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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.