Laboratory spill was nonhazardous

Wednesday, February 1, 2006, By News Staff

Laboratory spill was nonhazardousFebruary 01, 2006Kevin Morrowkdmorrow@syr.edu

A spilled liquid discovered Wednesday morning in a Syracuse University biology department laboratory located on the eighth floor of the Biological Research Laboratory (BRL) building was determined to be nonhazardous by Syracuse Fire Department responders.

SU’s Department of Public Safety received a call about 6:15 a.m. that a custodian on her rounds in BRL encountered a puddle of liquid on the laboratory floor.

SU’s Department of Public Safety, Safety Department and Environmental Health Office, along with the Syracuse Fire Department (SFD), Syracuse Police Department and Rural/Metro Medical Services responded.

The building was evacuated and cordoned off as SFD hazardous materials personnel examined the laboratory. The custodian, her supervisor and an SU Public Safety officer went through a standard decontamination protocol.

Subsequently, the liquid was found to have leaked from a small hole in a plastic gallon container of pump oil used for the lab’s vacuum pumps.

The building, except for the eighth floor, was reopened at about 8:15 a.m. The eighth floor was reopened at about 9 a.m.