Los Alamos National Laboratory Chemical Management Program

DOE-HDBK-1139/2-2002

Los Alamos National Laboratory Chemical Management Program

1.0 Introduction and Scope

Chemical safety management at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is addressed through the

Chemical Management Laboratory Implementation Requirements (LIR 402-510-01.0) and is

implemented under Integrated Safety Management (ISM) by the Division Directors and Group Offices.

The Chemical Management LIR defines the LANL Chemical Management Program implemented to

protect worker health and safety, prevent pollution, assist emergency management and response, protect

the environment, and minimize waste by controlling chemical activities. This document applies to all

work areas in which chemicals are manufactured, machined, handled, received, distributed, transported,

used, or stored. Activities covered by the LIR include maintenance, construction, research and

development, environmental restoration, and decontamination and decommissioning of LANL facilities

and equipment that involve the use of chemicals or the existence of chemical residues.

2.0 Chemical Life-cycle Program

The ES&H Division maintains LANL's Automated Chemical Inventory System (ACIS). Only those

personnel authorized by their supervisor, who are knowledgeable of the effects of hazardous chemicals,

can procure and receive chemicals. All chemical containers must have an "owner," and this owner must

be a qualified chemical worker. Individuals with appointments of less than 1 year, visitors,

undergraduate, and high school students may not be chemical owners. The immediate supervisor for the

latter classifications of workers is the chemical owner.

LANL maintains a chemical inventory on the ACIS, which is a Laboratory-wide chemical inventory

system. LANL's explosive and special nuclear material inventories are maintained on separate inventory

systems for security reasons. Water, sand, saline solutions, chemicals of biological origin (DNA, RNA,

immunochemicals, antibodies, enzymes, peptides), and office supplies (e.g., whiteout, toner, marker

board cleaner, ink) are not tracked in ACIS. If a component of a consumer product is regulated, makes

the product or container a hazardous waste, poses a health or physical hazard to workers (i.e., 1 percent

hazardous chemical or 0.1 percent carcinogen, or the contents are stored under high pressure), it is tracked

in the ACIS. Consumer products are tracked in ACIS when the product is used differently from the

normal consumer use or is used in greater quantities or concentration than by the general public. As bar-

coded containers are emptied, they are marked as "disposed" in ACIS. When a container is disposed, any

remaining chemical becomes waste.

The ES&H Division maintains a web site where MSDSs are available for review for HazCom (Hazard

Communication Program) and chemical hygiene plans. MSDS data are collected to satisfy EPCRA

reporting requirements and to complete waste disposal forms. All chemical disposals are performed in

accordance with General Waste Management Requirements (LIR 404-00-02.2). The Facility and Waste

Operations Division is responsible for pickup of waste and deposition to treatment facilities.

2.1 Hazard Identification and Analysis

All onsite work is performed based on two LIRs: "Documentation of Safe Work Practices" (LIR 300-00-

02.2) and "Hazard Analysis and Control for Facility Work" (LIR 402-10-01.4). These LIRs ensure that

the work is screened consistently to uniform criteria and that hazards are appropriately analyzed and