Laboratory & Research Safety
What is Laboratory & Research Safety?
Laboratory safety incorporates the safety guidelines for hazards found in the laboratory setting including; chemical safety, radiation safety, biological safety, field research safety, and general safety. Maintaining laboratory safety guidelines will promote a safe and healthy environment for faculty and students to expand research ideas, develop new techniques, and master their subject matter.
How do I...?
- Work safely with Organothium Compunds (see also the SOP)
- Work safely with Nanomaterials
- Going on a trip, complete the Field Safety Plan
- Create a door placard using eContact
- Find your Laboratory Safety Officer
- Report a hazard
- Report an injury / incident (hosted by Human Resources)
- Request waste pickup services
- Obtain a Material Safety Data Sheet
- Find out about Occupational Carcinogens
- Sign up for safety training
- Prepare for a lab safety audit
- If you recieved a link for your lab audit before Janurary 6, 2009 and can no longer access the audit, copy the link from the email you recieved and paste it into the form located on this website: http://ehs.ucr.edu/ehsaudits/convert.php to get the revised link. Sorry for any inconvenience.
- Find written Standard Operating Procedures?
What are my responsibilities?
Review the Laboratory Safety Rules (size 8.5 x 11 or 11x17). Researchers can refer to the Guide to Health Safety and Environmental Responsibilities and use the follow the five safety system to develop safe reliable experiments.
Safety Tips
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Laboratory work is inherent to some form of a hazard whether biological, chemical, or radioactive. However there is another hazard that is quite often overlooked in a laboratory setting, ergonomics. The body can be strained after looking through the microscope or a fatigued hand may slow the pipetting process. Kristie Elton, our resident Physical Therapist, has prepared a special section of ergonomics in laboratory setting for researchers at UCR.
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Chemicals in the laboratory are hazardous and understanding the hazard(s) associated with a specific chemical will provide the user the knowledge to use the chemical appropriately. Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are often the first place to obtain hazard information on a chemical. In order to make the process more universal to the laboratory setting instead of industrial setting the American Chemical Society created the Chemistry Laboratory Information Profiles (CLIPs). Chemical users can check the profile of common laboratory chemicals and their hazards.
Follow the Five
- Define the scope of the experiment.
- Identify the hazards involved in the experiment.
- Develop controls to reduce the hazards.
- Perform the experiment within the developed controls.
- Provide feedback and note what controls are successful and which one were not.
American Chemical Society Resources
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Safety in Academic Chemistry Laboratories (Accident Prevention for Faculty and Administrators)
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Safety in Academic Chemistry Labortaories (Accident Prevention for College and University Students)
National Academy of Sciences
Prudent Practices in the Laboratory Handling and Disposal of Chemicals
Interesting Information
- Sigma-Aldrich's Interactive Periodic Table
- University of Nottingham Periodic Table of Videos
- The Elements by Theodore Gray and Nick Mann