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Lab Safety Tip Archive
- Lab Safety Tip #1
Have a Written Safety Policy
- Lab Safety Tip #2
Organize a Safety Committee
- Lab Safety Tip #3
Develop a Safety Orientation Program
- Lab Safety Tip #4
Encourage Caring about one's Health and Safety
- Lab Safety Tip #5
Safety is not a Spectator Sport
- Lab Safety Tip #6
Provide Incentives for Safety Performance
- Lab Safety Tip #7
Conduct Periodic, Unannounced Laboratory Inspections
- Lab Safety Tip #8
Conduct Periodic, Unannounced Laboratory Inspections
- Lab Safety Tip #9
Make Learning how to be Safe an Integral and Important Part of the Science Education Process
- Lab Safety Tip #10
Schedule Regular Departmental Safety Meetings to Discuss the Results of Inspections and other Aspects of Laboratory Safety
- Lab Safety Tip #11
Require Every Classroom Pre-Lab Discussion to Include Consideration of Health and Safety Aspects
- Lab Safety Tip #12
Forbid Working Alone in the Lab
- Lab Safety Tip #13
Don't Allow Experiments to Run Unattended Unless they are Failsafe
- Lab Safety Tip #14
What are the worst possible things that could go wrong?
- Lab Safety Tip #15
Require that all Accidents be Reported
- Lab Safety Tip #16
Extend the Safety Program Beyond the Lab
- Lab Safety Tip #17
Limit Amounts of Flammable Liquids in Each Lab
- Lab Safety Tip #18
Forbid Smoking, Eating, and Drinking in the Laboratory
- Lab Safety Tip #19
Do Not Store Food in Chemical Refrigerators
- Lab Safety Tip #20
Planning for Emergencies
- Lab Safety Tip #21
Keep Emergency Phone Numbers Next to Every Phone
- Lab Safety Tip #22
Store Incompatible Chemicals Separately
- Lab Safety Tip #23
Avoid Purchasing Unnecessary Quantities of Chemicals
- Lab Safety Tip #24
Use Warning Signs to Designate Particular Hazards
- Lab Safety Tip #25
Require Good Housekeeping Practices in all Areas
- Lab Safety Tip #26
Develop Specific Work Practices for Individual Experiments
- Lab Safety Tip #27
Allocate a Portion of the Departmental Budget to Safety
- Lab Safety Tip #28
Require the Use of Appropriate Eye Protection at All Times in Labs, and Areas where Chemicals are Transported
- Lab Safety Tip #29
Provide Adequate Supplies of Personal Protective Equipment
- Lab Safety Tip #30
Provide Fire Extinguishers, Safety Showers, Eye Wash Fountains, First Aid Kits, Fire Blankets, and Fume Hoods in each Lab
- Lab Safety Tip #31
Maintain a Centrally Located Departmental Safety Library
- Lab Safety Tip #32
Provide Guards On All Vacuum Pumps And Secure All Compressed Gas Cylinders
- Lab Safety Tip #33
Provide An Appropriate Supply Of First Aid Equipment And Instruction On Its Proper Use
- Lab Safety Tip #34
Remove All Electrical Connections From Inside Chemical Refrigerators and Require Magnetic Closures
- Lab Safety Tip #35
Require Grounded Plugs On All Electrical Equipment and Install Ground Fault Interrupters (GFI's) Where Appropriate
- Lab Safety Tip #36
Label All Chemicals to Show the Name of the Material, the Nature and Degree of Hazard, the Appropriate Precautions, and the Name of the Person Responsible for the Container
- Lab Safety Tip #37
Develop a Program for Dating Stored Chemicals and for Recertifying or Discarding Them After Predetermined Maximum Periods of Storage
This safety tip is sponsored by Tecniplast and taken from The Laboratory Safety Institute Guidelines.
We recommend the establishment of a chemical management system. This system provides for the safe procurement, storage, use, and disposal of chemicals. 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.
A hazardous waste coordinator needs to be appointed to oversee the process and be thoroughly familiar with the state and federal regulations. The facility needs to function as a single site. Safe disposal of hazardous wastes needs to be everyone's responsibility.
Today, more than 40% of the chemical disposed of from laboratories are perfectly good unopened containers. A good chemical inventory is essential to avoiding the purchase of unneeded materials. Next, it's more effective to buy small quantities and discard empty containers. When the cost of disposal is factored in, the larger size may no longer be the most cost-effective.
Adopt strategies for waste minimization. Exchange unwanted surplus materials, recycle and reclaim by-products, substitute less hazardous materials and use smaller scale reactions when possible. Acid and base streams can be neutralized. Hazardous wastes can be processed in the collection vessel.
Dr. James A. Kaufman is the founder and president of The Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI) www.labsafety.org – an international, non-profit center for safety in science and science education. LSI provides workshops, seminars, onsite training programs, lab safety program development consultations, facilities inspections and regulatory compliance assistance. Contact LSI with all your lab safety questions: 800-647-1977 or info@labsafety.org.
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