[labnetwork] Toxic gases

[Shimon Eliav]

Hi Manish,

From time it is nice to hear what others are doing related to safety issues.

The summary table you sent us about toxic gases lines made me think: perhaps am I exaggerating on my protocol? A legitimate question after being the only one closing the gas lines in the end of the day. This question remained “in the corner of my mind” since then.

We periodically check our leak sensors. Yesterday we received the results of the last check: two sensors need to be replaced. They were not responsive at all. Once I received those results I got the answer to that question in my mind: our protocol is solid! It builds one more layer of protection over the one depending on the leak sensors.

When the clean room is closed, the poison/corrosive gas lines are empty. When those lines is under use, we have portable sensors near the user(s), in case of leak and the building leak sensors fail, the user will shut down all the gas lines using the emergency shutdown button nearby.

I can soundly sleep in the night ☺.

I take this opportunity to wish everybody Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Regards,

Shimon

From: labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu [mailto:labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu] On Behalf Of Manish Keswani
Sent: Sunday, 6 December 2020 22:26
To: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
Subject: Re: [labnetwork] Toxic gases

Thank you so much everyone for such an enthusiastic response.  It seems clear that at most facilities (if not all), the gas cylinders are always kept open. We also have TGMS in our cleanroom which allows monitoring of the toxic gases at multiple locations (source and delivery point) and will shut off the ESO valve in the event of a leak.
We will work with our safety and ES&H teams to change our current practice of turning off the gases when not in use.

Regards,
Manish

[image.png]

On Fri, Dec 4, 2020 at 2:11 PM Manish Keswani <manish.keswani01 at gmail.com<mailto:manish.keswani01 at gmail.com>> wrote:
Happy Friday everyone,

I have a question related to toxic gases in our nano fabrication center.

We typically shut off our toxic gases at the source when not in use, using the in line valves on the Safety Manifolds, the ESO valves, and the cylinder valve. This is to comply with the administrative control stated in our gas safety notes. The following question came up for toxic gases. I would like to understand how this is being done at other facilities and the reasoning behind it.

“Is there a good reason we turn off the toxic gases at the end of the day instead of just leaving them on? It seems like if there is a risk, it would be wear and tear on the valves etc, plus someone going in vault often to do it.”


Thanks in advance,
Manish Keswani
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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