4. Basic knowledge of Lab Safety

4.1 How must a laboratory be built and organized?

4.2 The GHS Symbols

4.3 Biological hazard

4.4 SDS - Each chemical has a safety data sheet

/ FCOS Policies

Chemical laboratories

4.1 How must a laboratory be built and organized?In the FCOS policies you can find out how a laboratory has to be built and organized.

EKAS = Eidgenössische Koordinations-kommission für Arbeitssicherheit FCOS =Federal Coordination Commission forOccupational Safety

The Federal Coordination Commission for Occupational Safety FCOS is the central information and coordination office for safety and health at work. It coordinates the preventive measures, the tasks in the execution and the uniform application of the rules. Their decisions are binding.

Guidelines of FCOS for the Occupational Safety

Flammable liquids

liquid gas

and so on

Examples of policies of FCOS (EKAS)

Proper lab infrastructure: Essential to minimize risks when working with dangerous chemicals (see also the FCOS Policies).

Fume hoods

Robots for hazardous work

Biosafety cabinets

Important for the safety organization: Safety rules, safety infrastructure and materials for personal protection.

Goggles

Respiratory protection Appropriate gloves

Safetyjumpsuits

Emergency niches

access control

All employees will receive the safety handbook, the students thedouble-sided laboratory rules sheet. Link: www.chab.ethz.ch/das-departement/services/su-management.html

Our safety handbook (available in German and English)

Our double-sided laboratory rules (available in German and English)

Safety Entrance Test on the Moodle platform: New employees and students have to complete a safety entrance test within the first 3 weeks after start of employment (optionally in German or English and on different subjects). The exam contains multiple-choice questions (put together by a random generator) that have to be answered within 30 min. In each case one answer is correct. New employees are automatically invited to the safety entrance exam by the personnel division and students are invited by the laboratory course supervisor. The corresponding superior (usually the professor) will decide on further steps when people do not pass the exam several times.

The SE-Representatives for student laboratories will organize the safety test with their assistants and students. They will be specially trained by the SE-Management.The SE-Representatives for student laboratories can decide when and how the safety test with their group will be performed. They also decide for additional measures for all students/assistants, which don`t pass the moodle safety test.

Research Laboratories Student LaboratoriesWho has to do the safety test

Who doesn`t have to do the safety test

Who has to do the safety test

Who doesn`t have to do the safety test

All new laboratory staff and all new employees of the administration and services

Laboratory staff and employees of the administration and services already working at ETH

New assistants Assistants who havealready done and passedthe safety test

Those who have already done and passed the safety test

Non-ETH Students (e.g. Uni-Students)

Students who havealready done and passedthe safety test

Students of D-CHAB, D-MATL and D-BIOL

HST Students (HST = Health Science Technologie)

Students from otherdepartments

All students with < 14 workdays in HCI

Who has to do, who doesn`t have to do the safety test (Moodle)?

Safety-Lecture exam: This exam is mandatory for all new Teaching Assistants in labs. They can perform the exam (in English or German) online on the Moodle platform, typically before the beginning of a semester.

4.2 The GHS Symbols

Requirements of a GHS Label

H200 – Unstable explosives.H201 – Explosive; mass explosion hazard.H202 – Explosive, severe projectionhazard.H203 – Explosive; fire, blast or projectionhazard.H204 – Fire or projection hazard.

and so on

Hazard statements (H statements)

P101 – If medical advice is needed, have productcontainer or label at hand.P102 – Keep out of reach of children.P103 – Read label before use.P201 – Obtain special instructions before use.P202 – Do not handle until all safety precautions havebeen read and understood.P210 – Keep away from heat/sparks/open flames/hotsurfaces. — No smoking.

Precautionary statements (P statements)

and so on

Signal WordsDanger / Gefahr – more severe hazards

Warning / Achtung – less severe hazards

The category of the oral toxicity

The category of the oral toxicity

The category of solvents is dependent on the boiling point and flash point.

These were some excerpts. The complete documentation for the GHS symbols can be found on our website.

Apart from the GHS symbols, there are many others to consider.

Note: Many old safety sign symbols (e.g. Fire, Prohibition, Hazard) were replaced.

International Placards for the Transportation of Dangerous Goods

US chemical hazard diamond

The US-based National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has a standard NFPA 704 using a diamond with four colored sections each with a number indicating severity 0 - 4 (0 for no hazard, 4 indicates a severe hazard). The red section denotes flammability. The blue section denotes health risks. Yellow represents reactivity (tendency to explode). The white section denotes special hazard information.

4.3 Biological hazard

BSL = Biosafety level

Specific considerations for a BSL-1 laboratory include the following:

− Standard microbiological practices are followed.− Work can be performed on an open lab bench or table. − Safety equipment.− Personal protective equipment, (lab coats, gloves, eye protection) are worn as needed.− Facility construction.− A sink must be available for hand washing.− The lab should have doors to separate the working space with the rest of the facility.

This level is for work with minimal potential hazard to laboratorypersonnel and the environment.

Escherichia coli also known as E. coli) is a Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterium of the genus Escherichia that is commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms (endotherms). Most E. coli strains are harmless, but some serotypes can cause serious food poisoning in their hosts, and are occasionally responsible for product recalls due to food contamination.

An example of a microbe that is typically worked with at a BSL-1 is anonpathogenic (= a nonpathogenic microbe is one that is not capable of causingdisease) strain of E. coli.

This level is for work with moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment. It includes various bacteria and viruses that cause only mild disease to humans.

In addition to BSL-1 considerations, BSL-2 laboratories have the following containmentrequirements:

− Access to the laboratory is restricted when work is being conducted.− Safety equipment− Appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is worn, including lab coats and

gloves. Eye protection and face shields can also be worn, as needed.

− All procedures that can cause infection from aerosols or splashes are performedwithin a biological safety cabinet (BSC).

− An autoclave or an alternative method of decontamination is available for proper disposals.

− Facility construction− The laboratory has self-closing doors.− A sink and eyewash are readily available.

Staphylococcus aureus is a gram-positive coccal bacterium that is a member of the Firmicutes, and is frequently found in the respiratory tract and on the skin.

S. aureus is not always pathogenic, it is a common cause of skin infections such as abscesses, respiratory infections such as sinusitis, and food poisoning.

An example of a microbe that is typically worked with at a BSL-2 laboratory is Staphylococcus aureus.

This level is for work, which may cause serious or potentially lethal disease after inhalation. It includes various bacteria, parasites and viruses that can cause severe to fatal disease in humans but for which treatments exist.

In addition to BSL-2 considerations, BSL-3 laboratories have the following containment requirements:

− Laboratorians are under medical surveillance and might receive immunizations for microbes they workwith.

− Access to the laboratory is restrictedand controlled at all times.

− Safety equipment

− Appropriate PPE must be worn, and respiratorsmight be required.

− All work with microbes must be performed within an appropriate BSC.− Facility construction− A hands-free sink and eyewash are available near the exit.− Exhaust air cannot be recirculated, and the laboratory must have sustained directional airflow by drawing

air into the laboratory from clean areas towards potentially contaminated areas.

− Entrance to the lab is through two sets of self-closing and locking doors.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the SARS coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Between November 2002 and July 2003, an outbreak of SARS in southern China caused an eventual 8096 cases and 774 deaths reported in multiple countries with the majority of cases in Hong Kong (9.6% fatality rate) according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Within weeks, SARS spread from Hong Kong to infect individuals in 37 countries in early 2003. It then was eradicated by January the following year.

Two examples of microbes worked with in a BSL-3 laboratoryis Mycobacterium tuberculosis (the bacteria that causes tuberculosis) and SARS coronavirus.

This level is for work with dangerous and exotic agents that pose a high individual risk of aerosol-transmitted laboratory infections, agents which cause severe to fatal disease in humans for which vaccines or other treatments are not available.

In addition to BSL-3 considerations, BSL-4 laboratories have the following containment requirements:

− Change clothing before entering.− Shower upon exiting.− Decontaminate all materials before exiting.− Safety equipment− All work with the microbe must be performed within an appropriate Class III BSC (= a gas-tight sealed

container that is designed to allow for the manipulation of objects, hazardous substances, or infectious disease agents. Class III BSCs have a HEPA filtered air supply and double HEPA filtered exhaust. They provide the ultimate protection for personnel, product, and the environment), or by wearing a full body, air-supplied, positive pressure suit.

− Facility construction− The laboratory is in a separate building or in an isolated and restricted zone of the building.− The laboratory has dedicated supply and exhaust air, as well as vacuum lines and decontamination systems.

Each species of the genus Ebolavirus has one member virus, and four of these cause Ebola virus disease (EVD) in humans, a type of hemorrhagic fever having a very high case fatality rate; the fifth, Reston virus, has caused EVD in other primates. Zaire ebolavirus is the type species (reference or example species) for Ebolavirus, and has the highest mortality rate of the ebolaviruses, and is also responsible for the largest number of outbreaks of the five known members of the genus, including the 1976 Zaire outbreak and the outbreak with the most deaths (2014).

Two examples of microbes worked with in a BSL-4 laboratory includeEbola and Marburg viruses.

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4.4 SDS - Each chemical has a safety data sheet

There are total 16 sections

Ethidium bromide is an intercalating agent commonly used as a fluorescent tag (nucleic acid stain) in molecular biology laboratories for techniques such as agarose gel electrophoresis. It is commonly abbreviated as "EtBr", which is also an abbreviation for bromoethane. When exposed to ultraviolet light, it will fluoresce with an orange colour, intensifying almost 20-fold after binding to DNA. Ethidium bromide is highly dangerous.It may be a mutagen, a carcinogen, a teratogen.

For Bio Scientists: What is Ethidium bromide?

Hazards

Specific recommendations

Environmental protection/Waste collection

Always study the hazard symbols and safety data (SDS) in detail before working with chemicals, whether harmless or dangerous.

This is mandatory!

Follow the recommendations on the SDS. If you can`t follow these basic rules, don’t work in a laboratory!

If no SDS data are available, it must be ensured that all possible risk factors have been considered.

Web site:www.scifinder.comwww.reaxys.com