Experiment Safety Checklist
(Recent news articles noted the need for safety checklists when people
are placed in potentially hazardous situations. After an airliner
crashed, there was concern that the pilot may not have orally completed
the pre-landing checklist. A Coast Guard inquiry into the death of
a undersea diver found that no safety checklist to determine if all equipment
was in order prior to the dive. Those articles suggested to me that
before we start each laboratory experiment with potentially hazardous materials,
equipment, or situations, we would be prudent to run through a safety checklist.
What follows is a first attempt to draft such a pre-lab safety checklist.
Save it to your computer, then cut and paste, modify to improve, and print
copies to use.)
Experiment Safety Checklist
Safety equipment:
(All the following should be determined to be present, and have
been inspected, or reasonably tested within the recent past so they are
known to be ready for an emergency. Some, such as eye wash, need
not be tested before every lab if they are tested on a reasonable schedule.
Others, such as room ventillation, should be noted before every lab.)
___ Fire extinguisher (fully charged)Procedural Equipment: (checked for this experiment/students asked to check)
___ Eye wash (operation, flow, temperature, water quality checked)
___ Emergency shower (operation, flow, temperature, water quality checked)
___ Emergency exits (unblocked, unlocked)
___ Water (available)
___ Room ventilation (presently ON with adequate flow)
___ Hood or emergency ventilation (available/on if needed)
___ Phone (available/operational for emergency contact)
___ Glassware ok for useReagents:
___ Electricity safe for work
___ Gas equipment in good condition
___ Work area clear of obstructions and hazards
___ Appropriate packaging for need (amounts not unreasonably large or concentrated)Training:
___ Appropriately labeled including cautions/hazards
___ Transport (cart?) & distribution location (tray?) prepared for spills/accident
___ Emergency spill cleanup ready
___ Students have received appropriate operation directions
___ Students have been trained/reminded of appropriate emergency response
.
(return to CHED page)
.
6/26/99