M465:Lab Safety
LABORATORY SAFETY RULES
Laboratory safety is the responsibility of everyone working in the laboratory. The following laboratory rules are provided to help ensure your safety and the safety of others during the M465 lab sessions.
1. There is NO eating, drinking, chewing gum or smoking permitted in the laboratory at anytime. Mouth pipeting is not allowed. Pencils, pens, or other materials should never be placed in your mouth. Keep your hands away from your face to prevent undesirable material being transferred to your face. Always wash your hands before leaving the laboratory.
2. Unneeded books and bags may be placed in the cubbies just inside the laboratory. This reduces clutter in the lab, reduces the chance that you will contaminate any of your belongings and it protects others against tripping over books or bags in the aisles.
3. The JH022 laboratory is equipped with a fire alarm, fire extinguishers, a fire blanket, a safety shower, an eyewash and a first aid kit. Your instructor will indicate the location of each during the first laboratory period.
4. If you have long hair, pin or tie it out of your face. Loose hair can contaminate an experiment or catch on fire when using open flame.
5. Should your hair or clothing catch on fire: DO NOT RUN. Shout for help and someone will give you the fire blanket. Wrap yourself in the blanket, then fall to the floor and roll slowly back and forth to put out the flames.
6. All accidents such as burns, cuts, eye contamination, spills, etc., should be reported to your instructor immediately. Open cuts should be covered with bandages or wear disposable gloves. Students who have suppressed immunity are urged to discuss your relevant medical history with your instructor, privately, before beginning this laboratory course.
7. Mix liquid cultures gently to avoid foaming and splashing, either of which may produce an aerosol of the bacterial culture.
8. If a culture is spilled, cover the area with towels and soak the towels with disinfectant. Notify your lab instructor immediately. Let the towels stand for half an hour. Place the contaminated materials in a container with disinfectant or in a plastic autoclave bag which can be sealed.
9. Avoid wearing clothing with long, full sleeves to the laboratory. Open toed shoes are not permitted.
10. Decontaminate work surfaces at the beginning and end of each laboratory. Use the disinfectant provided in the laboratory. Every student must wash their hands, with disinfectant if necessary, before leaving the laboratory.
11. Transfer needles and loops are sterilized by heating the entire length of the wire to redness before and after using.
12. Inoculated media placed in the incubator must be properly labeled (i.e. with your name, date, and the nature of the specimen), and put on the assigned shelf. Cultures are never to be taken from the laboratory.
13. Chemical and Biological materials must be disposed of in the proper manner. Pay attention to “Clean-Up” instructions that indicate how each material should be discarded or stored. It is the responsibility of each student to follow these directions. When in doubt, double-check with your instructor.
14. Non-toxic paper products can be placed in the wastebaskets. Non-disposable glassware should be rinsed out and placed on your bench. Broken glass and Pasteur pipettes should be discarded in the red “sharps” containers located in the lab. Biological materials that are not sharps should be discarded in the biosafety hazard bags in the 10 gallon buckets on the floor.
