The CDC publishes this guide for high-school science teachers, but it’s useful for university-level researchers as well. Don’t miss the chemical storage and compatibility charts.
Category: Reference
Safety reference material and links
Biosafety in microbiological and biomedical laboratories
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publish “the BMBL,” the primary reference on biosafety. Compliance with practices in this guide is required for those on NIH grants.
Prudent practices in the laboratory
The National Academy of Sciences publishes the definitive book on lab safety. It’s technically written for chemical labs (hence the full title: Prudent Practices in the Laboratory: Handling and Management of Chemical Hazards) but it’s got substantial information on other hazards such as liquid nitrogen and other cryogens, centrifugation, etc. A large portion of the book is devoted to management topics like how to effectively manage chemical inventories and how to assess the hazards of a chemical you haven’t used before.
A PDF version of the book may be obtained from the National Academy Press. The hardcover book is $99.95, but the PDF is free if you register.
What to do if you can’t follow a safety rule
Sometimes, safety rules can be impractical. This can happen if the safety measure compromises the experimental intent, for example, or if it protects against a hazard that is not actually present in that specific case. Excessive cost can be a reason to vary from standard safety practices as well.
When it is necessary to omit a standard practice, it is often possible to craft solutions that offer equivalent safety. This can involve anything from simply getting permission from Health, Safety, and Environment (when there is no actual hazard) or completely re-evaluating the experimental design and construction with the help of a safety professional.
Contact Dan Kuespert, Lab Safety Advocate, for assistance in identifying solutions and getting permission to vary from JHU requirements.
Finding (Material) Safety Data Sheets for chemicals
Safety Data Sheets, or “SDSs” are documents that summarize relevant safety information on a chemical. The old name, “Material Safety Data Sheet” is obsolete.
JHU uses a commercial SDS database called ChemWatch. See GOLDFFX Guide for detailed instructions on how to use ChemWatch.
The database contains hundreds of thousands of vendor/manufacturer SDSs, updated frequently, plus many “Gold” SDSs written by ChemWatch toxicologists. You should review both any manufacturer SDSs as well as the Gold SDS for the chemical you are using.
If ChemWatch does not have the SDS you need, contact the Department of Health, Safety, and Environment to request a SDS. If you are not provided with a SDS upon request to your supervisor, by law you do not have to (and should not) work with that chemical.
You must access ChemWatch from a JHU IP address. If you receive a login prompt, do not try to login with your JHED ID. Connect to the campus virtual private network (VPN) using Junos Pulse and retry.
Welcome to Hopkins Lab Safety!
Welcome to the new JHU Laboratory Safety website. All of us in health & safety hope that it is a useful resource for you, helping you find information you need when you need it.
This site runs on WordPress, and we expect that it will be far easier to update than the old static site. Constructive comments can be sent to Dan Kuespert, Lab Safety Advocate.
Sharps do not belong on bench tops!
Something I see all too frequently in labs is sharp objects like syringe needles and razor blades left out on lab benches without shielding. Proper sharps handling is extremely important–besides the usually-painful cuts and punctures that result, any materials on the sharp (pathogens, chemicals, the lead solder you were scraping) now has direct access to your bloodstream. Yuck!
Please note these basic facts about sharps handling:
- Anything that can cause a cut, puncture, or other skin penetration is a sharp. This includes needles/syringes, knife blades, Pasteur pipets, broken glass, etc.
- Discard disposable sharps such as needles and Pasteur pipets immediately into sharps containers when not in use. Generally, recapping is not recommended for disposables, although if they are required for more than one use a “one-handed scoop” method is allowed to place the shield on the sharp.
- Never leave non-disposable sharps such as X-Acto blades unshielded on the bench when not in use. Place them in containers for cleaning or placed in holders not on the bench. It is typical in my experience for students to place the sharps in Petri dishes on the shelf above the bench. In this location they are easily accessible without being potential cut injury sources when someone tries to pick them up off the bench. There is also less chance of the sharp being knocked on the floor or covered by other lab detritus and becoming a hidden hazard.
- Dispose sharps only in approved sharps containers such as those sold in Mudd Store. Things should not stick out the top of the container—they should be fully enclosed. Never place sharps directly in a biohazard box or other trash container.
- When a sharps container is 3/4 full, replace it immediately—the containers are sharp-resistant, not sharp-proof, and forcing the lid on can sometimes cause a needle or blade to puncture the container. Place the sharps container in a biohazard box for disposal. (If the sharps are radioactive, contact Mina Razavi, the Homewood Radiation Safety Officer, for additional instructions.)
- If glass becomes broken, use tongs or a brush and dustpan to collect the shards for disposal in the sharps box—using hands is a frequent source of injury and hazardous materials injection.