Laboratory Safety Considerations and Training 

Essential questions 

What safety consideration should be implemented in the laboratory experimental work?

What regulatory documents govern each aspect of lab safety?

General safety considerations

Before any laboratory experiments, a researcher should become familiar with the laboratory design, location of protective and emergency equipment and exits, general laboratory safety procedures and handling of hazardous materials, and undergo lab safety training. While planning a particular experiment, the risk assessment and mitigation should be conducted with the following key considerations:

Hazard: Any source of risk, including substance, biological specimen, physical parameter, or action that can be harmful to the person conducting research or physically present in the laboratory.

Exposure: Direct or indirect contact with a hazard that causes negative effect on the person conducting the experiment or physically present in the laboratory.

Dose-response relationship: A relationship between the dose, amount, intensity, or duration of the hazardous agent, and the deleterious outcome for the exposed individual. 

Risk: Estimated combination of the probability and magnitude of deleterious effect of hazardous agent.

Uncertainty: A perceived confidence in risk assessment outcomes that can be based on limited knowledge, false assumption, or statistical variability.

Risk management: The course of action that is designed to mitigate laboratory hazards based on the completed risk assessment.  

A well-designed laboratory experiment should have safety as the key consideration that cannot be overlooked regardless of the scientific merits of the research design [1]. Each laboratory entrance should have GHS safety labels clearly displayed [7], and requires each person use appropriate personal protective equipment.

Chemical safety

American Chemical Society offers extensive array of educational sources for chemical safety [3-6]. Please watch the following video to gain a better understanding of chemical lab safety:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o77QEeM-68

Safety Data Sheets (SDS) is the source of information about possible health risks, safe handling and disposal of every chemical used in the lab. They should be freely available in every laboratory and used during the risk assessment before planning laboratory experiment. Specific SDS requirements can be viewed on https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3514.html

A chemical hygiene plan is document that outlines the policies, procedures, and responsibilities that protect employees from the health hazards in the laboratory workplace. Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories Standard (Title 29, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1910.1450), specifies the requirements of chemical hygiene plan. It can be viewed on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration web site: www.osha.gov.

Biological safety

Biological hazards can be represented by the following objects:

• Biological toxins
• Pathogenic viruses, prions, bacteria, protozoa, fungi
• Toxin-producing living species
• Animals that can be the source or vectors for zoonotic infections
• Biological specimens that can be the source of infection (blood, urine, stool, tissue specimens, cadavers, etc.)
• Genetically engineered living organisms
• Genetic DNA constructs that can be transferred into the wild living species and cause genetic transformation.

Risk assessment and experimental design that involves exposure to any biological hazard should be conducted in accordance with OSHA Laboratory Safety Guidance [1], section Biohazards. Compliance with these standards is necessary to protect the researchers, control exposure to the biohazards, and prevent the environment and general population from the consequences of contamination and/or infection by laboratory biohazards. 

Detailed requirements for handling each type of biohazard are outlined in Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories [8], a seminal publication that regulates these procedures. 

Radiation safety

All areas with ionizing radiation sources (gamma rays, X rays, neutrons, and energetic beta sources) should be clearly labeled as such [1]. 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 [1]. Personnel exposure monitoring devices should be used to accurately register individual exposure. For detailed information regarding lab safety while working with ionizing radiation, please visit: www.osha.gov/SLTC/radiationionizing/index.html.

Non-ionizing radiation includes UV, visible light, infrared (IR), microwave (MW), radio frequency (RF), and extremely low frequency (ELF) radiation. The health hazards of these types of radiation are less dangerous, compared to those of ionizing radiation, although they do have to be taken seriously. The following link is a good source of information regarding mitigation of health risks of non-ionizing radiation in the lab: https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/radiation_nonionizing/index.html.

Environmental safety and waste disposal

Over the course of laboratory experiments, waste products are generated that can pose chemical, radioactive, or biological hazard to the exposed individuals and environment. It is responsibility of researchers to characterize, label, and manage storage and disposal of laboratory wastes. These procedures are regulated and require strict compliance with regulatory obligations as outlined in the Laboratory Environmental Sample Disposal Information Document [10].

Suggested readings

Laboratory Safety Guidance. (2011) Occupational Safety and Health Administration https://www.osha.gov/Publications/laboratory/OSHA3404laboratory-safety-guidance.pdf

National Research Council (US) Committee on Prudent Practices in the Laboratory.

Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US). 2011. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK55882/

Safety in Academic Chemistry Laboratories. (2017) American Chemical Society. https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/about/governance/committees/chemicalsafety/publications/safety-in-academic-chemistry-laboratories-students.pdf 

Explore Chemical & Laboratory Safety. American Chemical Society.  https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/chemical-safety.html

Guidelines for Chemical Laboratory Safety in Academic Institutions. (2016). American Chemical Society. https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/about/governance/committees/chemicalsafety/publications/acs-safety-guidelines-academic.pdf

Safety Resources. American Chemical Society. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/chemical-safety/resources.html

Hazard Communication Standard: Labels and Pictograms. (2015) Occupational Safety and Health Administration https://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3636.pdf

Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories.5^th Ed. (2009) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health. https://www.cdc.gov/labs/pdf/CDC-BiosafetyMicrobiologicalBiomedicalLaboratories-2009-P.PDF

Identifying and Evaluating Hazards in Research Laboratories. (2015). American Chemical Society. https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/about/governance/committees/chemicalsafety/publications/identifying-and-evaluating-hazards-in-research-laboratories.pdf

Laboratory Environmental Sample Disposal Information Document. Companion to Standardized Analytical Methods for Environmental Restoration Following Homeland Security Events (SAM) - Revision 5.0. (2015) https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-06/documents/lesdid.pdf