Laboratory Guidance Rules and Symbols

Lab Safety: Everyone Is Responsible!

Dr. Manish Kumar Tezpur University

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Required Procedures

YOU MUST:

• Wear appropriate eye covering

• Wear proper clothing (cotton lab coat and secure shoes)

• Not eat or drink in the lab or apply cosmetics, and no food or beverage containers in the lab, empty or otherwise

• Always treat reagents as if they are poisonous, toxic, and dangerous

• Keep reagent containers sealed and clean (put the receiving date on the container)

• Understand the reactivity, toxicity, and hazards of the reagent that you are using (check its MSDS sheet)

• Dispose of materials properly and in a timely manner

• Keep the lab clean and uncluttered

• Not become complacent

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Safe Laboratory Practices

• All procedures involving harmful chemicals must be done in

a fume hood whenever possible.

• The sash of the fume hood should be positioned as low as

possible while maintaining secure handling of the materials.

• Appropriate gloves should be worn when handling

chemicals.

• When removing a septum or stopper from your flask, first

open the side that is away from your face (it may be under

pressure).

• Only heat solutions in open systems (drying tube, Ar

environment etc.) unless the container is designed to handle

high pressures and a blast shield is used.

• No open flames or ignition sources near volatile, flammable

materials (acetone, ether, etc.).

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• Do not use chipped or cracked glassware – dispose of it.

• Do not force anything e.g. when opening glassware, pushing glassware through stoppers, removing valves from cylinders. You can lubricate glass joints.

• Use appropriately sized syringes to transfer reagents and solvents.

• Syringe locking is likely for moisture sensitive materials.

• Ask for help or guidance when doing a new procedure, using a new reagent, or before you start forcing something.

• Blast shields should be used when manipulating explosive materials outside the fume hood.

• Monitor distillations; do not heat to dryness; do not have the hot plate set to a temperature significantly higher than the boiling point of the solvent.

• Add reagents to solvent.

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• Make sure weigh papers that contained reagents are quenched prior to disposal.

• Quench all reactive material prior to disposal (e.g., use t-butanol)

• Do not mix reactive materials in waste cans (e.g. no strong oxidizers with waste materials).

• Make sure you consider heats of mixing when quenching reactions or doing extractions.

• Carefully vent separation funnels, pointing them away from your face.

• Transfer materials safely (inside and outside the lab). Do not wear gloves in the hallways or elevators, in the main or business office, and so forth.

• Label containers holding prepared solutions - contents, hazards and concentration.

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Gas Cylinders

• Compressed gas cylinders have an enormous amount of

stored energy just waiting to be released (2200 lbs. p.s.i.

stored pressure)

• Can be released if they are dropped, mishandled or abused.

• If the regulator or valve connection is broken, exhaust

vapor under pressure creates a force that moves the

cylinder like a jet engine

• Damage to property and injury or death to people could

easily result when this type of energy is released, not to

mention the gas is also released.

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Handling Cylinders • Assure all cylinders are properly restrained from tipping and falling

against objects. Never have more than 5 cylinders restrained together in one place. Pedestal base, chain or belt restraints all work well. A proper restraint is critical.

• Don’t move a cylinder with a regulator attached; have its valve cap in place when moving it.

• Never transport cylinders horizontally. Use a cylinder cart with a restraint belt or chain and keep them nearly upright.

• Assure the contents of all your cylinders are properly labeled. Know the hazards of the contents by reviewing the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for each gas you use.

• Remember, many gases can cause frostbite upon contact, and may not be smelled or seen.

• If you hear vapor escaping, ensure the valve is closed. If you still hear vapor, you may have a leak.

• Never use grease or oil near oxygen cylinder regulators or valves. Spontaneous ignition could occur.

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Horror Stories

Accident:

Transferring ~ 50 mL t-butyl lithium (in pentane) with a 50 mL

syringe

Barrel came out of the syringe

Flash fire ignited her clothes (sweater)

She ran the wrong direction from the safety shower

She eventually died from the accident

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Better Lab Practice

Use a syringe with a greater capacity than the liquid to be transferred

Better to transfer large volumes via a cannula (double headed needle)

Operate the syringe in the fume hood with sash as low as possible (arms exposed only) and pull in a direction away from the body

Wear a cotton lab coat, which is less likely to catch fire (never wear a lab coat made of synthetics – they melt and burn while stuck to your skin)

Know where the safety shower, fire blanket and eye wash are

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Safety First • Science is a hands-on laboratory class.

• You will be doing many laboratory activities, which require the use of hazardous chemicals and expensive lab equipment.

• Safety in the science classroom is the #1 priority.

• To ensure a safe science classroom, a list of rules has been developed and provided to you in your student safety contract.

• These rules must be followed at all times.

• A signed lab safety contract is required to participate in labs.

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Common Sense Rules • Be Responsible at All Times. No horseplay, practical

jokes, pranks, etc.

• Follow all instructions carefully.

• Do not play with lab equipment until instructed

to do so.

• Food, drink, and gum are not allowed in the science classroom.

Lab Safety: Everyone Is Responsible!

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Common Sense Rules

• Keep the science room clean and organized.

Lab Safety: Everyone Is Responsible!

• Notify the teacher immediately of any accidents or unsafe conditions in the science classroom!

• Wash your hands with soap and water after

experiments.

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Summary

• You are responsible for laboratory safety

• Always treat reagents as if they are poisonous, toxic,

and dangerous

• Understand the reactivity, toxicity, and hazards of the

reagent that you are using (check its MSDS sheet)

• Ask for help or guidance when doing a new

procedure or working with new materials

• You must not become complacent

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• Wear safety goggles when working with chemicals,

flames, or heating devices.

• If a chemical gets in your eye, flush in water for 15

minutes and notify the teacher.

Safety Symbols Eye Protection

Sharp Objects • When using knifes or other sharp objects always

walk with the points facing down.

• Cut away from fingers and body.

Electrical Safety • Do not place a cord where someone can trip over it.

• Never use electricity around water.

• Unplug all equipment before leaving the room. 2/2/2012 15

Safety Symbols Animal Safety

• Only handle living organisms with teacher

permission.

• Always treat living organisms humanely.

• Wash your hands after handling animals.

Heating Safety

• Tie back hair and loose clothes when working

with open flames.

• Never look into a container as you are heating it.

• Heated metal and glass looks cool, use tongs or

gloves before handling.

• Never leave a heat source unattended.

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Safety Symbols Chemical Safety

• Read all labels twice before removing a chemical from

the container.

• Never touch, taste, or smell a chemical unless instructed

by the teacher.

• Transfer chemicals carefully!

Hand Safety

• If a chemical spills on your skin, notify the teacher and

rinse with water for 15 minutes.

• Carry glassware carefully.

Plant Safety • Do not eat any plants in lab.

• Wash your hands after handling plants. 2/2/2012 17

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

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What’s Wrong With This Picture?

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What’s Wrong With This Picture?

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What’s Wrong With These Statements?

• Nilotpal says that his teacher is solely responsible for

preventing laboratory accidents.

• JP started the lab activity before reading it through

completely.

• Aparna decided to do a lab activity that he read about in a

library book before the teacher came into the classroom.

• Pallavi says that the safety goggles mess up her hair and give

her raccoon eyes. She refuses to wear them.

• Barbie and Ken accidentally break a beaker full of some

chemical. Instead of risking getting in trouble they quickly

clean up the mess with paper towel and throw it in the

garbage.

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Accident:

Synthesis of an energetic material, most likely nickel hydrazine perchlorate

Not supposed to make more than 100 mg of the material, the student synthesized 10 g.

Because the product was lumpy, student placed his portion into a mortar. He believed that the compound was safe when ―wet,‖ so he added some hexane and—wearing safety goggles but working at a bench in the middle of the lab, with no blast shield—―very gently, very, very gently‖ used a pestle to try to break up the chunks,

He set down the mortar and took off his goggles. Then he decided to give the compound one last stir. The mortar exploded in his hands. He ―lost three digits on his left hand, severely lacerated his right hand, perforated his left eye, scratched his right eye and had superficial cuts to the parts of his body that were exposed

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The student’s laboratory/research/data notebook

provides no detail about what exactly the two were

doing in the lab on the day of the incident. During

that time, the notebook includes seminar notes,

other notes seemingly unrelated to his research,

and only vague descriptions of experimental work:

One apparent synthesis is documented in an

undated entry simply as ―Ni(NO3)2 + hydrazine /

10 g / purple ppt forms immediately / also an

exothermic rxn.‖ The other student’s ―notebook‖

is a typed summary of reaction protocols and

observations, also without dates.

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Introduction of the

Research Notebook

System (RNS)

Unit 1:3 Experimental Data Recording and maintenance

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Basic Rules for RNS management

Laboratory notebook with all original data

Electrical data obtained in the laboratory need to be printed out

and put on the notebook. Such data include sequencing results,

gel images and microscopic images.

In addition to the printed materials, all original electrical data

should be saved in media. CD-ROM is recommended to avoid

data correction afterwards.

Data obtained without laboratory work also need to be printed

out to put on the note book. This includes data in statistics,

calculation equation, calculation programs and scenario

spread sheets for simulation.

Original questionnaire answer sheets need to be arranged

and stored 26

1. The Research Notebook includes, but not limited to the items below:

Contd.

2. Students are supposed to launch and follow this system at

starting research in a certain group.

3. Students are required to submit the notebook at

graduation.

4. Management of the notebooks is carried out by each

laboratory at the professor’s responsibility.

5. Accordingly, detailed management description including

the type of notebook, items to be written and format,

frequency of professor’s inspection and keeping rules

after graduation of the student will be noted at each

laboratory.

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Requirements for research notebook

• Exhaustive: All information should be noted to repeat the work.

• Easy to search: Data should be searched and found quickly and properly on demand.

• Conservative: The notebook needs to be kept for certain period.

• Easy to write: Writing process should not deteriorate working efficiency.

• Admissible: The notebook may be used to approve the data.

• Visible: Data should be noted clearly to understand the research status visually.

• Research promotive: The notebook is expected to promote research at data interpretation and processing.

(Based on Wikipedia Japanese ver. On 2008.4.21)

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Recommendations for Research

Notebook

1. The notebooks need to be well-bound with serial

numbers for all pages, which prevents intentional

attachment or detachment of pages and prolongs life of

the notebook.

2. Dates and writer`s name need to be specified on all

pages, which may approve who was the first to get the

result and idea.

3. Blanks for the signature of inspectors and date of

inspection need to be prepared. This clarifies the

responsible person to check the results. Frequency of

inspection depends on the rules of each laboratory.

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4. Hand writing should be made with ball-point

pens or any other non-erasable pens. Pencils

should not be used.

5. Contents:

a. Research idea and plans should be written very

specifically, including who you consult with and

what kind of suggestion you got from the person.

b. Specify what you did in detail, i.e., who did what

and when & how to obtain which results.

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c. Write in clear, easy-to-read characters. Put the

appendix of abbreviates if necessary.

d. Contents should be specific and clear to allow others to

repeat the same work with certain background knowledge.

6.Fulfill all pages in series without blank pages. If you got

blanks unintentionally, write slash on the page to fill the

blank.

7.Glue or tape all original data, photos and printed materials

on the notebook firmly. Electrical data without printed

materials should be stored in a media, which should be

specified on the corresponding page of the notebook.

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Any Questions?

REMEMBER:

• Class quiz is due next week on 7th or 8th

February !

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