Southwest Nanotechnologies
(NHI Nanoblog) As researchers and regulators focus on how to safely make, sell and use carbon nanotubes, Philip Wallis is working to apply each new lesson to his own workforce — and his customers.
Wallis is the director of manufacturing and technical support for SouthWest NanoTechnologies, Inc., which makes single-walled carbon nanotubes — ultra-tiny cylinders of carbon — and sells them, mostly for research and development. The company, based in Oklahoma, has explicit permission from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do both, as well as get rid of the treated water used in the manufacturing process.
Wallis said the company is essentially unique in that regard, since the EPA treats each different type of carbon nanotube as a separate substance.
SouthWest is also acutely aware of the growing body of evidence suggesting that exposure to the super-small tubes should be minimized. Wallis said the company brought in experts from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which issued draft recommendations late last year for limiting occupational exposure, to look at its manufacturing practices.
The NIOSH analysts found a few areas that needed improvement, and SouthWest followed their suggestions, Wallis said. The company works hard to pass the safety rules along to customers, too.
“All of our customers, we go into their factory and tell them what we know and what they need to do to protect their workers, based on what we know,” Wallis said. “They know everything we know about this.”
Ultimately, it’s an engineering challenge, Wallis said, to keep exposures down. NIOSH and the EPA won’t discuss individual companies’ track records because of privacy constraints, but he said SouthWest is committed to promoting the best environmental health and safety, or EHS, practices.
“We are not experts at EHS, but we do listen, and we will do whatever is necessary to protect our workers,” Wallis said. “We listen to experts and we implement the requirements.”