Lab Safety
Sign before your first lab
Lab Safety Contract
Biomedical science is a hands-on lab class. That is the best part, and it is also why safety comes first. We use tools, chemicals, cultures, and preserved specimens that are safe when handled correctly and dangerous when they are not. These rules keep you, your lab partners, and your teacher safe. You will get extra safety instructions for each specific lab on top of these. Read every rule, then sign with a parent or guardian. You cannot start any lab until your signed contract is on file.
Printable version (PDF)Read all 21 rules
How you act in the lab
- 1. Act responsibly at all times. No horseplay, no practical jokes, no pranks. A lab is not the place for it.
- 2. Follow every written and spoken instruction carefully. If you do not understand a step, ask before you do it.
- 3. Do not touch equipment, supplies, specimens, or materials without permission from your teacher.
- 4. Do only approved experiments. Never run an experiment when the teacher is out of the room.
- 5. Never eat, drink, chew gum, or taste anything in the lab. Keep food and drinks out of the room.
- 6. Keep your hands away from your face, eyes, and mouth while you work. Wash your hands with soap and water before you leave.
Protect your body
- 7. Wear your goggles or safety glasses whenever you are told to, and keep them on for the whole activity. There are no exceptions to this rule.
- 8. Wear gloves for anything wet, chemical, or biological, and a lab coat or apron when told to.
- 9. Tie back long hair, remove dangling jewelry, and avoid loose or baggy clothing. Closed-toe shoes only.
- 10. Keep your hands, and everyone's, out of the biohazard and sharps containers. Those are one-way.
Chemicals, heat, and sharps
- 11. Treat every chemical as dangerous. Do not touch or smell a chemical unless the procedure tells you to, and read its Safety Data Sheet (SDS) first: Section 2 (hazards), Section 8 (PPE), Section 4 (first aid).
- 12. Handle all glassware with care. Never pick up hot or broken glass with your bare hands, and check every piece for chips and cracks before you use it.
- 13. Use burners, hot plates, and flames only when told to. Do not put anything into a flame unless instructed, and never leave a lit burner unattended. When heating a test tube, point the open end away from every person.
- 14. Cut away from your body, never toward it. Use scalpels, blades, and dissecting tools only as instructed, and put them in the sharps container, never the trash.
- 15. Follow your teacher's directions to dispose of every waste material. Biological waste is decontaminated (10 percent bleach) before disposal and never goes in the regular trash.
Equipment, specimens, and the room
- 16. Carry a microscope with both hands: one on the arm, one under the base.
- 17. Treat all specimens and cultures with care and respect. Do not remove any specimen, culture, chemical, or equipment from the lab.
- 18. Never open a storage cabinet or enter the prep room without permission.
- 19. Keep your work area and the whole room neat. Bring only your lab instructions, worksheets, and something to write with to the bench.
- 20. Clean your area and equipment at the end of the lab and return everything clean and working to its place.
When something goes wrong
- 21. Learn where the safety equipment is (eyewash, shower, extinguisher, spill kit, exits) and how to use it before you start. Report every accident, injury, spill, breakage, or hazard to your teacher right away, no matter how small.
Sign
Both the student and a parent or guardian must sign.