Best Laboratory Safety Practices

Laboratory Safety? Lab safety? Good Laboratory Practice(GLP)?

They may come in all sort of terminologies but the essence is just plain and simple as how can we be safe inside our little play ground... The laboratory of course!

We may come from different walks of life and expertise but this simple safety rules are sometimes taken for granted, or even non existent at all!

Oh signs may be everywhere but how many you think really know what it means? Can you Identify what these sign says?

Oh Great! Easy right? for those who have been used to seeing this sign everyday it takes a glance and they know it, but of course knowing it is different from practicing or doing it. Its usually the guys who have been there a long while who have been complacent and take for granted what's the risk we live daily...of course they may disagree but look around and look how you do things daily there are simple things we take for granted that may become a risk.

We may pity those who are not informed but being informed does not give you a guarantee either if you are not practicing it as well. There are those who have great documented procedures in their lab but yet risk is still existent and even persistent. Management wise its a strong commitment to achieve the full potential and prevent loss of life and investment in such unfortunate event in the neglect of a basic safety practice.

A lot of safety tips and common laboratory rules have been made and practice and these basic rules already saved lives, so for now I will not bragged too much on the basic lab safety practices but I would rather share the Best Laboratory Safety Practices.

I learned that safety practices are best taught not in code books, HSE Manuals, guidelines, and a long list of do's and don'ts. It is best learned and taught by sharing best safety practices from different labs who has their own innovative idea to solve their own problems.

The common everyday risk we encounter in a laboratory environment are:

• fire hazard
• explosion
• poison
• spill
• burns (chemical or heat)
• exposure
• and more you can identify in your own lab

There are some rule of thumb in dealing with the risks that we can identify:

1. Eliminate the risk
2. if 1 is not possible, employ engineering controls
3. if 2 cannot reduce the risk to a very very small percentage the last resort is to use Personal Protective Equipment(PPE)

Option 3 or using PPE is the last resort and the last line of defense of a person in the laboratory if these is breached risk of injury or death is inevitable so wearing a PPE address a risk is really a misconception.

Lets not take this too long Here are some of the best safety practices we can share in a laboratory environment:

A GOOD FUME HOOD

A good fume hood should be spacey, comfortable, and well maintained. Of course, ventilation is very important and added protection to the user like spill traps and the like

A FUME HOOD IS NOT ENOUGH? An Overhead flexible suction will do!

This is an added ventilation its advantage is flexibility and reach. Some job is not that convenient to do on the fume hoods due to the restricted spaces it has but this one is a good alternative for what it can offer in directed ventilation.

A Safe Way to transport Reagent bottles Inside the Laboratory.

Carrying Reagent Bottles May Pose risk especially for carrying Hazardous Reagents such as Very Strong Acids this plastic Reagent carrier will be very good in protecting the Reagent in any unfortunate event like slip or fall. It also act as secondary containment in case of leaks or breaks in the original container.