LABORATORY SAFETY
Eye Protection: All students in the laboratory are required to wear safety goggles at all times. Safety goggles are available from the campus bookstore.
Appropriate Clothing: Shorts and open-toes shoes are not appropriate in the chemistry lab. Long hair should be tied back. A lab coat is optional.
Lab Clean-up: Always clean up your work area when you are finished. Keep common areas neat at all times and clean up any spills immediately. Any chemicals you leave behind (such as powder or liquid spills) must be considered a hazard to the next person to work there.
Safety Equipment and Exits: Learn the location of the safety shower, eyewash, fire extinguishers, first aid kit and exits in your lab. Make a safety map showing the locations of these things in your lab in the front cover of your lab notebook.
Chemical Waste Disposal: All chemicals used in the lab must be disposed of properly. Follow the chemical waste disposal instructions given to you for each experiment. Waste containers will be provided in the lab for each type of chemical that you will use. No chemicals or glass should go into the wastebaskets. Do not dispose of chemicals down the drain unless specifically instructed to do so. Any solutions that do go down the drain must be between pH 5.5 and pH 12, so acidic or basic solutions must be neutralized first. It is extremely important that you dispose of all chemical waste into the correct waste containers because some chemical mixtures can be very dangerous (i.e. explosive). If you are unsure as to how to dispose of your chemical waste, ask me.
Chemical Handling: Always check your procedures to confirm that you are using the correct reagents. Sometimes there will be more than one concentration of a chemical (such as HCl) used in the same experiment. Make sure that you use the right one. Take chemicals, using the appropriate container, from the stock chemical area to your workbench. Do not mix your solutions at the stock area. Alwayslabel the containers that you are using to temporarily store chemicals at your workbench. Never return unused chemicals to their storage (stock) containers. Dispose of unused portions in the appropriate manner. Minimize waste of reagents (they are expensive and time-consuming to prepare). Pay attention to what you are doing. You will be working with hazardous chemicals and should handle them with care.
Broken Glass: Broken glass goes into a special glass waste box, and not into the trash (custodians can be cut by broken glass in the trash). Conversely, do not put garbage into the glass waste box. If you drop something in the lab, never attempt to catch it. Just let it go or you are likely to get hurt.
Basic Lab Responsibility: The first concern in any lab should be safety. Be prepared for each lab so that you know how to set-up and use the equipment and how to handle the chemicals used in that experiment. If you are unsure about your set-up or about the procedures, ask me. Never proceed without knowing what you are doing. Be aware of the others in the lab. Don’t run, or step backwards without looking (or you may cause a chemical spill). If you need help, bring me to your workspace. Do not carry your reaction through the lab. Clean up all spills immediately, do not leave chemical hazards for others.
Hazard Identification: Know the hazards of all chemicals that you use. Read chemical labels carefully. Chemicals are rated from 0 to 4 according to the hazard that they impose (0 = no hazard, 4 = high hazard). Each chemical is rated for health, fire, and reactivity, and any special warnings (i.e. flammable) are noted. An example of a chemical hazard label is shown below. For more specific information on the hazards of a particular chemical, see the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) that are available in every lab (or at