Team:OLS Canmore/Safety

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SAFETY

The iGEM team of Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Academy has considered and implemented various safety practices in order to protect our team, students, staff, and world around us. As we have taken safety considerations into account, we are are confident that our final product will have an overall beneficial effect. Our project will prove to be beneficial for those in municipalities who are dealing with the buildup of hair in local wastewater treatment facilities, as a more efficient method to rid of these clogs would present itself through our construct. The poultry industry would also benefit from our project because it will allow for the elimination of feather waste, while also creating useful byproducts. However, these benefits are only applicable if our construct is safe. As we continue to practice safety in the lab and lab safety education, we are optimistic that we will create a safe construct that is ready for proper implementation in wastewater treatment facilities as well as in the poultry industry, both on a local and global scale.

This year, our team has faced two main safety considerations. The first of these is that in the future, we hope to implement our construct into municipal water systems and farm environments, thus we had to consider and develop an implementation plan for our project. Our second concern is centered around the location of our lab. Our school ranges from grades pre-K to 12 and in addition to our own students, we also share our facilities with our neighbouring school. Our lab is situated just off the main science lab and when unlocked, it is accessible to all students and staff members of both schools. Due to these two important factors, it is vital that we take safety into consideration, both in and out of a lab setting.

The safe implementation of our project is a large concern for our team, as our community and the area surrounding it will be directly affected. Our construct is being designed for application into wastewater treatment facilities, as well as poultry farms and rendering plants. Due to the fact that these companies are vital and affect a large scale of people, it is of great importance that our project will not cause harm in any way. Thus, we made it a goal of this year to create an implementation plan. Currently, we are delving into different methods to prevent the exposure of our construct into the environment, general water source, and the general public. Being situated in a wildlife corridor outside of a national park makes the safety of the environment one of our main priorities. Containment is necessary as we do not want to cause potential harm to our animals or ecosystem as a whole. Our team has done extensive research on safe ways to contain our enzyme that would be easy to implement on a mass scale. Through this research, we discovered bioreactors.

To put simply, a bioreactor is a closed container that is used on an industrial level, most commonly in wastewater treatment facilities, to break down biological material. Many bioreactors are self-cleaning, difficult to break, and most importantly, safe (1).

Utilizing a bioreactor would allow for safe and easy integration of our system in both the poultry industry and the waste water treatment industry. In the poultry industry, large quantities of feathers could be “dumped” into the bioreactor and from there would be left to break down. The limited contact of the bioreactor with the workers would ensure that it is safe, contains the construct, and provides the optimal conditions necessary for our construct to work. In wastewater treatment plants, the situation would be very similar, however we would have to integrate our construct into an already existing system. Because of this, we are currently working on the development of a safe solution within the waste waste treatment industry, as their system is more intricate and hair affects the entire system, from toilet to transport.

However, like everything, bioreactors of all kinds can pose threats. If an individual has the proper training required to operate a bioreactor, the chances of injury, problems, or death, are reduced. The most common safety concerns include:

• Bioreactors can be explosive if incompatible chemicals are placed in or around bioreactors.
• Bioreactors generate carbon dioxide if one is in an enclosed space with a bioreactor they can experience oxygen deprivation (only in certain situations where carbon dioxide is produced).
• Clothing that is baggy can be easily caught in bioreactor or other equipment associated with bioreactors.
• Workers may be exposed to waste contaminants by inhalation, ingestion or absorption.
• Biological activity of the bioreactors may be enhanced with the addition of nutrients or other chemical agents. These agents may include nutrients, methanol, or other chemicals for pH adjustment (e.g. acids and bases). Workers may be exposed to these chemicals during their application either as a powder or in a liquid state.
• Bioreactors may expose workers to pathogenic microbes during operation and maintenance. However, exposure to these pathogens is usually not a significant concern unless the wastes being fed into the reactors contain pathogenic agents. If the bioreactors are equipped with open aerators, microbe-entrained mists may become airborne. Inhalation of pathogenic microbes may cause allergic reactions or illness. During sludge handling activities, workers' hands may be exposed to microbes and result in accidental ingestion of pathogenic material (1).