Recommendations for Laboratory Heads

Are you in charge of a laboratory? If so, you are also responsible for the safety and well-being of all persons working there as well as for the environment.

• Your duties include being aware of what might happen, establishing what must not happen, and implementing measures aimed at avoiding accidents. 
• When planning an experiment, decide whether hazardous substances are in fact required or whether a less hazardous substance might not be used instead. 
• In addition to the risks that the substances themselves pose, you must establish if there are any risks specific to your factory or plant. Find out whether any hazardous chemical reactions could conceivably occur and decide how these can be avoided. 
• Specify all measures needed in order to assure personal health and safety, according to the ranking technical - organizational - personal, and check these are in place before any hazardous substances are handled. 
• Ensure that hazardous substances are shelved and stored in such a way that they can pose no threat to human health and the environment. Restrict the amounts of combustible substances used in the laboratory to the absolute minimum needed. 
• Issue workers with suitable, effective personal protective clothing and equipment. Ensure that it is kept clean and in good condition. 
• Compose a set of laboratory rules that cover all of the potential health and environmental risks that may be encountered in the laboratory, and also specify general preventive measures and rules of conduct. 
• Compile specific operating procedures for activities that involve the use of hazardous substances (see SafeDAT software). Display these operating procedures prominently within the laboratory, and use them to instruct workers at least once a year in the handling of hazardous substances and in the potential dangers of working with them. 
• Always strive to improve industrial safety and personal well-being in the area for which you are responsible.

To find out more on how you should handle our reagents, please speak to your support contact person. This person can then, if necessary, contact our Industrial Safety Department for further information.