Unidentified chemicals a cause for reaction

Cylinders removed safely from education building

By Kenny Sharpe

A hazardous waste company successfully removed a quantity of unidentified chemicals from Memorial’s Education building on Feb. 27, as university administration took zero chances when it came to the health and safety of its students and staff.

Sometime during the week of Feb. 23, officials with Memorial found numerous chemical containers and gas cylinders as part of an ongoing sweep and review of the university’s laboratory resources and facilities. According to Memorial’s Director of Health and Safety, Sheila Miller, most of the chemicals never posed any real risk to students or staff, with most of them being placed in a fume hood for ordinary disposal.

Those chemicals without labels posed the greatest threat. “The unidentified chemicals present a different challenge, and it’s the removal of these chemicals that will constitute a potential hazard. In these situations, we always plan for worst case scenarios such as the possibility that these chemicals may be shock sensitive,” said Miller, in a press release. On Feb. 26, the Education building was locked at 5:00 pm, after which Campus Enforcement and Patrol did a check of the building to ensure it was vacant. The next morning the hazardous chemicals were removed. In addition, roadways adjacent to the Education building were temporarily shut down and the QEII delayed its opening by a few hours. As Ivan Muzychka, Memorial’s associate director of communications, told CBC all the measures taken to remove and dispose the chemicals were done with safety in mind. “So when it comes to safety, it’s not really that difficult for us to go that extra little bit so we can ensure that nobody is injured and or we don’t have any incidents of any kind while this is being done.” Muzychka and other officials involved believe the chemicals could have been more than 20 years old and used for education purposes in the past.

Share