[Faculty] safety concerns in the college

[rgerman at mail.sdsu.edu]

Notes on College of Engineering Safety Walk Through

A brief walk through was conducted on many of the college’s labs for two purposes. As we start back to school it is important to ensure the students are working in an environment that is not hurtful or harmful. Second, during the ABET visit in five weeks we will have department heads conduct tours and one of the obvious first concerns will be with safe practices. I was accompanied by Darrell Irwin, Youxian Wu, and Chris Paolini, and a few others were invited by did not show up.

The walk through was conducted Thursday just prior to noon, and was precipitated by my seeing two undergraduates working unsupervised in the ME machine show, without safety glasses, and one be injured by an accidental poke in the face. 
At this point I want to make some general statements, and anticipate some of the issues can be cleared up prior to a formal (room by room listing of issues) in a few weeks. 

The most obvious problem is the lack of safety glasses. Many labs have signs posted and yet there is no enforcement, and not a single student was wearing eye protection and most were working unsupervised while there were evident signs on the doors and walls requiring safety eyewear.

one gas cylinder was not chained

press breaks in  two machine shops lacked safety guards

several labs had unsafe wires and cables pulled across walkways, or hanging low enough to be hazards for example in 401A

in 202 G and a few other labs there are power bus strips on the floor but the tables have been moved so the strips are trip hazards

there are missing emergency phones in some labs

a fan was in a student work area with a missing cover, creating a significant danger

waste was accumulated in some labs, but was not properly labeled

in many labs there were packages piled on tops of cabinets, creating a significant earthquake hazard

in some cases second exits from labs were blocked

in general about 70% of the labs need a general toss out, with simply too much old equipment, magazines, papers, and other accumulation, and most significant are many old containers of chemicals that are probably improperly stored

in a few cases cabinets that indicated first aid kits inside (sign on the cabinet) had no first aid kit inside

in one lab a large collection of fluorescent tubes were stored and some had broken, creating a chemical spill and broken glass on the floor

room 301B is an absolute disaster and truly is embarrassing 

It will require a collective effort to change our culture early this semester, but we will all benefit from a safer facility.

Rand

Prof. Randall M. German
Associate Dean of Engineering
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, California 92182-1326
telephone 619-594-7006, cell 858-922-4985
email rgerman at mail.sdsu.edu