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Lab Safety || Accidents
|| Safety Equipment || Lab
Preparation || Safety Links
 Lab
Safety: Everyone
is Responsible!
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"I didn't mean to" and "It wasn't my fault"
are two statements that have no place in the lab. If someone
is hurt or equipment is broken, these statements cannot
undo the harm. |
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Horse-play will not be tolerated. If it occurs,
those involved will be disqualified from the lab and given
a zero for the assignment. |
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Lack of pre-lab preparation is the main threat
to safety in our lab. If you and your group are unprepared,
you will be unsure of yourself, waist time, and have a
good chance of making a mistake that leads to a problem. |
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At the beginning of each lab period, you will
be given a chance to ask questions. If you are unsure
of some procedure, now is the time to ask. Always pay
close attention to any verbal instructions given at this
time. |
- Safety
Glasses:
- Safety glasses are stored in the chemical cart in
the center of the lab area.
- Other protective clothing, such as gloves and aprons
are at your option, unless otherwise noted.
- Contact
lenses should NOT be worn in the lab.
- It is almost impossible to remove contacts after chemicals
have been splashed into the eyes.
- Chemicals trapped under contacts will damage the eye
even more than normal.
- The plastic used for some types of contact lenses is
permeable to vapors found in the laboratory. If these vapors
are trapped behind the lens, extensive irritation may occur.
- Long
hair and bulky clothing are dangerous in the lab.
- There is a danger of catching fire, as well as being
drawn through chemicals.
- Wear appropriate clothing.
- Tie back long hair.
- Rings,
watches, and jewelry are dangerous in the lab.
- Corrosive or irritating liquids may get underneath a
ring or watch and produce irritation.
- Dangling jewelry may catch on a piece of labware and
cause an accident.
Accidents
Can Happen:
Broken Glass | Cuts
and Scrapes | Chemical Spills | Fires
Remain
calm! A minor problem quickly
becomes a major one if you don't.
- Report all accidents immediately,
no matter how small.
- Types of accidents and how to handle them:
- Broken Glass:
The
most common accident in the lab, even with the best of
care.
- If you are using the equipment properly, you will not
get into trouble for breaking a piece of glassware.
- If you are not using the equipment properly, or if
horse-play is involved, you will be required to pay for
the broken glassware.
- If glassware is broken, stop where you are.
Report the breakage to your facilitator.
- Do not move until your facilitator says it is safe
to do so. There will most likely be many small slivers
of glass that you do not immediately notice.
- If anyone is cut, report it immediately.
- Your facilitator will collect the broken glass,
not you. More minor cuts occur after this type
of accident than during it.
- Chemical spills are often involved with glass breakage.
When that occurs, follow those safety precautions too.
- Cuts and Scrapes:
Do
not come into contact with another person's blood.
- Report the situation to your facilitator and let
him help the injured person.
- There is always a possibility of infection,
even with the most minor injury. For this reason you should
report any cut or scrape, even if there is no visible
blood.
- If there is blood at any lab station, everyone
is to turn off all burners and move to your seat in the
classroom area until told it is safe to return to the
lab.
- Chemical Spills:
You
are to treat all chemical spills as DANGEROUS.
- Stop where you are and let your teacher advise you
about what to do.
- Did any of the spill get on your skin or clothing?
Sometimes adding water is the worst thing you can do.
- Depending on the chemical spilled, we might just have
a mess to clean up or we might have a very dangerous situation.
- The most potentially dangerous chemicals used in our
lab are corrosive acids and bases. Even though you will
normally be using chemicals that have been diluted, you
should always treat acids and bases with care.
- Spill Pillows to absorb large amounts of chemicals
are stored in the chemical cart, if needed.
- Elbow-length, chemical-resistant gloves to use during
clean up are stored in the chemical cart, if needed.
- Glass breakage often occurs along with chemical spills.
If that happens, follow those safety precautions too.
- Fire:
When
you are not heating something - turn the burner off.
- Lab burners are the source of most problems:
- Bunsen burners have very few malfunctions. If a malfunction
occurs, turn off the gas and notify your facilitator-
end of problem.
- The flame from alcohol burners is hard to see. Pay
close attention when using them.
- Be aware when a burner is in use at your lab station.
Be extremely careful during that time.
- Paper is the most common type of fire in the
lab.
- This type of fire is cause by carelessness and easily
prevented. Take only one lab sheet to your station to
follow your written procedures and record data. Leave
all reference materials at your desk. If you need to
refer to reference material, leave the lab area to do
so.
- If a paper fire occurs, push the paper into the
lab sink and turn on the water - end of problem.
- Clothing or Hair is the most dangerous type
of fire in the lab.
- Don't panic!
- If you are the one involved in a fire - stay where
you are - help is coming. "Stop, drop, and roll"
is still the best course of action.
- If your partner is involved in a fire - get the
fire blanket.
Your facilitator will be racing you to the blanket and
both of you will help your partner smother the
fire.
- If the fire is not at your lab station - stay
away !
Lab
Safety Equipment:
- Eye Wash Station:
The
eye wash station is located on the side of the front lab table.
- The station should only be used if chemicals come in
contact with the eyes.
- Eyelids have to be forcibly kept open to ensure effective
washing.
- Be sure to wash from the nose out to the ear. This will
avoid washing chemicals back into the eye or into an unaffected
eye.
- Flood eyes and eyelids with water for a minimum of 15
minutes.
- Contacts should not be worn during labs. If you are wearing
them when involved with an accident, remove them as soon
as possible to rinse eyes of any harmful chemicals.
- After the science facilitator determines the eyes are
completely flushed, both of the victim's eyes should be
covered with a clean or sterile gauze.
- Safety Shower:
The
safety shower is located in the Chemistry lab. (Room
108)
- The shower provides an effective means of treatment in
the event that large amounts of chemicals are spilled or
splashed onto the skin or clothing.
- As long as the hanging handle is pulled down, the safety
shower will supply a continuous stream of water to cover
the entire body.
- Individuals should remove clothing, including shoes and
jewelry, while under an operating shower.
- Fire Safety Blanket:
The
fire safety blanket is located on the north lab table.
- Fire blankets are not the best means to extinguish a
fire. They may be used to extinguish clothing that is burning,
but should never be used on any other type of fire.
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Never
wrap a standing student in the blanket. This
creates a "chimney effect", bringing the fire
directly to the student's face. |
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- Only a Haylon fire extinguisher should be used on a fire
involving personal clothing. The materials from other extinguishers
can cut off oxygen to a person surrounded by the cloud of
chemicals.
- Fire blankets are a good means to keep shock victims
warm.
- Fire Extinguisher:
The
fire extinguisher is located on the northeast lab table.
- Sprinkler System:
Sprinklers
located throughout the lab area are automatically activated.
- Students should not attempt to alter the system in any
way.
- Items in the lab should be stored at least 18 inches
away from the sprinkler heads.
- Items should not hang from the sprinkler heads.
- Intense heat should not be used near the sprinkler heads.
San
Luis Obispo High School Science Labs:
- The scientific method
can't be learned following cookbook-like directions.
- The purpose of a lab experiment is to test a hypothesis.
In most of our labs, you will be given a question or a hypothesis
to design your own procedures to test.
- To be successful in your laboratory experience, know
how to:
successfully
conduct a lab
properly
use lab equipment
correctly
perform lab techniques
write
a lab report using this report guide
evaluate
your report using this evaluation rubric
Prelab
Preparation:
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You are not prepared for
a lab until your plan
is neatly written on a Lab Report Form. |
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- You must have a clearly stated question before a hypothesis
can be formed. Some of your lab experiences will begin
by giving you a hypothesis. In those cases, it is important
that you decide what question was asked?
- Once you understand the question, you must find out all
you can about the topic. This is called research. Your
success and safety in the lab depends on how well you research
each topic before trying to answer the lab question.
- Based on your research, you should be able to formulate
a possible answer to the question - this becomes your hypothesis.
- Some of your lab questions might have answers that have
been repeatedly obtained and generally accepted as correct.
An example is the question, "What percentage of the air
in the atmosphere is made up of oxygen?" You should be able
to find reference material that gives the answer. For your
lab purposes, this number would be called the theoretical
value. When you perform an experiment and get a number,
that number would be called the experimental value.
- When a theoretical value is known, you can determine
just how good your experiment is and how well your procedures
were done by using the following equation to calculate the
experimental error.
Planning
An Experiment:
- Visualize yourself doing the experiment in our room!
- What will you need to test your hypothesis? While you
must think about the equipment you will use, an "equipment
list" is not part of your Lab Report Form.
- Make notes about everything you will do as you see yourself
performing the experiment. Do not make these notes on a
Lab Report Form. These are your "working" notes. You will
probably make changes as you continue thinking about the
lab.
- Will you be making any measurements during the lab?
- What other data will you need to collect?
- What calculations will be needed?
- How will you know if your hypothesis is right or wrong?
- Look over your notes again. Are there any places where
mistakes might be easily made? Can you do something different
that will lower the chance for mistakes?
- When you are satisfied that you have covered everything,
write your procedures on a Lab
Report Form.
- Make your procedures clear enough that someone else could
follow them.
Lab Station Clean-Up:
- Clean-up is important for the safety of others and for
the preservation of equipment.
- Your lab station and equipment should be cleaned before
you worry about the lab report.
- What clean-up should be done after each lab?
- Dispose of chemicals as directed by your teacher.
- NEVER put unused chemicals back into their original container.
- Return chemical containers to the chemical table.
- Wash and dry all glassware, then store properly.
- Clean hardware, but DO NOT wash. If any hardware is wet,
dry completely before storing. This is to prevent rusting.
- Clean and dry your lab table.
Research
Links:
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Types
of Fire Extinguishers:
