Abstract
This study reviewed the reports of the accidents and the incidents associated with the disposal of chemicals in the University of Tokyo from April 2004 to March 2012 and divided the reports into 6 main categories with 13 subcategories, depending on the situations associated with disposal of chemical wastes. As a result, 78 chemical disposal-associated accident or incident reports were found, which accounted for 23.8% of all the chemical-related accidents and incidents in the university for the 8 years. Among the categories of the process of the disposal of chemicals, the category of the troubles associated with the treatment of chemicals to discard in laboratories had 20 cases, which was the largest in the number of the troubles associated with disposal of chemicals, followed by 12 cases of the category of the troubles associated with the discard of chemical wastes into waste containers or waste cases in laboratories, 11 cases of the category of the troubles during the transports of chemical wastes from laboratories to calling-in points and 10 cases of the category of inadequate discard of chemicals into the sewages in laboratories. As a consequence, 68 cases (87.2%) of the 78 chemical disposal-associated troubles happened in laboratories or during the transport of chemical wastes from laboratories to calling-up points. These results demonstrate the significance of further improvement in the education, the training and the supervising for the members of laboratories regarding the disposal of chemicals.
