Occupational Health & Safety

Visitor Information, Skaggs Building

Office of The Vice President
Research and Development
University Hall 116
The University of Montana
Missoula, Montana 59812-4104
Phone: (406) 243-6670
Fax: (406) 243-6330

August 7, 2008

To: Short-term visitors to Laboratory Animal Resources facilities

From: Daniel J. Dwyer, Institutional Official
M. A. McCrackin, Director, University of Montana Laboratory Animal Resources

RE: Occupational Health and Safety for Skaggs Building LAR facility

Welcome to The University of Montana and the Department of Laboratory Animal Resources. We hope that your short visit with us will be enjoyable and productive. As even a one-time visitor to our facility, you are entitled to information concerning the physical, chemical, mechanical, radiation, and disease hazards that you may encounter in our facility. You will also have the opportunity to participate in our occupational health and safety program. During your visit, we will appreciate having a record that you received this information when you sign in to visit or work in the facility.

Physical hazards
Caring for animals requires diligent daily cleaning of the facilities, including mopping. Slip hazards exist immediately after daily mopping in animal rooms as well as in the cage washing area, room 034 in the Skaggs Building (SB). The main corridor is mopped daily, Monday through Friday, between 3 and 5 p.m. Noise hazards may be encountered near large equipment such as the cage washer. Please feel free to ask for disposable hearing protection during your visit.

Chemical hazards
The chemicals that we use in large quantities are associated with the cage washer and are stored in the dirty cage washing area. There should be no reason for visitors to work with these chemicals. However, if you are splashed while visiting in this area, an emergency eye wash station is located in the dirty cage wash room. Diluted household bleach is used for cleaning floors, and a pH-balanced diluted chlorine-containing disinfectant is used for cleaning surfaces such as table tops and stainless steel surfaces. Walls and ceilings are cleaned with quaternary ammonium chloride. The material safety data sheets are located in the right-to-know compliance center in the main corridor just inside the facility entrance.

Isoflurane anesthesia is used in some rooms, including SB033 (procedure room) and SB028 (Chemical hazard room). Doors are either marked clearly with a yellow hazard sign or allow only very limited access. anesthetic gases are scavenged passibely using charcoal canisters.

Some research projects in our facilities involve the exposure of animals to very low levels of potentially hazardous substances such as arsenic, lead, asbestos, and silica. The rooms housing animals involved in these projects are well-marked by a magnetized yellow sign on each door. Please do not attempt to handle any of these animals or their cages unless you have been trained by the principal investigator responsible for the project or his/her designee. Chemical hazards such as MPTP (Neurotoxin) and dioxin are limited to SB028 as well as infectious diease experiments studying Lyme disease.

Mechanical and radiation hazards
The primary mechanical hazards encountered in our facility involve heavy lifting of food, bedding or equipment. As a visitor, you will not be asked to perform these tasks. There is no radiation used in the LAR facility in the Skaggs Building.

Disease hazards
The most common hazard for persons working with or around laboratory animals is the development of allergies. If you know that you already have allergies, you are at a higher risk to developing sensitivity to laboratory animals, particularly rodents. Development of allergies is generally associated with long-term exposure to animals, for months to years, rather than a few days. This facility houses exclusively mice.

The mice housed in our facilities are screened for a variety of diseases before entry and are monitored daily for signs of illness. The chance of contracting disease from them is extremely low when proper personal protective equipment such as gloves, lab coat, and eye protection (when indicated) are used.

Please feel free to ask any further questions you may have. We hope you have a safe visit at The University of Montana.