Basic Lab Safety Rules - More Lab Safety on the Learning Videos Channel

In this live-action program viewers will learn the basic safety rules to be followed a laboratory setting. Students will come to understand that the effects of an accident will be reduced and minimized by wearing protective equipment or PPE. They will discover that the scientist in the lab should always practice safety rules during technical and experimental procedures. The program discusses the proper use and handling of heat sources and hazardous chemicals.
Many laboratories contain significant risks, and the prevention of laboratory accidents requires great care and constant vigilance. Examples of risk factors include high voltages, high and low pressures and temperatures, corrosive and toxic chemicals, and biohazards including infective organisms and their toxins.
Measures to protect against laboratory accidents include safety training and enforcement of laboratory safety policies, safety review of experimental designs, the use of personal protective equipment, and the use of the buddy system for particularly risky operations.
In many countries, laboratory work is subject by health and safety legislation. In some cases, laboratory activities can also present environmental health risks, for example, the accidental or deliberate discharge of toxic or infective material from the laboratory into the environment.
Hazardous chemicals present physical and/or health threats to workers in clinical, industrial, and academic laboratories. Laboratory chemicals include cancer-causing agents (carcinogens), toxins (e.g., those affecting the liver, kidney, and nervous system), irritants, corrosives, sensitizers, as well as agents that act on the blood system or damage the lungs, skin, eyes, or mucous membranes.
Many laboratory workers encounter daily exposure to biological hazards. These hazards are present in various sources throughout the laboratory such as blood and body fluids, culture specimens, body tissue and cadavers, and laboratory animals, as well as other workers.
These are federally regulated biological agents (e.g., viruses, bacteria, fungi, and prions) and toxins that have the potential to pose a severe threat to public health and safety, to animal or plant health, or to animal or plant products.
Besides exposure to chemicals and biological agents, laboratory workers can also be exposed to a number of physical hazards. Some of the common physical hazards that they may encounter include the following: ergonomic, ionizing radiation, non-ionizing radiation and noise hazards.
Ergonomic Hazards
Laboratory workers are at risk for repetitive motion injuries during routine laboratory procedures such as pipetting, working at microscopes, operating microtomes, using cell counters and keyboarding at computer workstations. Repetitive motion injuries develop over time and occur when muscles and joints are stressed, tendons are inflamed, nerves are pinched and the flow of blood is restricted. Standing and working in awkward positions in front of laboratory hoods/biological safety cabinets can also present ergonomic problems.
Ionizing radiation sources are found in a wide range of occupational settings, including laboratories. These radiation sources can pose a considerable health risk to affected workers if not properly controlled. Any laboratory possessing or using radioactive isotopes must be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and/or by a state agency that has been approved by the NRC, 10 CFR 31.11 and 10 CFR 35.12.
The fundamental objectives of radiation protection measures are:
to limit entry of radionuclides into the human body (via ingestion, inhalation, absorption, or through open wounds) to quantities as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) and always within the established limits;
to limit exposure to external radiation to levels that are within established dose limits and as far below these limits as is reasonably achievable.
Autoclaves and sterilizers
Workers should be trained to recognize the potential for exposure to burns or cuts that can occur from handling or sorting hot sterilized items or sharp instruments when removing them from autoclaves/sterilizers or from steam lines that service the autoclaves.
Centrifuges
Centrifuges, due to the high speed at which they operate, have great potential for injuring users if not operated properly. Unbalanced centrifuge rotors can result in injury, even death. Sample container breakage can generate aerosols that may be harmful if inhaled. The majority of all centrifuge accidents are the result of user error.