Lab Safety Starts with the Instructor
Posted on Fri, Mar 04, 2011 @ 06:29 AM
by Meagan Collins, Chemist
A 23 year old technician at UCLA was wearing a sweatshirt and no lab coat when she began working with t-butyl lithium, a pyrophoric liquid. The liquid reacted with the air, and set the synthetic fibers of her clothing on fire. Two postdoctoral students were nearby, but were unable to get her to a safety shower in time. She spent 18 days in a burn unit before she died. (1) An investigation by the California Division of OSHA revealed that UCLA failed to make safety training mandatory. The result was $32,000 in fines. Other preventable academic science lab incidents include death by electrocution, explosion, and exposure to lethal chemicals.
“Most academic laboratories are unsafe venues for work or study”, according to The Journal of Chemical Health and Safety. (2) One study by the Laboratory Safety Institute revealed that the accident rate in professional laboratories is at least one hundred times less than the accident rate in school laboratories.
Academic lab safety begins with the instructor:
• Instructors should be familiar with proper procedures, preventive measures, and lab safety codes and standards.
• Instructors should be familiar with safety eq
uipment in the lab, including location and use.
• Eye washes, safety showers, and fire extinguishers should be routinely inspected. Records of inspections should be kept on site.
• Material Safety Data Sheets should be provided for chemicals used in the lab.
• Proper personal protective equipment (PPE) should also be available.
• A standard procedure should be developed for proper chemical handling.
Once an instructor is familiar with these precautions, students should be educated on proper procedures and safety standards before executing work in the laboratory setting. Sources 1. Benderly, Beryl Lieff. “Danger in Science Labs”. Scientific American. August 2010. Pages 18-20. 2. Langerman, Neal. Journal of Chemical Health and Safety. May-June 2009.