Innovation Award

WVU EHS Hazardous Materials Team receives Innovation Award

(L to R: Paul Porter, Bill Graham, Joyce Addison)

Environmental Health and Safety’s Hazardous Materials Unit received an innovation award from the Campus Safety, Health and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA) for their innovative method of managing highly hazardous materials.

Some chemicals have the potential to become shock sensitive if kept for too long, due to the production of peroxides. Shipment of these materials is forbidden by the Department Of Transportation until they are opened and stabilized.

The EHS Hazardous Materials Unit retrofitted explosive day boxes to manage these materials in the labs until at least seven highly hazardous materials are in accumulation. This reduces the number of times the high haz team needs to be deployed to campus.

From 2012-2016 the costs associated with stabilization of these materials was $73,647. On average, almost $15,000 a year was being spent to manage these materials from 2012 to 2016. Since the explosive day box idea was implemented zero was spent in 2017 and nothing so far this calendar year.