Laboratory Rules
| DO | DO NOT |
| Realise that the person responsible for your safety is YOU | DO NOT hesitate to ask for advice |
| Familiarise yourself with Health & Safety requirements. | DO NOT smoke, eat, drink or apply cosmetics in a laboratory. |
| Switch off mobile phones – even on silent they interfere with electronic instruments. | DO NOT use mobile phones or personal stereos, iPods etc in the laboratory. If you expecting/need to take an important call, do it outside the laboratory and when in a class, inform the person leading the teaching beforehand. |
| Read the appropriate in-house manual. | Do NOT sit on benches or lean against apparatus. |
| Be familiar with the meaning of the various safety signs that are in use in the workplace and on equipment and materials (generally green signs give information/directions, yellow signs indicate danger of some sort, red signs indicate prohibitions, blue signs identify protective requirements). | DO NOT wedge fire doors open or block fire escapes or exits.
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| Keep an accurate record of what is done in the laboratory: keep a logbook of experiments and maintain a methods/procedures book. | DO NOT wear protective gloves outside the laboratory.
DO NOT wear lab coats in the staff or student lounge. |
| Ensure that you have suitable personal protection: wear a clean lab coat (keep it buttoned with sleeves rolled down!) and use safety spectacles and/or gloves if appropriate. Wear suitable footwear – sandals are not safe if spillages are possible or if moving gas cylinders. | DO NOT leave clothes or other ‘outside’ items on the bench. |
| Keep the working area clean and tidy, removing items not immediately necessary for the work being done. | DO NOT store chemicals in volumetric flasks. |
| Keep all reagent containers closed when not in use – this is especially important for volatile, inflammable or toxic compounds.
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DO NOT store chemicals in Quickfit flasks, unless it is ESSENTIAL moisture or air is excluded. |
| Make sure all containers are clearly labelled (contents, and your name, if appropriate, and date).
UNLABELLED SUBSTANCES WILL BE DISPOSED OF WITHOUT WARNING. |
DO NOT pipette by mouth
DO NOT pipette directly from large containers (decant into a beaker or smaller bottle first). DO NOT use more chemical than you require. DO NOT Leave pipettes standing in tubes or bottles etc. |
| Always use pipette fillers or automatic pipettes if pipetting solutions. | DO NOT hesitate to report spillages. |
| Make sure that all spillages are dealt with according to COSHH assessments and reported immediately should you feel there to be a risk to any other person. | DO NOT pour solvents down the sink.
DO NOT mix chlorinated solvents (eg chloroform) with unchlorinated solvents (eg acetone). DO NOT put biohazards down the sink. |
| Use the correct waste disposal procedures – mark material for disposal clearly with contents and your name – and give to a laboratory technician. Be especially careful when disposing of sharps and broken glass ASK THE TECHNICIAN. | DO NOT place items likely to leak or spill on top of instruments.
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| Keep ALL equipment (including glassware) away from the edges of the bench. | DO NOT tamper with instruments or use unnecessary force when adjusting them. |
| Read and follow any written instructions attached to apparatus or equipment. | DO NOT expect to work outside normal university working hours which are 9-5. If you have a lot of work to do, get in early and plan your time. |
| Complete overnight forms if necessary (authorised by Faculty Facilities Manager or Chief Technician). | DO NOT run in a laboratory. |
| Ask for advice if you are unfamiliar with a procedure. | |
| Familiarise yourself with the location of eye wash stations and fire extinguishers. | |
| Find out how the first aid and other emergency procedures operate. | |
| Always report accidents and dangerous occurrences in the appropriate manner. |
LABORATORY RULES
