Burning Down the House! (A Life Sciences Blog)
Posted on Thu, Apr 23, 2009 @ 01:32 PM
by Shane Zuffante, Life Sciences Account Manager
I recently attended a Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting the other day and one of the topics that came up was lab safety. I thought to myself, here we go again, the researchers were not wearing their safety goggles. To my shock, it was a story that I had never heard of before. Someone wearing a lab coat got injured because the safety garments that they were wearing and the substances they were working on were not compatible.
As it turns out, a majority of lab coats contain a high amount of polyester in them, which was described by the local fire chief as "Polyester is like solid gasoline". When you combine high polyester lab coats with pyrophoric material you are putting yourself in a fire risk. Listed below are the three types that are generally used in labs today.
- For Best protection use a Nomex fabric based lab coat. When exposed to heat these types of coats will thicken and carbonize giving you the maximum protection.
- For Lower budget protection there are nonflammable and nonporous disposal lab coats. These are treated with a flame-resistant material that will slow down the rate of combustion without the heavy price tag of a Nomex based coat.
- Disposable lab coats are made from Tyvek polyolefin. This is a tear-resistant and water repellent fabric that is tightly woven and lint free. This way they will resist most chemicals that you will be exposed to and get thrown away after use.
What sort of research are you doing in your labs? What type of safety gear are you wearing?