In compliance with the Department of Homeland Security's Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards, an analysis of the University of Cincinnati's chemical inventory was recently compiled through the Office of the Vice President of Research.
"Homeland Security has identified specific chemicals of interest and established reportable threshold quantities a facility may posses," said Jan Utrecht, director of UC's Environmental Health and Safety Office, which was charged with compiling the data. "If a facility exceeds the limits, then the university would have been obligated to report to the agency, and based on their analysis, may have to develop a facility security plan."
The analysis revealed the reported chemical quantities did not exceed the threshold quantities established by the agency, and that UC was in compliance with all the limits set by Homeland Security, according to Utrecht.
"There are simply not enough of the targeted chemicals on the campus to cause a concern for the Department of Homeland Security," Utrecht said.
The chemicals surveyed on campus were taken from a list of 325 chemicals that Homeland Security has identified as having potential for use in terrorist activities when quantities exceed certain thresholds.
"All of the chemicals either have weapon capabilities, are toxic or have the potential to cause significant harm to human health," Utrecht said. "For example: Potassium Cyanide - which was one of the chemicals of interest measured - can be toxic if it's released in small amounts to a large group of people at once. In the hands of someone who knew the value of what to use and how it could be used as a weapon, it could be dangerous."
Utrecht and his staff did checks of certain facilities to verify the accuracy of the amounts of chemicals reported to EHS.
Each participating institution was given the option of how to identify the facilities for measurement purposes. At UC, each building has its own facility.
"I was only really worried a little that one researcher might have a significant amount of a chemical for a research project they are working on, and it would have an additive effect which would end up in a mass quantity," Utrecht said. "We didn't exceed any amounts; I'm pleased the investigators manage the chemicals as well as we do."
The chemical inventory was submitted to the EHS office in various measurements - gallons, liters and grams. Homeland Security regulations specified the limits in pounds, and as a result, Utrecht and Rathi Kavanaugh, an industrial hygienist at EHS, used a mathematical equation to convert the measurements into pounds.
Each facility was notified of the inventory by Sandra Degen, vice president for Research, in December 2007 and was given until Feb. 1 to submit results. From then, EHS had until March 22 to complete measurements and do checks of reported results to comply with the Homeland Security regulations.
"What Jan and I decided to do is to ask for the same information every year to keep the records updated," Degen said. "We don't know what Homeland Security wants for the future, if this was a one-time snapshot of universities or a yearly inventory, but if we alert departments now, next fall when we ask for the information again they'll just update records and it won't be starting all over."
This was the first chemical inventory done as a mandate of Homeland Security although EHS has done other chemical inventories in the past. Utrecht said he expects to do more chemical inventories in coming years.
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