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Laboratory Safety
The safety of yourself and your classmates is of paramount importance during laboratory. Safety regulations must always be observed as it only takes one accident to cause blindness or serious permanent injury. Safety glasses must be worn at all times.
- If you remove your safety glasses when lab is being conducted your instructor will give you a verbal warning once.
- The second offense will result in your being asked to leave the lab.
In the laboratory the chemist works with many potentially dangerous substances and equipment. Yet, with constant alertness, awareness of potential hazards, and some common-sense precautions, laboratory operations can be carried out with a high degree of safety. The most general rules for safety laboratory operations are: be alert - stay alert, and take the trouble to understand what you are doing and the potential hazards associated with the operation you are performing.
Some basic rules and precautions are:
1. Always wear safety glasses to protect your eyes from chemicals and broken glassware.
2. Shoe covering the tops of your feet must be worn at all times while in the lab (flip-flops, sandals, etc. will not do).
3. Never work alone in the laboratory - someone should be in the room with you at all times.
4. Use fume-hood when working with poisonous or offensive gases/fumes, likewise when working with flammable/ explosive materials.
5. Never heat an organic solvent (alcohol, ether, benzene, etc.) in an open vessel over an open flame. These solvents are highly flammable, especially with an open flame - use a hot plate to heat these liquids that should be in an open vessel when this operations perform. See number 7 below.
6. Avoid pointing the mouth of a vessel being heated toward any person, including yourself and the instructor.
7. Never heat reactants in a fully closed system - be sure the system is open to the air to prevent a pressure build-up and explosion.
8. Never add anything (including water) to conc. acid - instead slowly add the acid to the other substance to avoid acid splashing.
9. Hold glass tubes and the thermometers in a towel when pushing them through rubber stoppers.
10. Never pipet anything by mouth - especially toxic or corrosive substances.
11. You should immediately sweep up spill taking place on the balance.
12. Be sure to label all chemical containers correctly.
13. Do not perform any unauthorized experiments.
14. Beware of hot glass tubing - it looks cool long before it can be handled safely.
15. Never throw matches, litmus or any insoluble solids into the sink.
16. Avoid using excessive amounts of reagents - 1 to 3 mL is usually ample for test tube reactions.
17. Do not lay down the stopper of bottle. Impurities may be picked up and contaminate the solution when the stopper is returned.
18. Do not heat thick glassware such as volumetric flasks, graduated cylinder, or bottles; they break easily with heat.
19. Never pour anything back into a reagent stock bottle - take out only as much as you will use.
20. Tie back long hair and refrain from wearing flowing, fluffy clothing - both are fire hazards in the laboratory.
21. Know the location of exits, fire extinguishers, eye washers, first aid kit and other safety devices in the laboratory.
22. De-Ionized water may be obtained through the large white container near the back of the lab room. (Generally, it is good lab technique to do a final rinse with de-ionized water when cleaning glassware)
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