum to the Wiki/guide. This section will be removed at some point, but I forgot to remove the number and really don't want to adjust everything after it right now. ---
PART I: Basic Considerations, Simple Techniques, Miscellaneous Concerns
10. If you use a lab coat (and you should be using a lab coat! They are not expensive!), it should over most of you (fully-covered arms, roughly knee length). In my experience, chemistry lab coats are going to be made of thick poplin or another material that offers splash protection and would prevent chemicals from reaching your skin long enough to tear it off. Different materials and styles work better for different applications. Pockets are also highly useful, and most lab coats have at least two hip pockets and a breast pocket. How often you launder it (please don't heat it in dryer if it's soaked in naphtha or other oils/petroleum products; it's a well-known fire hazard) is a personal preference, but you should regularly check it for loose threads and tears, etc. You don't want a splash of lye to to find the hole before you do, and you most likely don't want to have to wear a stretched, sweaty lab coat all the time. More importantly, loose clothing (and hair) can become trapped or catch on things, significantly increasing the risk of spillage, loss of product or most importantly serious injury.
11. If you have a shower near your work area (a dedicated chemical shower or a regular shower with at least with a stone or treated floor and open drain area rather than a plastic tub is best, but this is obviously not always an option), it may prove to be very valuable in the event of an accident. If nothing else, you should have water ready, or perhaps a garden hose, to rinse off what you can, and be sure to have towels (or better yet, one of the absorbant items that will be mentioned in the next section) on hand in case you need to dry off and handle a spill or other accident very quickly. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE should you get in any shower or other forced water stream with the wet, contaminated clothing still on. It will only cause it to soak through and probably cause much more damage if there's any damage to be done! A home shower is likely not going to have the pressure and drain capacity necessary to evacuate the contaminant fast enough to prevent it coming into contact with your skin, so even if it rinsed off the surface, you could find yourself standing in a pool of caustic liquid. However, people still do it, and so as anyone who's made this mistake--and I know a few--will tell you, "JUST GET NAKED"!)
12. If you do find yourself having to make the choice between your property and your body, there is no question that the latter should be attended to first. However, there is a chance that not dealing with a spill or other accident could cause you to be prevented from escape or to force you to inhale or come into further contact with it, there's not as simple an answer for those working solo. This is, among other reasons, why you should ALWAYS work with a partner whenever it is even remotely feasible.
13. Anyone you work with and anyone around you who could be affected by your work area should have the same or similar knowledge (or BETTER!) as the main operator regarding to how to deal with these things. Obviously, you should both be sober and should not be doing _anything_ that requires you to more than rarely bring your hands, let alone any chemicals other than your final, purified product, anywhere near your face or someone else's, like eating, drinking or smoking. Smoking in particular is simply a really stupid thing to do in a lab, especially around naphtha. And I mean weed or tobacco or whatever. And no, your vaporizer's not appreciably better. You're taking frequent deep breaths while making the air less amenable to breathing and are unnecessarily risking a fire. Just go outside.
14, Be aware of and practice the "half-filled lungs" technique. It's very simple and quite useful if you for whatever reason forgo using or cannot acquire a cartridge or better yet pump-based breathing assembly when dealing with caustic chemicals or volatile hydrocarbons. you should half-fill your lungs with fresh air before doing things like pouring, opening bottles and stepping into a room with chemical vapors. Your first reaction upon smelling something your brain doesn't like will likely be to breathe in sharply, which is the the opposite of what you want to do do. This way, you will be able to xpel the air from your lungs and help clear out your airways and nasal passage while you move away from the source and get protective equipment.
15. In terms of damage to your property (and to the environment), please remember that evaporating solvents do not just disappear. In particular, please do NOT attempt to use your oven's exhaust system as a fume hood with hot or boiling mineral acids or other caustic solutions. If these vapors are allowed to rise and cool, they will condense and could even drip back down onto you or the stove, or you may accidentally come into contact with this condensate. You might also find it difficult to explain to your landlord or to a repairman why there are a bunch of perforations in the ducts and why the wires are all oxidized. (**TODO: Does naphtha cause problems in stove exhaust systems??? Limonene/Xylene/etc.?**)
16. Concerning solvents again, unless you are experienced or have very good airflow and waste control techniques in place, PLEASE avoid using the commonly available halogenated hydrocarbon solvents ({bromo|chloro|iodo|fluoro}form, D{B|C|I|F}M (di-X-methane, methylene {bromide|chloride|iodide|fluo[ride}), tri{bromo|chloro|iodo|chloro}methane, carbon tetra{bromide|chloride|iodide|fluoride}). These are unnecessarily dangerous for both people and for the environment, and individuals are most likely not going to be able to dispose of the waste in a manner that's safe or let alone consistent with laws on any level of government, where applicable. Similarly, I would suggest refraining from or at least being very, very cautious about recommending the use of these solvents to anyone else. Personally, I wouldn't even open something like choloroform outside of a fume hood. In every lab I have worked in, these solvents had to be stored in separate waste vessels, both for separate treatment as a toxic waste and because of build pressure inside a containment tank. I single these out in particular, but I cannot possibly cover every reason why their use outside of a proper laboratory setting is a really, really bad idea. Please see the other applicable threads. You are also obligated to check your local/state/provincial/federal/etc. laws regarding these substances, which I suggest doing even if you have no plans to use them.
17. Do not automatically consider impact glasses to be on the same level in terms of eye protection as splash-proof, chemically resistant goggles, although for certain purposes they are acceptable. These goggles are in no way hard to get and should not cost you more than $15-$50. Please see the other threads in this subforum. You should also use a face shield when dealing with volatile, toxic and caustic/corrosive substances ((**More will be added in the next part on masks and other shielding).
18. Do you use labels (pre-made or otherwise)? Not only do labels mitigate errors on your part, e.g. in pouring the wrong thing into the wrong container, but they are a demonstration of more responsible attitudes toward chemicals. More importantly, consider what would happen if your home or apartment caught fire or had filled with a noxious vapor while you were gone. First responders would try to establish any possible serious hazards to themselves and other residents by identifying the source of the problem and what chemicals are there to be burned or inhaled. Do you want an officer or fireperson in there staring at a blank jar or bottle filled with an unidentifiable intermediate, final product or reagent? Consider not only the legal issues but their safety!
19. Keeping a log book is a core concept in GLP and also demonstrates a safety-, accountability- and detail-oriented attitude and will allow you to not only keep.. notes! but also to record receipt dates, amounts, prices and sources of the materials you use. Did your tek fail? You can check to see if your sample was very old. Did you get great spice a year ago from vendor Y's mimosa, or was it the result of a great combination of reagents? With a well-kept logbook, you will have this and much more useful information on hand, rather than having to guess. (**I can expand on what I mean by "well-kept" if so desired, but in general the more detail the better.) As a general rule, you should use a liquid-resistant pen only. Liquid and tear-resistant field and lab notebooks are commercially available. Generally, any changes should not be scribbled or blacked over or whited out, though this is really only an issue when you have a supply chain and strict chain of custody to maintain, in which case it's common to also initial and date any and all redactions. Instead of covering up a mistake or otherwise entirely, simply strike the errant addition out. This will allow you to still see what was marked out. You may also wish to provide yourself a reminder as to why what you put down is incorrect, if it would be applicable or useful to you in the future. However, I understand that this is a very concrete way of incriminating yourself, so you should keep your notes and other materials secure if you choose to produce them.
20. ((TODO: Pressure buildup considerations))
[**More to come! I need a smoke, and my hands need some rest! I hope it's okay so far. I'd love some feedback as to the content, whether any of this is necessary or just a restatement of the same information already easily found somewhere else, etc. as I'm a bit anxious after typing all of this out without asking if it was even worthwhile. :? )
--
001: Revising and clarifying the section about showers so it doesn't look like it's contradicting itself.
002: Forgot a halogen
