Why Are Lab Safety Rules Important

It is essential and absolutely vital to exercise proper lab safety any time that a person, including yourself, is in the lab. One of the most important parts of remaining safe in a lab is wearing the proper clothing and equipment, such as goggles and an apron. It is also very important that everyone who is eligible to participate in a lab or is present in the lab is well-versed in the basic and general rules of lab safety. It is important to follow these rules so that everyone in the lab can avoid injuries both severe and minor. There are several different articles of equipment and clothing that all people in the lab are required to wear, regardless of the experiment. Goggles, which protect your eyes from harmful and dangerous chemicals and
objects, are one of the most vital items that you can wear in a lab. Failure to wear goggles could result in accidentally becoming blind. Aprons, which cover and protect your torso and lower body, are worn around the shoulders and waist, and required to be worn in almost all labs internationally. Most aprons are fire-retardant and are thick enough to waistband small amounts of acidic chemicals. Other pieces of equipment, such as gloves, hair ties, ear plugs, are only mandatory if an instructor deems them necessary and can be added or removed depending on the lab. Numerous safety rules are universally understood and followed. Some rules, like carrying a blade away from other people and yourself and downwards, are common sense, but other rules, like not mixing chemicals in a sink unless it is improved, are not. Examples of rules that are not “common sense” are to wash your eyes for at least twenty minutes at an eyewash station if a chemical enters your eye, always turn off the gas then you are not monitoring it directly, never leaving your station to horseplay with others, and never touching a heated glass object without tongs or mittens are some of the numerous rules that people are to follow when in the lab.