Definitions

Action Level: a concentration designated in 29 CFR 1910 for a specific substance, calculated as an eight-hour time-weighted average, which initiated certain required activities such as exposure monitoring and medical surveillance.

Chemical Hygiene Officer: employee who is designated by the employer, and who is qualified by training or experience, to provide technical guidance in the development and implementation of the provisions of the Chemical Hygiene Plan.

Designated Area: area that may be used for work with "select carcinogens", reproductive toxins or substances that have a high degree of acute toxicity. A designated area may be the entire laboratory, an area of a laboratory or a device such as a hood.

Employee: an individual employed in a laboratory workplace who may be exposed to hazardous chemicals in the course of his/her assignments.

Glove Box: a device for providing an inert atmosphere in which to work with air-sensitive chemicals. This application is contrary to the typical application of glove boxes, in which the device is used to handle dangerous samples or biohazards. When used in this application, the exhaust air from the glove box should be vented through scrubbers or other treatment before being released into the regular exhaust system.

Hazardous Chemical: chemical for which there is statistically significant evidence based on at least one study conducted in accordance with established scientific principles that acute and chronic health effects may occur in exposed employees. This includes chemicals that are carcinogens, toxic or highly toxic agents, reproductive toxins, irritants, corrosives, sensitizers, and agents which damage the lungs, skin, eyes, or mucous membranes.

High acute toxicity chemical: chemical that may be fatal or cause damage to target organs as a result of a single exposure or exposures of short duration.

Laboratory: workplace where relatively small quantities of hazardous chemicals are used on a non-production basis.

Laboratory Scale: work with substances in which the containers used for reactions, transfers, and other handling of substances are designed to be easily manipulated by one person.

Laboratory-type Hood: five-sided enclosure with a moveable sash or fixed partial sash enclosed on the remaining side. It is constructed and maintained to draw air from the laboratory and to prevent or minimize the escape of air contaminants into the laboratory. It allows chemical manipulations to be conducted in the enclosure without insertion of any portion of the body other than hands and arms. Walk-in hoods with adjustable sashes meet the definition provided that the sashes are adjusted during use so that the airflow and the exhaust of air contaminants are not compromised and no work is done inside the enclosure during the release of airborne hazardous chemicals.

Reproductive Toxin: chemicals that affect human reproductive capabilities including chromosomal damage (mutations) and effects on fetuses (teratogenesis).

Select Carcinogen: substance that meets one of the following criteria:

1. regulated by OSHA as a carcinogen.
2. listed under the category "known to be a carcinogen" in the Annual Report on Carcinogens published by the National Toxicology Program (NTP).
3. listed under Group 1 (carcinogenic to humans) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer Monographs (IARC).
4. listed in either Group 2A or 2B in IARC or under the category "reasonably anticipated to be carcinogens" by the NTP and causes statistically significant tumor incidence in experimental animals.