Slide 1: The School of Science and Math has a universal safety policy that all students are responsible for following and all instructors are obligated to enforce. This presentation is designed to educate students on the hazards of working in a chemistry laboratory and to give you the knowledge to keep yourself safe.
Slide 4: All chemistry labs require these minimum PPE:
1)safety glasses or goggles
2)closed shoes so that feet are not exposed---no high heels
3)lab coat
4)a supply of nitrile gloves
Your instructor will send you home if you do not come properly dressed for lab.
Slide 5: Contact lenses may be worn, but you must wear goggles or glasses over them. Most prescription glasses do not offer adequate protection (unless they have side shields) and goggles or safety glasses must be worn over them.
Slide 6: As a courtesy, in many labs there are a supply of goggles that can be borrowed and students can return them to the UV cabinet. You should not necessarily rely on the availability of these goggles and it is best to bring your own.
Slide 7: After lab has started, all students---even those in the seating areas----must be wearing eye protection
Slide 8: Long hair should be tied up when working in a chemistry lab to protect from fire and to protect from spinning equipment. A tragic lab accident occurred at Yale University when a student’s hair became caught in a shop lathe, resulting in the student’s death. Minimize the use of gel or spray hair products.
Slide 9: Your shoes should fully cover your feet. Here are examples of foot wear that will not be allowed in the lab.
Slide 10: Your feet are very vulnerable in the lab and the footwear policy will be strictly enforced.
Slide 11: In most of our labs, nitrile gloves will be sufficient to provide protection from the chemicals used. Be aware, though, that gloves made from a variety of materials are sold and may not adequately protect your hands. At CofC, we do not permit the use of latex gloves.
Slide 12: Another tragic lab accident occurred at Dartmouth when a professor died from cleaning up a spill of methyl mercury that penetrated her latex gloves, absorbed through her skin, and poisoned her. As you work with new chemicals, look up the compatibility of the gloves you use with that chemical.
Slide 13: You should bring numerous pairs of gloves to lab each week. Gloves are meant to be discarded after they are contaminated with chemicals. Do not re-use gloves. Do not touch door handles, computer keyboards, or other common equipment with gloved hands.
Slide 14: Your last activity each lab should be washing your hands with soap and water. This video demonstrates proper hand washing technique and the length of time you should wash your hands.
Slide 15: All students are required to wear a lab coat while working in the lab. No skin should be showing anywhere below the waist. Keep your lab coat sequestered from other items in your back pack. We recommend getting a new lab coat each semester.
Slide 16: Another tragic lab accident occurred at UCLA, when a graduate student was killed from 3rd degree burns. The student was working with an air-sensitive chemical that ignited when her syringe malfunctioned. She was not wearing a lab coat and her clothes, which were made of synthetic fabric, quickly ignited. She was not escorted to the safety shower.
Slide 17: Be aware of the hazards of the materials you work with. Always keep your PPE on during lab. Even if you are only washing dishes, keep your glasses and lab coat on. If others are still doing chemistry in the lab, you should keep your safety glasses on, even if you are sitting in the classroom portion of the lab.
Slide 18: Please take a moment now to locate and memorize the position of the safety shower and the eye wash station.
Slide 19: The eye wash and safety showers in most labs in the new science center are a single unit. Pulling the handle on the left brings down a fountain that will automatically activate. Pulling the handle on the right will activate the ceiling mounted safety shower. Note that most safety showers do not have a drain under them. Do not test the safety showers and use only in an emergency.
Slide 20: This slide shows what the opened eye wash in our building looks like.
Slide 21: The showers are ceiling mounted. It is imperative that the floor area underneath the shower remains clear.
Slide 22: Most labs are equipped with fume hoods where students can carry out reactions involving flammable solvents, strong acids and bases, or other hazardous chemicals. Hoods also provide a physical shield if there is a splash or explosion hazard.
Slide 23: Hoods will not work if they are open too wide. Our hoods are equipped with flow monitors that should read normal. If the hood is opened too wide, the air flow monitor will alarm. Close the hood to re-establish the air flow and press “mute” to silence the alarm.
Slide 24: When you leave the lab, or when it is not in use, your hood should be fully closed. Side-to-side panels can be moved to allow a space for each arm. The center panel serves as a face shield. The hood sash can also be raised to less than 18 inches, and your arms can work underneath the sash. If chemicals are being used, your hood should not be wide open, as the air flow does not work properly. This last position may be necessary, though, to set up equipment prior to opening any chemicals.
Slide 26: Keep your head out of the hood at all times. Trays can be used to prevent spills. All chemicals should be at least 6 inches into the hood.
Slide 27: Read procedures ahead of time so that you are aware of the chemicals being used in lab and so that you are aware of any known hazards.
Slide 28: If you prepare a solution, prepare a label. You may want to bring a sharpie marker to lab and take advantage of label tape and stickers to make labels. Labs are in the process of transitioning away from the older NFPA labels to the newly required GHS labels. When a student makes a solution, it is important to have the chemical name, your initials, and the date on a label at a minimum.
Slide 29: The Chemistry department formerly used the NFPA Diamond to alert lab workers of hazards of chemicals. The diamond notes known health hazards, fire hazard rating based on flash point, reactivity, and other hazards such as radioactivity, water sensitivity, etc. You will still see many reagents with NFPA diamonds.
Slide 30: OSHA now requires the use of the GHS system (Globally Harmonized System) that uses pictograms for immediate identification of Hazard Class. GHS labels from manufacturers also require signal words, hazard statements, and supplier information.
Slide 31: MSDS stands for Material Safety Data Sheet. The MSDS for chemicals used in your lab will be located in a yellow and black folder in your lab. The MSDS sheet is a source of information for the hazards of a chemical. Many MSDS sheets can also be found on line, by typing the a search phrase “MSDS and the chemical name”.
Slide 33: It is imperative that you know the locations of the nearest fire alarms. Take a moment now to locate these. The nearest alarm is probably in the hall outside of your lab.
Slide 34: Fire extinguishers are also available near the doors of the labs. Take a moment now to locate the nearest fire extinguishers.
Slide 35: The proper sequence for operating a fire extinguisher can be remembered with the acronym PASS. Pull the trigger, Aim the nozzle, Squeeze the trigger, and Sweep the foam back and forth at the base of the fire.
Slide 36: Fire extinguishers come in types A, B, C, and D. Most of ours are an ABC combo, which makes them appropriate for use on most types of laboratory fires. We have some Type D fire extinguishers which are intended for flammable metals.
Slide 38: Students are not expected to put out fires. Your response should be to notify the instructor and your classmates, proceed to the nearest safe exit, pull the fire alarm, and evacuate the building. Designated meeting points are in front of the library on Calhoun Street OR in the YWCA parking lot on Coming Street.
Slide 39: Many labs make use of open flames of Bunsen burners. Before lighting your burner, notify your neighbors and check for any flammable solvents in the vicinity of your flame. Never heat a volatile solvent over an open flame. Never leave your flame unattended. Be sure to turn your gas flow off when you extinguish your flame. The handle of the gas should be perpendicular to the hose in the closed position.
Slide 41: Many experiments or instruments in upper level or research labs require the use of compressed gases that are stored in cylinders. A cylinder in use will have a regulator attached to it to control the gas flow from the cylinder. Do not touch the regulators as they have been set to deliver a particular pressure and increasing that pressure can break instruments or cause a dangerous build up of pressure in an apparatus. When they are not in use, they will have a protective cap on them. The cap helps protect the valve. Never, ever open a cylinder from the main valve without a regulator attached.
Slide 42: Gas cylinders should only be moved with a cart. Gas cylinders must be chained to the wall, whether in use with a regulator or not in use with a cap. You should not attempt to move a gas cylinder unless you have been trained to do so.
Slide 44: Chipped glassware is not safe to use. Check all glassware for cracks and “stars” prior to use. Dispose of any broken glass in specially marked glass disposal boxes. Do not throw paper or other waste in the glass boxes and do not throw glass waste in the regular trash. Do not use your hands to pick up broken pieces of glass. Labs are equipped with brooms and dust pans for this purpose.
Slide 45: Waste containers are available for disposal of your chemicals. Waste containers must be labeled with the contents. Do not overfill a waste container. Tightly cap the container at the end of lab. Some chemicals are incompatible and should not be added to the same container. Check with your instructor.
Slide 46: At University of Maryland, students mixed incompatible chemicals together in a waste container and ignited a fire, injuring several students.
Slide 48: Keep the lab tidy. Return all common equipment. Close all reagent bottles after you use them to prevent spills. Read procedures ahead of time.
Slide 49: These examples show poor attention to safety. Clean labs are safer labs. Look for tripping hazards and make sure nothing obstructs access to safety equipment such as eye washes or fire extinguishers.
Slide 50: In the lab, there are: No food. No drinks. No makeup. No lotions. Do not use chemical refrigerators to store food and do not use food refrigerators to store chemicals. In the classroom area of labs, sealed water bottles or beverages should be in and stay in a backpack.
Slide 51: It is useful to have your phone in the lab for emergency use. However, keep it safely away from chemicals and do not use it during lab except for an emergency. Do not use ipads, iphones, or ipods. Earbuds are not allowed. Loud, distracting music is not allowed.
Slide 52: In the event of a chemical spill, notify your instructor and your neighbors. Your instructor will utilize a spill kit similar to the one shown here.
Slide 53: Never try an unauthorized experiment or scale up reactions without consulting your instructor. Another lab tragedy occurred when a graduate student at Texas Tech tried to make too much hazardous material at once, and the reaction flask detonated. It is important to follow known procedures and to listen closely at the start of lab for any variations in the protocol.
Slide 54: All injuries in the lab must be reported to your instructor who will file an incident report with the department.
Slide 55: Minor cuts or burns can be treated at the discretion of the instructor, but campus safety officials will be called if the instructor thinks it is necessary.
Slide 56: Program the emergency number into your cell phones.
Slide 57: Do not ask to be let into the lab if you arrive without the correct PPE and without the correct clothing. Lab instructors will insist that all students are wearing PPE at all times while chemistry or cleanup is being conducted.Lab instructors will stay in the lab while it is in session.
Slide 58: If you feel like you are not safe in the lab for any reason, please consult with your instructor, the chair of the chemistry safety committee, Dr. Wendy Cory, the Chair of the Department, Pam Riggs-Gelasco, or the chair of the SSM safety committee, Dr. Jim Deavor.
Slide 59: Item number 2 requires that you READ the PROCEDURES before coming to lab. Safety concerns will be featured in pre-lab quizzes.