Laboratories present many potential safety and health hazards that can

cause serious injury or illness if adequate precautions are not taken.

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Checklists

Lab Safety

Safety Issue:

Although lab personnel are usually trained profes-sionals, they may not be fully aware of the manyhealth and safety hazards that abound in laborato-ries. Lab employees must practice good hygiene,use personal protective equipment, and follow manyprecautions to avoid accidents and dangerous expo-sures to hazardous chemicals or infectious materials.

When all employees are aware of lab hazards and follow established safety procedures the riskof injury or illness is greatly decreased. The purpose of this checklist is to help you reviewyour rules, controls, and procedures to make surethat your employees are well-protected from lab-oratory hazards.

Legal Issues

OSHA regulation: 29 CFR 1910.1450 and 29CFR 1910.1030.

Comments: OSHA’s lab safety standard(1910.1450) sets parameters for protection ofemployees from chemical hazards. OSHA’sbloodborne pathogen standard (1910.1030) establishes the regulations governing work with blood, body fluids, and other potentiallyinfectious materials.

Other OSHA applicable standards to keep inmind when considering lab safety and healthinclude the Hazard Communication Standard(1910.1200), Fire Protection (Subpart L), andElectrical Safety (Subpart S).

Management Issues

Effective management of laboratory safety and healthmeans considering a variety of important issues:

✔ Chemical Hygiene Plan. OSHA requires youto have a written chemical hygiene plan if youhave a laboratory in your facility where employeesroutinely work with hazardous chemicals. Yourplan must be made accessible to employees forreview, and it must provide specific measures forprotecting employees against chemical hazards.

✔ Hazard identification. You are required tomake sure that all incoming chemical containershave legible labels and that these labels remain onthe containers at all times. You must also ensurethat there is an MSDS available at all times toemployees for each chemical used in the lab.

✔ Monitoring. The lab safety and health regula-tions require you to monitor the lab to measure

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employee exposure to hazardous chemicals regulat-ed by OSHA standards if you have reason tobelieve that exposure levels for any substance rou-tinely exceed the action level (or in the absence ofan action level, the PEL).

✔ Decontamination procedures. Employeesmust be provided with specific procedures for decontamination after working in the lab.This includes not only personal hygiene, but also safe removal and disposal of PPE and otherprotective clothing.

✔ Disposal of hazardous waste. You must usedOSHA-approved methods for disposing of haz-ardous waste, including infectious wastes.

✔ Medical consultation and examinations. Thestandard requires you to provide medical attentionto any employees who are exposed to hazardouschemicals. You must provide this service at nocharge to the employee, and without loss of pay, ata reasonable time and place.

✔ Recordkeeping. OSHA requires you to keeprecords of any monitoring that occurs in the lab. Inaddition, you must keep records of medical consul-tations and examinations of employees and of anyaccidents or illnesses that occur in the lab.

Training Issues

Your lab safety training program should include thefollowing elements required by the OSHA standard:

✔ Chemical Hygiene Plan. All lab employeesmust be trained in the applicable details of your

written plan. They should also know where to finda copy of the plan any time they wish to review it.

✔ Hazard awareness. You must make employeesaware of all physical and health hazards in the lab.Employees should know where to find informationabout hazards on container labels and in MSDSs.

✔ Protective measures. You must teach labemployees how to protect themselves against haz-ards, including the use of appropriate work prac-tices, emergency procedures, and PPE.

✔ Signs and symptoms of exposure.

Employees should be trained to recognize the signsand symptoms of dangerous exposure to the chemi-cals they work with.

✔ Location and availability of reference mate-

rial on hazards. Employees should be thoroughlytrained in the effective use of chemical containerlabels and MSDSs. They should know whereMSDSs are located and how to access other applic-able information in a hurry.

✔ Detection of and response to a release of

hazardous chemicals. Employees should be ableto recognize the visual appearance and odor ofchemicals used in the lab. They should be taughtto detect a release of hazardous chemicals. Theyshould also know how to respond in the event of aleak or spill.

✔ Monitoring methods and permissible expo-

sure limits. Employees should be familiar withmonitoring methods and permissible exposure limits(PELs). Although they may not have to administer

Lab Safety

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Lab Safety

these procedures, they should understand the basicconcepts and methods.

You should also be aware of when training is required:

✔ Initial training. Employees must be fullytrained when they are initially assigned to work in the lab.

✔ Assignments involving new exposure situa-

tions. They must receive additional training any time a new job assignment involves new exposure situations.

✔ Refresher training. Employees should begiven refresher training at reasonable intervals.Although OSHA does not specify a time period,annual retraining is generally considered acceptablepractice. If lab hazards are extreme, more frequentrefresher training may be required.

Take Action

Use the information contained in the OSHA com-pliance checklist to review your policies and pro-cedures in light of the requirements of theOccupational Exposure to Hazardous Chemicalsin Laboratories standard. The information in thetwo safety checklists that follow the compliancechecklist can be used to review managementissues and employee safety and health issues con-cerning this topic. You can use the quiz to checkyour employees’ knowledge of lab safety andhealth issues.

For Further Help

See the related checklists on hazardous substances,accident prevention and response, safe work prac-tices and PPE, and health and hygiene. BLR alsopublishes several employee booklets that can behelpful in your training: “What You Need to Knowabout Lab Safety” (A200-013), “OSHA’sBloodborne Pathogens Standard” (A200-194),“Protecting Yourself with Universal Precautions”(A200-103), “What You Should Know aboutHandling Spills and Leaks” (A200-048), “UsingChemical Labels for Safety” (A200-007), and “TheMSDS: Your Partner in Safety” (A200-188).

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