Chapter 16 — chapter 16

Safety rules: wear a lab coat, safety goggles and gloves; never eat, drink or taste chemicals; know the location of fire extinguisher, eye-wash and first aid box; read labels; use a fume hood for toxic gases; never add water to concentrated acid. Most hazards in a laboratory fall into three categories. Physical hazards: slips and falls on wet floors, cuts from broken glassware (use cut-resistant gloves and dispose of glass in special containers), burns from hot apparatus, electric shocks, fire. Chemical hazards: corrosive (acids, alkalis), toxic (Hg, CO, cyanides), flammable (ethanol, ether), explosive and oxidising chemicals — shown by hazard pictograms; use them by standard procedures. Biological hazards: allergens and microbes including viruses and bacteria, transferred from animals, plants, water and air to humans.