2017 Volume 8 Issue 1 Pages 1-14
Chemical risks are inevitable during the use of chemicals, because they have more or less hazards. While a strict safety management is necessitated in industrial processes, universities have many difficulties to conduct organizational management of chemical risks due to the characteristics of the research activities in university; no employment relationship with the users, i.e., students, the change of all members every a few years, and the diversity of the usage of chemicals on research topics. In this study, quantitative assessment methods are applied into the chemical risk management in universities with actual data on site. Through the interpretation of visualized chemical risks for decision making in laboratories, the role of assessment methods in risk management was discussed. Eleven solvents generally utilized in universities were taken up as the examples for risk identification. Regarding four solvents, life cycle and risk assessments were conducted for quantifying environmental impacts and workers' health risks. The quantification and visualization by such assessment methods can provide transparent indicators for chemical risk managements. The combination of existing assessment methods can facilitate the comprehensive risk analysis including laboratory-specific and generic aspects of chemical risks.
