Hazardous Waste Management
Overview
Hazardous waste is generated from various operations across RIT's campus. Laboratory experimentation and research; photograph processing; printing processes and facility maintenance are just examples of vital RIT programs that generate hazardous waste which must be properly managed and disposed.
The RIT EH&S Department is responsible for ensuring that hazardous waste generated across campus is managed in accordance with applicable regulations and is properly disposed. To this end, RIT EH&S employees undergo hazardous waste training on annual basis and provide this training to RIT employees who generate and/or have hazardous waste management responsibilities.
The EH&S department is continually looking for ways to minimize the generation of hazardous waste across campus. RIT departments can assist in this effort by looking for alternative chemistry that is less hazardous, and/or by looking for ways to use smaller amounts of chemicals.
Applicable Regulation
Management Requirements
There are several management requirements that apply to RIT while hazardous waste is generated and stored on campus awaiting off-site disposal. These requirements, including RIT internal practices, are listed below. In order to ensure compliance with these requirements, applicable RIT personnel are trained on an annual basis.
- All RIT departments across campus that generate hazardous waste on an ongoing basis must designate a "hazardous waste satellite accumulation area". Each designated area must be posted with a "Satellite Accumulation Areas" sign. This allows hazardous waste to be stored at the location it is generated for a period of time prior to being transferred to an RIT 90-Day hazardous waste storage vaults.
- Satellite accumulation areas (SAAs) must be at or near the point of generation. RIT interprets this to mean in the same room. Up to 55-gallons of hazardous waste can be stored at each SAA before it must be taken to a 90-day hazardous waste vault. It is RIT practice to remove a hazardous waste container from a SAA once it becomes full (i.e. 1 gallon containers).
- All hazardous waste containers must be labeled with the words "Hazardous Waste" and must include the contents of each container on the label.The RIT EH&S Department has developed a label to be used for hazardous waste containers, which is accessible through this website.
- Where multiple compatible chemicals are placed in a single container (i.e. laboratory experiments), RIT has developed a content sheet where this information can be listed. The hazardous waste container will always be accompanied by a content sheet and each will have a corresponding control number. The RIT EH&S Department has developed a content sheet to be used for hazardous waste containers, which is accessible through this website.
- All containers must be date labeled: once 55-gallons of hazardous waste are reached at a SAA; and once a container is placed in a RIT 90-day hazardous waste storage vault.
- Hazardous waste must be contained in containers that are structurally sound, adequate to prevent spillage, and compatible with the contents.
- Hazardous waste containers and packages must remain closed, unless adding or removing waste, and must lack evidence of leakage, spillage or damage that could cause leakage under reasonably foreseeable conditions.
- If there are any questions as to whether a waste is hazardous, please contact the EH&S Department.
Training Requirements
RIT requires employees and student whose responsibilities include hazardous waste management to undergo hazardous waste training. This training is designed to ensure that appropriate people understand the proper way to manage hazardous waste and also to ensure that these people are able to respond effectively to emergencies.
This training must be taken within six (6) months of a job assignment that includes hazardous waste management and must be reviewed on an annual basis.
The RIT hazardous waste training presentation is provided by the RIT EH&S Department periodically through RIT's Center for Professional Development. If you can not make one of these training sessions, the training is also available online through this website.
In order for your online training session to be accepted by the RIT EH&S Department you must take a brief test at the end of the presentation and sign a certification statement. Please download the "Hazardous Waste Online Training Certification Document" from this website where you will enter your test answers and sign the certification statement. You must submit the "Hazardous Waste Online Training Certification Document" to the EH&S Department located in Grace Watson for approval. If approved, the RIT EH&S Department will issue a Hazardous Waste Training Certificate.
