Track: Undergraduate Research Competition

Abstract

University laboratories own distinctive and significant risks conditions that can possibly expose staffs and students to chemical and physical hazards, as well as to process risks. Aside from practicing safety measures, it is important for the universities to assess controllable risks and to improve countermeasures for risks, in accordance to statutory policies and regulatory procedures from the Safety and Health associations both locally and internationally. Hence, this study explores the different processes that deals with the risks in inventory management starting from the ordering, storing/handling and on-site transporting. Two approaches are utilized in the study: (1) Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) Analysis, to identify the contributing risks in the laboratories and (2) Decision Matrix Risk Assessment (DMRA) Technique, to estimate risks to be prioritized. One factor contributed significantly to hazards and risks associated with inventory management practices, through Wilcoxon test, which is “use of standard procedures for any possible emergency/uncertainties”. Using the established risk threshold value of 7, three factors are determined to be mitigated, (1) segregation of hazardous chemicals according to their classification, (2) elimination of unnecessary, unused, and outdated hazardous chemicals, and (3) the delay in the delivery (from supplier). A risk treatment matrix plan is then proposed and developed for the laboratories as a guideline in controlling and managing the risks they are by-chance exposed to.

Keywords: Risk Assessment, Hazardous Chemicals, Risk identification, Risk mitigation, HAZOP, DMRA