• Question: What safety rules should be followed in a science laboratory?

    Asked by atixs to Dalya, Derek, Sarah, Tim, Tom on 19 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Dalya Soond

      Dalya Soond answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Should be followed or ARE followed?

      Anyway, it depends on the type of work you are doing. Lab coats should definitely be worn and no sandals (I’ve never seen these rules followed), no eating in lab or putting on makeup (this happens less often, but still occurs). You should also always wear gloves, which is done 90% of the time.

      Safety for specific chemicals and pathogens are followed better though:
      Toxic chemicals and dangerous germs must be used in a fume hood which has a protective front cover that separates you from the chemical and sucks the air upwards and away from you.
      There is special shielding and disposal methods for radioactivity.

      Uh, I need to go to a meeting now….maybe others can add on.

    • Photo: Tim Millar

      Tim Millar answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hopefully, the Health and safety exec don’t know where Dalya’s lab is!

      Lab coats have to be worn. There are some labs which don’t but I don’t understand why as they are there for protection, and to carry your special pens.

    • Photo: Derek McKay-Bukowski

      Derek McKay-Bukowski answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Depends on the lab. It depends on what it does.

      For example, in my line of work we NEVER wear lab coats. If we need protective clothing it is usually to keep warm. Heavy jackets, safety boots, and overalls to stop our clothes from getting dirty. We often wear gloves (to keep our hands warm and to protect them). Often we wear hi-vis jackets and hard hats.

      (Have a look at the pictures in my profile to see me wearing some safety gear).

      Every project is assessed for safety separately. In fact, each activity in the project is checked. This mean vehicle safety, personal safety, electrical safety and chemical safety. This usually identifies sets of procedures that must be followed for a certain task. It is a lot of paperwork, but it does keep people safe.

      That said, there are sometimes injuries. Take at look at my answer to this other question: http://ias.im/42.714

    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      So many!

      Firstly our labs are inspected ever year and we have to provide the correct documentation, our equipment is electrically tested, and the inspectors check that our labs are tidy, that there are no unlabelled bottles, no unsafe chemicals lying around etc.

      In terms of personal protection, you have to wear a lab coat to protect your skin and clothes, gloves when handling chemicals, safety glasses at ALL times, and when using dangerous chemicals, I wear I face mask so I don’t breathe in any fumes. You are not allowed to wear open toe shoes, shorts, skirts etc because it is quite common to knock things over and spill it down your legs and feet!

      We have to be very careful of how we dispose of our waste and there are separate waste containers for everything: aqueous waste, organic waste, silica waste, metals, glass, sharps, etc. Bin fires are pretty common because of people chucking contaminated gloves and paper and stuff in the normal bin and then things can react and catch fire.

      We do a risk assessment before we carry out any new reactions. You have to write down all the chemicals that you are going to use and any safety concerns like are they toxic, irritants, carcinogens… And then you hang it up in the lab so that if someone comes along and you aren’t there then they can see what you are doing.

      It really depends what kind of lab you work in. I am a chemist, so handling harmful chemicals is part of my day-to-day job. But I’ve visited other labs where they don’t work with harmful substances so the rules are a lot more relaxed.

    • Photo: Tom Crick

      Tom Crick answered on 19 Jun 2011:

      I only work in a computer/electronics lab! But a lot of the rules for a “science lab” are hopefully common sense e.g. wearing goggles and safety equipment where necessary.

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