Chemical fume hoods are used to capture and exhaust potentially dangerous chemical fumes and vapors from chemicals used or stored in the fume hood.
Inspection Requirements
Cal/OSHA requires fume hood to be tested and and certified for use annually. The air flow alarm units must also be tested annually and re-calibrated if necessary. Alarm function verification is a requirement of Cal/OSHA T8 5154.1.
EH&S is responsible for arranging the annual inspection and certification of fume hoods and air flow alarms by outside contractors. Facilities Services is responsible for the repair and maintenance of ducted chemical fume hoods and Variable Air Volume (VAV) system controls. VAV fume hood systems are installed in the Old Science Building, science Trailers, and the new SEIC building. The SEIC fume hoods are under warranty in 2024 and 2025 and are serviced by the vendor's contractor.
CY 2024 Update
In 2024, 127 of 149 chemical fume hoods were inspected and certified. 4 of the 149 failed certification. Air flow monitors/alarms on 33 hoods were not tested.
Note: Fume hoods that were not tested were out of service and required repairs before testing could be performed.
Technical Safety Services (TSS) conducted the annual certification tests of the fume hoods and only those air flow monitors with passive monitor/alarm units. The fume hoods in the old Science Building and the science Trailers are equipped with controller units that TSS does not service. Testing the controller units requires a different contractor.