Safety Tips
Building a New Facility? Consider Construction Safety
Whether building a new lab or renovating the old one, don't forget about the safety of the bystanders. Develop a Public Hazard Control Plan.
Safety Tips
Eye Safety
Keep eye protection in sight when mixing or using chemicals and cleaning solutions, and any job that can produce a splash.
Safety Tips
Respirator Rules
No one may use a respirator unless they are first provided a medical evaluation and tested to ensure the respirator provided will actually fit to provide protection.
Safety Tips
Biocontainment Is a Bigger Challenge in Medical Examiner Facilities
How well do biocontainment and biosafety guidelines written for research facilities apply to medical examiners?
Safety Tips
Understand Latex Allergy Risks
Workers are often unaware of latex allergy risk in the workplace. This can result in potentially serious health problems. Minimize risk and prevent possible health problems by following these recommendations from NIOSH.
Safety Tips
Extension Cords Are Not a Permanent Solution
Extension cords should only be used when necessary and only for temporary use. If you have more than a few extension cords powering equipment in your lab, it is probably time to call an electrician to install additional strategically placed outlets or rearrange equipment.
Safety Tips
Routinely Check Hoods for Adequate Flow and Velocity
One problem with all hoods, but definitely more so with chemical hoods than others in our experience, is that as a cabinet space in a lab they tend to accumulate stuff and are frequently used for storage.
Safety Tips
Acid and Flammable Storage Cabinets Should Meet OSHA, NFPA, and UFC Requirements
Each manufacturer is slightly different and inquiries must be made about the fire tests preformed to determine if it had been tested with a vent connection or not.
Safety Tips
PELs Are Based Partly on Scientific Evidence and Partly on Politics.
The OSHA permissible exposure limits (PELs) are typically the least restrictive exposure values and serve as a minimum performance standard in the United States. It should be noted that when PELs are established, it is a political process mixed with scientific evidence.
Safety Tips
Resist the Temptation to Use the Open Area Under the Safety Shower for Storage
The open area under the safety shower is often choice space for putting boxes or storing a cart. Resist the temptation and keep access to it free and clear of obstacles. One day you may need to find it quickly and with your eyes closed.
Safety Tips
Never Use a Household-Type Refrigerator to Store Flammable Liquids
Never use a household-type refrigerator to store flammable liquids (ethers, alcohols, etc). In the event of a container spill or leak an explosive concentration can quickly develop with ignition occuring when the unit cycles. Every year or two there is a new story of a university lab destroyed as a result of a refrigerator fire.
Safety Tips
Recognize the Hazards
Understanding the required Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) programs and recognizing hazards will help you to identify and correct many of the common safety and health hazards associated with doing forensic analysis and research.
Safety Tips
Conduct Periodic, Unannounced Laboratory Inspections
Quarterly inspections are an integral part of a good safety program. They are conducted to ensure that the working and learning environment is safe and healthy for all.
Safety Tips
What are the Worst Possible Things that Could Go Wrong?
This is the world's simplest safety program. It represents the minimalist approach. If you want to know how little you can do and "get by," being able to answer these four questions is a good beginning point.
Safety Tips
Require that All Accidents be Reported
Not only should it be required that all accidents or incidents be reported, they should also be evaluated by the departmental safety committee and discussed at departmental safety meetings.
Safety Tips
Store Incompatible Chemicals Separately
The proper storage of chemicals has become a focal point of laboratory safety. We need to keep chemicals which are incompatible separated some reasonable distance from each other.
Safety Tips
Require Good Housekeeping
When people are trained to clean-up and put things away as soon as they are done using them, their work areas are safer, more spacious, and more productive.
Safety Tips
Provide Adequate Supplies of PPE
Employers are responsible for providing personal protective equipment (PPE) such as safety glasses, goggles, face shields, gloves, lab coats, and bench top shields. Employees are responsible for using these devices.
Safety Tips
Provide Fire Extinguishers, Safety Showers, Eye Wash Fountains, First Aid Kits, Fire Blankets, and Fume Hoods in each Lab
Not only should these items be provided but they should be tested or checked monthly.
Safety Tips
Require Grounded Plugs and Install Ground Fault Interrupters Where Appropriate
The National Safety Council reports that about 1,000 people are electrocuted each year in the United States. OSHA specifies that all equipment in the workplace be grounded to avoid shock and possible electrocution.
Safety Tips
The Life Expectancy of Chemicals - Know the Limits
Develop a program for dating stored chemicals and for recertifying or discarding them after predetermined maximum periods of storage.
Safety Tips
Develop a System for the Legal, Safe, and Ecologically Acceptable Disposal of Chemical Wastes
We recommend the establishment of a chemical management system. The system begins with the assumption of responsibility. Management needs to have written policies for the safe use and disposal of chemical and biological materials.
Safety Tips
Provide Secure, Adequately Spaced, Well Ventilated Storage of Chemicals
In laboratories, the most serious issue is the restriction of access to hazardous chemicals to appropriate personnel. Keep the door to the storeroom locked and only allow authorized people to get at these materials.
Safety Tips
Lab Safety is Not a Spectator Sport
There's a tendency to think that if someone is appointed safety coordinator, they have to do all the work for the rest of us. False! Here's a list of a number of different specific assignments:
