Physical hazards require eye protection designed for physical hazards. Always wear safety glasses or goggles when working with manual or power tools that may produce small particles (e.g., sanding, milling, cutting, hammering, scraping, etc.); working with tools that can generate droplets or a strong (>20psi) fluidstream, whether the fluid is air, water, or something else; processes producing lots of dust or other particles in the air (e.g., blowing leaves or snow from the sidewalk). Learn more in Physical hazard eye protection.
Category: Pointers Resources
Pointers Resouces in note index
Protect your eyes from chemical hazards
Chemical hazards require eye protection specifically designed for chemical hazards. Many chemicals can cause serious damage or irritation when they get into your eyes. These include, but are not limited to, acids, caustics and solvents. When working with chemical eye hazards, wear chemical splash goggles to protect your eyes – learn more in Chemical Hazard Eye Protection.
Is your plastic gas tubing an over-inflated balloon?
Many labs use compressed gases, and often we use pressure regulators to step down the 2000-3000 psi in the cylinder to the use pressure. If the regulator can produce more than about 30 psi outlet, your plastic tubing might be in danger of rupture. Read more about how to fix this without buying a new $500 regulator in How to prevent plastic tubing rupture.
Safety and extra cost don’t go together
Many people think that safety improvements for an experiment always cost extra money. This is not true–many times, appropriate improvements avoid cost while making the research inherently safer. Read about one such case that saved the Electrical and Computer Engineering department over $10,000 (and lots of class time) in Cost reduction ECE laser teaching lab.
What eye protection do I use?
There are many different types of protective eyewear available, and each one is designed to protect against a different hazard. Having the wrong type of safety eyewear can be worse than not wearing eye protection at all. Learn about the basic types in Choosing eye protection.
This Hopkins Safety Note is the start of a series on eye protection, so look for future notes covering the different types in detail.
Communicate precisely and accurately with labmates and collaborators
In the lab, we often collaborate with others in the lab or with outside researchers. It is essential that lab protocols be communicated consistently and in language everyone understands. Learn about a close call that occurred when a JHU researcher misunderstood an outside collaborator’s protocol in CCall miscommunication MD.
Is your “laser pointer” safe?
Many people don’t know that handheld lasers sold as “laser pointers” may be grossly overpowered and very dangerous both to the user and to the audience. Learn about laser pointer hazards and why Homewood allows only Class 2 laser pointers in Using laser pointers.
Using extension cords, power strips, and surge suppressors
Every office and lab uses electrical equipment, but the wall socket is not always in the right place. An extension cord, power strip, or surge suppressor offers a quick way to fix this situation. Sometimes, though, this is not a good thing.
Learn about fire and other hazards from extension cords and their ilk in Extension cords v2.
How to dispose of empty chemical containers
If you use chemical products or lab chemicals, you probably empty a bottle occasionally. What do you do with it?
Improperly-disposed containers can expose custodians and the public to hazardous chemicals, can create legal liability for you and the university, and can even explode at the disposal facility.
Find out what to do (and what not to do) in What do I do with my empties?
WHO laboratory biosafety manual
The World Health Organization publishes a guide to biosafety in the lab, although it is not as well-known (or as encyclopedic) as the CDC’s version.