Main safety rules in the laboratory

1. To identify and locate the sites of security and of safety materials (showers, fire extinguishers, eye cleaners, anti-fire blankets, etc.).
2. To wear a lab coat at you bench, and take it off when going to the atrium, cafeteria, amphitheatre, meeting rooms.
3. To protect yourself (wear appropriate safety glasses, mask, gloves, etc.) and remove the protections (gloves) when accessing common amenities (lifts, door handles, coffee machines, etc.).
4. To protect the people present in the laboratory by using shared equipment (sorbonnes, extractor hood, etc.).
5. To wash your hands when entering / leaving the laboratory, using the toilet and before taking a meal.
6. Not to store dangerous packaging (e.g., glass flasks) on upper shelves or close to the edge of the bench.
7. To label all flasks without exception (using label that are clearly understandable by everybody and on which one should find the name, the formula, the pictogram and the safety code).
8. To tidy up the material or equipment as soon as it is no longer necessary, in order that the ensuing experiments might be conducted safely. Leave nothing either on the ground or on the bench.
9. To verify bottles and the glassware before use (discard any cracked item).
10. To verify fixing of gas cylinders and take them away from any source of heat.

1. To smoke, drink, prepare a meal or eat in a laboratory.
2. To perform an experiment without having identified and analyzed beforehand all the risks for the experimenter and for the neighboring people.
3. To work without lab coat, safety glasses, and gloves (appropriate to the situation and products).
4. To set up potentially dangerous assemblies or connections, to bypass or neutralize security systems.
5. To pipet any chemical using the mouth.
6. To manipulate a flammable product in the vicinity of a flame or a hot spot, and to let a Busen burner on unless its immediate requirement.
7. To discharge in the sink flammable or dangerous chemicals, smelling solutions, uninactivated biological samples or products, as well as radiolabelled products.
8. To run in the corridors.
9. To use earphones which prevent from hearing the alarms and the alerts (walkman, iPod, phone, etc.).
10. To work alone in an isolated place or laboratory outside working hours and working days, without wearing an automatic warning device such as a 'man down alarm' - DATI).

Thinking “safety” is thinking about risk before acting For more information http://intranet.igbmc.fr/fr/