Safety

Project Safety

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Our project focused on improving the safety of the community here in San Diego and other places affected by contaminated waterways due to the production of PFAS chemicals. By engineering bacteria that would break down these chemicals it would remove the danger of consumption along with the effects PFAS chemicals have on people. Areas in our community such as Camp Pendalton have been known for their chemical spills in previous years including their use of PFAS chemicals in fire retardants during training exercises.

Training

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All members of Westview’s IGEM team were required to read through, comprehend, and sign waivers centered around the potential risks of lab experiments. These waivers were signed by both the member and their guardian. J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) has its own set of forms to sign, and training to complete in order to ensure competent knowledge of lab safety and practices. All members who participated in conducting experiments at JCVI took part in a lab safety tour along with further training including: learning about hazardous waste, proper labeling, how to store chemicals, and most importantly, the steps to take in the event of various types of emergencies. All of these practices were implemented at all times during the duration of our lab experiments.

Lab Safety

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Our team was committed to proper lab safety throughout the past season in order to ensure research was conducted with minimized danger and risk. This includes following the procedures below:

• Lab attire
• Wearing closed toed shoes in lab
• Wearing long pants and no loose sleeves that could get caught in equipment
• Having long hair tied back
• Lab coats and goggles when necessary
• Dealing with dangerous chemicals or biohazards
• No dangling jewelry
• Wearing masks for covid safety in lab
• No eating or drinking in the labs including bringing in food or drinks
• Disinfecting workstation both before and after conducting experiments
• Ensuring that all equipment needed is in prime conditions and will not pose a threat of breaking or interfering with the experiment before beginning
• Cracks or chips in any glassware
• Storing ongoing experiments in the proper places with correct labels to prevent contamination
• Cleaning all glassware with solutions 9 parts water and 1 part bleach
• Keeping walkways and halls open and free of tripping hazards like chairs or trash cans
• Disposing of all biohazardous waste in the correct bins for the materials to be properly neutralized
• Covid testing before every day in lab
• Washing hands with ethanol after handling cells

Handling of Chemicals

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Throughout our project, the main element that required higher levels of precaution was the handling of PFAS chemicals(specifically PFOA) during testing. These chemicals are labeled as toxic and corrosive therefore stricter attention was paid when dealing with these substances. This includes working under a fume hood for the duration of the experiments and wearing CE-approved, nitrile rubber, gloves with a thickness of at least 0.11mm. Using Safety Data Sheets for PFOA, our team reviewed the standards for safety and implemented the recommendations based on the toxcicity found in our research. Various methods of interaction are labeled differently by OSHA with both oral consumption and inhalation being classified in category 4, the most hazardous level. For the clean up procedure while handling these chemicals, the team neutralized any leftover chemicals using Bicarbonate in order to prevent extensive exothermic reactions from taking place. Although Calcium gluconate is the generally accepted method for dealing with the Hydrofluoric acid byproduct, Bicarbonate was deemed the optimal option due to the small scale of the experiment and the compounds available in this biology lab. As a consequence of the short shelf life of Calcium gluconate, that compound was not available for this experiment, however, the proper precautions were taken using Bicarbonate and discussion with the Lab Safety Officer guaranteed a secure environment.