Lab Safety Awareness Week

Lab Safety Awareness Week is dedicated to recognizing the successes of laboratory safety programs and offering ideas on how to keep faculty, staff and students safe as they conduct their research.

Here are a few ways to participate this week:

Submit a short description about your lab or someone you know who creatively embodies or embraces lab safety in their practices for our “Safety Spotlight.”
Share lab safety resources with your lab members during group meetings.

General Lab Safety Reminders

In the spirit of Lab Safety Awareness Week, below are ways to regularly and consistently prioritize lab safety.

Conduct a risk/hazard assessment prior to beginning any new work or a change in scope.
Review lab/area Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) before beginning any hazardous work.
Be sure to wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), including safety glasses and lab coats.
Conduct all operations with the potential to emit hazardous gases/vapors in a fume hood or other exhaust capture device.
Complete required EHS training (available through the Atlas Learning Center) before you begin your research, work or study. 
Avoid working alone under potentially hazardous conditions. See the Working Alone Policy for more information. 
In an emergency, call 617-253-1212 or dial 100 from campus phones. 
If an occupational injury/illness occurs, supervisors must submit an injury/illness report within 24 hours of the incident.

Safety Spotlight

Recognize individual(s) or lab groups who creatively embody or embrace lab safety in their practices.

Submit a Safety Spotlight

2024

MIT.Nano Wet Chemical Processing Training

Administered by MIT.nano’s Dave Dunham (EHS Coordinator), Maansi Patel (Research Specialist), and Kris Payer (Assistant Director of Operations).

When training new and existing users on the hazards of working with chemicals in a lab environment, MIT.nano has taken the extra step in ensuring everyone’s safety through the training course “MIT.nano Wet Chemical Processing Training.” Commonly referred to as “wet chem,” the course offers training videos, supporting documentation and resources to educate safe lab practices. With assistance from multiple MIT.nano staff members, training videos were developed inside of MIT.nano that address identifying safety features, the lifecycle of a chemical, personal protective equipment (PPE) donning and doffing procedures, and waste change-out procedures. Supporting training material is available to all users of MIT.nano for continuous refreshment about its documents and policies.

The training provides a foundation of chemical awareness and safety. Offered along with the training material described above, a classroom session is held on a weekly basis to further enhance the knowledge base around the hazards of wet chemical processing. The training covers basic lab guidelines, PPE considerations, hazardous waste disposal, chemical processing hazards, and lab emergency scenarios. The wet chem training course serves as a baseline for safe work practices involving hazardous chemicals.

Lab Safety Awareness Week highlights the effort put forth to educate users of MIT.nano labs. Well done, MIT.nano!

Resources