Natural Sciences Department

School of Integrated Studies

Klump Academic Center, Rm. 102 · (570) 327-4521

Laboratory Safety Policy

The responsibility for personal safety ultimately lies with the individual. It is the responsibility of everyone who works in the College's laboratories to take reasonable measures to protect themselves from injury and laboratory equipment from damage. Here are some guidelines for maintaining safe laboratories.

Attend all safety training classes required the College.
Keep your work area clean, dry, and free of clutter.
Inspect all equipment prior to use. Do not use damaged equipment.
Use appropriate personal protective equipment.
Do not work alone in an area where risk of personal injury is high unless other personnel are aware and can quickly come to your aid if necessary.
Smoking is forbidden in College laboratories.
Eating, drinking, and the application of cosmetics should not occur in laboratories.
Label all purchased chemicals with the name of the person ordering the chemical and the date the chemical was received.
Label all mixtures produced with your name, the date prepared, the names and CAS numbers of all constituents, and concentrations of all ingredients in the mixture. Include water and it's concentration as well.

Laboratory Fume Hoods

Local exhaust ventilation is the one of the best engineering methods available to reduce the health risk associated with the use of chemicals in the laboratory. Laboratory fume hoods are the most common local exhaust ventilation devices found in the laboratory. Fume hoods are used to prevent hazardous, offensive, or flammable gases and vapors from mixing with the general room air. A hood, especially with the sash down, acts as a physical barrier between the laboratory workers and chemical reactions. The hood can also contain accidental spills of chemicals.

Do not store chemicals or equipment in a fume hood.
Do not allow clutter to accumulate under the hood, especially in the back. This can block the exhaust baffles.
Work to the back of the hood (toward the exhaust vents).
Be aware of the condition of drains in the hood (i.e. not plugged, filled with clutter, etc.)

Check the MSDS or chemical label for special ventilation requirements, such as:

Use with adequate ventilation
Use in a fume hood
Avoid inhalation of vapors
Provide local ventilation

Eye Protection

Eye and face protection must be worn to reduce the possibility of injury. It is recommended that eye protection be worn in the laboratory at all times. Eye protection, and at times face protection, is required wherever the potential for eye injury exists. Areas where eye protection must be worn are laboratories, glass cleaning and glassblowing shops, and machine shops or any area where active or automated work with chemicals is conducted. Eye protection shall be made available for all personnel and visitors in these areas.

Eye protection must be made available to employees, students and visitors, at no cost to them, when the potential for eye injury exists.
Ordinary (street) prescription glasses do not provide adequate protection. Safety glasses with side shields should be worn where the potential for air born foreign objects exists.
Safety glasses with side shields do not provide adequate protection from splashes. Therefore, when the potential for a splash hazard exists other eye protection and/or face protection must be worn.
Splash goggles (acid goggles) with splash proof sides or a face shield must be used when protection from a chemical splash is needed. Face shields afford protection to the face and neck.
Face shields must be worn if there is an explosion or implosion (pressure or vacuum) hazard and when transferring cryogenic liquids.
Special eye protection is required for protection against laser, ultraviolet (UV), welding and brazing, or intense light sources.

Remember:

You can eat with False teeth.
You can dance on a wooden leg.
You can't see through a glass eye.

Instructors should understand the types of exposure in their respective areas and see to the provision of adequate eye and/or face protection for these areas. Eye and/or face protection should be easily accessible and clearly available in all appropriate labs, shops, and work areas. (i.e. hang goggles and face shields outside fume hoods, label drawers containing safety glasses, etc.)

Lab Coats & Shoes

Lab workers should wear lab coats while in a lab where chemicals are being handled.
Lab coats should not be worn outside of the lab.
The Instructor's School will provide lab coats upon request and lab coat laundering should be done by the individual Instructor.
Shorts should not be worn under a lab coat.
Wearing sandals or open toed shoes should be avoided in any laboratory.

Glove Selection

Improper glove selection can and has resulted in death. It is imperative that proper glove selection is made. Disposable latex or nitrile gloves provide adequate protection against accidental hand contact with small quantities of most laboratory chemicals. These gloves provide a non-chemical resistant barrier between the worker's hand the reagent. Lab workers who contaminate their gloves should immediately removed them, wash their hands and don new gloves. Gloves should not be worn outside of the lab.

Lab workers should contact Kevin Johnson and MSDS for advice on chemical resistant glove selection when direct or prolonged contact with hazardous chemicals is anticipated. The selection of the proper glove requires knowledge of the health and physical hazards of the chemical that is used, familiarity with the glove manufacturer's test data (permeation rate and breakthrough time) and the length of the hand exposure.