Laboratory spaces, whether they are academic or professional-level labs, are full of hazards. This is why lab managers and technicians must always follow safety guidelines and regulations. Whether you oversee a student lab or a professional one, here are some tips to promote safety in your laboratory environment.
Everyone who steps foot into the laboratory environment should put on the proper PPE first. As a lab manager or professor, it’s your job to ensure that everyone within your laboratory takes personal protection seriously and wears all the required protective equipment. In a professional lab space, PPE includes protective eyeglasses or goggles, chemical-resistant gloves, lab coats, long pants, and covered shoes. Remember to check the quality of your laboratory’s safety equipment regularly to ensure it provides suitable protection for your staff or students.
No one who enters the lab space should bring food or drink into this environment. Bringing these things into the lab could increase the risk of contamination of the samples, or it could contaminate the food or drink itself. Contaminating experiments with food debris or spilled drinks will cause your lab to have to pay for replacement samples and stall progress in your experiments; it can also cause serious health issues if the contaminated food or drink is then ingested.
To prevent lab technicians from using the wrong tools or materials, everything in a laboratory space requires extensive labeling. Some lab tools and equipment have striking resemblances, such as the similarities between tissue forceps and dressing forceps. Using the right tools and materials the first time can help your laboratory prevent injuries, save money on samples, and avoid downtime from misused equipment.
Whether you manage an academic or a professional laboratory, everyone within your lab space needs to be on the same page about safety guidelines, tool applications, and everything else that goes on daily. Not everyone enters the lab space with the same level of knowledge regarding the tools and materials in the lab. This is why it’s crucial that you hold regular training sessions for laboratory students and technicians of any level.
These tips to promote safety in your laboratory environment are guidelines that every academic or professional lab should follow. Help your students or technicians be safer and more productive by implementing these safety tips.
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