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Chemical Safety for Laboratory Employees

Chemical safety for the laboratory employee includes the following:

Chemical Hygiene Plan
Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's)
Annual Laboratory Inspections
Safety Procedure to Vacate/Relocate a Laboratory
Respiratory Protection Program for Voluntary Use of a Respirator

Chemical Hygiene Plan

The purpose of the Chemical Hygiene Plan is to assure that employees, students and visiting scientists of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science (RFUMS) engaged in the use of potentially hazardous chemicals are provided with a safety work environment. It has been developed specifically for the laboratories of RFUMS where laboratory work is performed on a laboratory scale.

Training is required for anyone working in a laboratory. Contact EHS for your training requirements

Standard Operating Procedures

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) templates have been developed by EHS. Researchers are responsible for developing lab specific SOPs for procedures involving the use of hazardous chemicals and ensure lab employees have been trained. Templates and procedure for submitting SOPs.

Annual Laboratory Inspections

In order to assist researchers in complying with Federal, State, and Institutional requirements, EHS conducts annual laboratory safety inspections. The inspections address issues of general laboratory safety, chemical safety, biological safety and hazardous waste management. As part this process, EHS has developed the Laboratory Safety Inspection Form to assist RFUMS faculty and staff in identifying and correcting laboratory hazards. Principal Investigators (PIs) will be notified by EHS a month before their annual inspection is due. The PI's will be responsible for scheduling their inspections on the EHS Inspection Schedule Calendar using Google Calendar (instructions). All inspections are conducted with the Principal Investigator and lab manager in attendance. Following the inspection, EHS will issue a report detailing the findings, proposed corrective actions, and target date for the corrective actions to be completed. The ultimate goal of the Laboratory Safety Inspection program is to promote a culture of safety, thus making RFUMS both safe and compliant.

Procedure to Vacate/Relocate a Laboratory

To help facilitate smooth and safe transitions during occupancy changes in laboratories, the safety procedure to vacation/relocate a laboratory must be followed. This will ensure all chemicals, radioisotopes, controlled substances, biohazard, equipment, materials, etc., are properly transferred or disposed. This procedure must be implemented when an investigator leaves the Institution, a laboratory is moved (physically) within the Institution, a laboratory function changes significantly (transfer to a different department, new research protocol requires significantly different materials, equipment, biochemical, biological, etc.), or when a department chair requests it. View more information.

Respiratory Protection Program for Voluntary Use of a Respirator

RFUMS utilizes engineering control measures to prevent atmospheric contamination and, therefore, respiratory use is not required within the working environment and the working environment is not one in which respirator use is deemed necessary to protect the health of employees. Nevertheless, the University has become aware that, for various reasons, a particular employee may desire to use a respirator in a particular working environment. This is termed "voluntary use". A respiratory protection program has been developed and implemented to address the necessary requirements relating to any voluntary use of a respirator by any employee in the working environment.

Use a Respirator Form