Safety & Lab Tips

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Good Manners

Good manners make lab enjoyable and rewarding for everyone.

• Clean up messes you make in communal work areas: reagent fume hood, balance room, etc. (wipe with wet sponge as needed)
• At the end of each lab session
  • clean your work area (bench & fume hood) by wiping it with a wet sponge
  • dispose of all trash (unused chemicals, pipets, gloves, paper, broken glass) in the appropriate container
  • store all personal glassware in your desk whether it is clean or dirty, wet or dry
  • return communal materials (apparatus, reagents) to their appropriate storage areas (apparatus should be returned clean)
• Do not use any unfamiliar equipment without the approval of your instructor or laboratory assistant
• Notify your instructor or laboratory assistant immediately if
  • you become injured
  • you get splashed by chemicals
  • you notice/start a fire or explosion
  • you spill a substantial amount of material (or break a mercury-containing thermometer
• Protect the integrity of communal reagents
  • Do not put anything into a reagent bottle except a clean pipette/spatula
  • Cap bottles as soon as possible
  • Return reagents to their original locations as soon as possible
• Label and properly store all chemicals you make
  • Store volatile liquids in a fume hood in a tightly capped container
  • Do not cap a hot liquid until it has cooled to room temperature
  • Do not use wood/rubber corks, plastic caps, and parafilm to cap organic liquids (these caps may be suitable for solids and aqueous solutions)
  • Use Teflon stoppers and glass stoppers to cap organic liquids