essay about laboratory safety

The 10 Most Important Lab Safety Rules

ThoughtCo / Nusha Ashjaee

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• Ph.D., Biomedical Sciences, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
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The science lab is an inherently dangerous place, with fire hazards, dangerous chemicals, and risky procedures. No one wants to have an accident in the lab, so it's imperative to  follow lab safety rules . 

The Most Important Lab Safety Rule

Follow the instructions ! Whether it's listening to your instructor or lab supervisor or following a procedure in a book, it's critical to listen, pay attention, and be familiar with all the steps, from start to finish, before you begin. If you are unclear about any point or have questions, get them answered before starting, even if it's a question about a step later on in the protocol. Know how to use all of the lab equipment before you begin.

Why is this the most important rule? If you don't follow it:

• You endanger yourself and others in the lab.
• You could easily ruin your experiment.
• You put the lab at risk of an accident, which could damage equipment as well as harm people.
• You could get suspended (if you're a student) or fired (if you're a researcher).

Know the Location of Safety Equipment

In the event something goes wrong, it's important to know the location of the safety equipment and how to use it. It's a good idea to periodically check equipment to make sure it is in working order. For example, does water actually come out of the safety shower? Does the water in the eye wash look clean?

Not sure where safety equipment is located? Review lab safety signs and look for them before starting an experiment.

Dress for the Lab

Dress for the lab. This is a safety rule because your clothing is one of your best forms of protection against an accident. For any science lab, wear covered shoes, long pants, and keep your hair up so it can't fall into your experiment or a flame.

Make sure you wear protective gear , as needed. Basics include a lab coat and safety goggles. You may also need gloves, hearing protection, and other items, depending on the nature of the experiment.

Don't Eat or Drink in the Laboratory

Save your snacking for the office, not the lab. Don't eat or drink in the science laboratory. Don't store your food or beverages in the same refrigerator that contains experiments, chemicals, or cultures.

• There is too much risk of contaminating your food. You could touch it with a hand that is coated with chemicals or pathogens or set it down on a lab bench that has residue from past experiments.
• Having drinks in the lab risks your experiment, too. You could spill a drink on your research or lab notebook.
• Eating and drinking in the lab is a form of distraction. If you are eating, you aren't concentrating on your work.
• If you're used to drinking liquids in the lab, you might accidentally reach for and drink the wrong liquid. This is especially true if you did not label your glassware or used lab glassware as dishes.

Don't Taste or Sniff Chemicals

Not only should you not bring in food or drinks, but you shouldn't taste or smell chemicals or biological cultures already in the lab. Tasting or smelling some chemicals can be dangerous or even deadly. The best way to know what's in a container is to label it, so get in the habit of making a label for glassware before adding the chemical.

Don't Play Mad Scientist in the Laboratory

Another important safety rule is to act responsibly in the lab — don't play Mad Scientist, randomly mixing chemicals to see what happens. The result could be an explosion, fire, or release of toxic gases .

Similarly, the laboratory is not the place for horseplay. You could break glassware, annoy others, and potentially cause an accident.

Dispose of Lab Waste Properly

Matthias Tunger/Getty Images

One important laboratory safely rule is to know what to do with your experiment when it's over. Before you start an experiment, you should know what to do at the end. Don't leave your mess for the next person to clean up.

• Are the chemicals safe to dump down the drain? If not, what do you do with them?
• If you have biological cultures, is it safe to clean up with soap and water or do you need an autoclave to kill dangerous organisms?
• Do you have broken glass or needles? Know the protocol for disposing of "sharps".

Know What to Do With Lab Accidents

 Getty Images/Oliver Sun Kim

Accidents happen, but you can do your best to prevent them and have a plan to follow when they occur. Most laboratories have a plan to follow in the event of an accident.

One particularly important safety rule is to tell a supervisor if and when an accident occurs . Don't lie about it or try to cover it up. If you get cut, exposed to a chemical, bitten by a lab animal, or spill something there could be consequences, and the danger isn't necessarily only to you. If you don't get care, sometimes you could expose others to a toxin or pathogen. Also, if you don't admit to an accident, you could get your lab in a lot of trouble.

Leave Experiments at the Lab

Getty Images/G Robert Bishop

It's important, for your safety and the safety of others, to leave your experiment at the lab. Don't take it home with you. You could have a spill or lose a specimen or have an accident. This is how science fiction movies start. In real life, you can hurt someone, cause a fire, or lose your lab privileges.

While you should leave lab experiments at the lab, if you want to do science at home, there are many safe science experiments you can try.

Don't Experiment on Yourself

The premise of many a science fiction movie starts with a scientist conducting an experiment on him or herself. However, you won't gain superpowers or discover the secret to eternal youth. More than likely, whatever you accomplish will be at great personal risk.

Science means using the scientific method . You need data on multiple subjects to draw conclusions, but using yourself as a subject and self experimenting is dangerous, not to mention bad science.

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Introduction

Accidents happen, but we try to avoid them when we can! Lab safety is a topic covered in science every single year, and students will explore whether or not it is important to follow safety procedures in the lab.

Learning Objective

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1

• WALT write a persuasive argument on why it is important to follow lab safety procedures.

For the full writing prompt, download the PDF.

Download Full Writing Prompt: Lab Safety

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Chemistry Laboratory Safety Questions, Essay Example

Pages: 2

Words: 515

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You are free to use it as an inspiration or a source for your own work.

One of the unsafe actions taken in the picture is that Bob is touching broken glass. This is dangerous because it can break skin. He should instead use gloves to avoid contact, in addition to a broom and a dust pan to remove the glass. A second unsafe occurrence in the picture is that Joe is drinking an unknown liquid. Clear liquids are not always water, so there should be no eating or drinking of any kind in the laboratory to prevent health concerns. Sue’s hair is not in a ponytail, and it is likely that her hair will catch fire.

Three proper behaviors include Tina turning the test tube away from her while it’s over a flame, Carl is wearing goggles while he is working with a chemical, and John is cleaning the laboratory materials after use.

In order to properly clean the glass spill, Bob should first alert his teacher of the glass breakage. Then, he should put on gloves and sweep the glass into a dust pan. The surrounding area should be swept as well to ensure that all shards are removed from the floor.

It is important to ensure that all loose items are secured in the lab. If Sue doesn’t wish to have her hair cut short, she should ensure to wear a ponytail to lab. To ensure that she doesn’t forget, it would be useful for her to generally wear one on her wrist at all times.

Luke is following the rules because he is looking through the microscope with one eye open at his bench. Duke is not following the rules, and is at risk for becoming blind. When the light from the sun hits the microscope mirror, the light that is reflected will be damagingly bright.

Three things in the lab that should not be there include chips, a pair of scissors stuck in the socket, and a mirror. There should be no food in the lab, scissors conduct electricity and could cause someone to be electrocuted, and there should be no fooling around so Betty should leave her mirror at home.

Carl is doing it the correct way because he is clearly working on the given instructions and is wearing the proper protection equipment. On the other hand, Joe is not doing the experiment and is drinking the substance. In addition, Joe is not wearing safety goggles.

Ray and Tim will be asked to leave the classroom for engaging in horseplay. Not only are they hurting each other, they have the potential for hurting other classmates if the disruptive behavior continues.

Three items in the illustration that are there for the safety of the students in the lab include the eye wash station, the safety blanket, and the fire extinguisher.

Betty is not paying attention to the work that she should be doing and is being distracted by the mirror. This could lead to her getting hurt. This is made worse by the fact that she seems to be applying makeup; if chemicals had fallen on the makeup, she would then be applying them to her face, which could potentially cause a severe chemical burn.

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Lab, telescope specialist details Harvard eclipse-viewing party, offers safety tips

Those who miss this one could need to wait 20 years to get another chance.

A total solar eclipse will cross Mexico, the U.S., and Canada on April 8, bringing millions of North Americans a striking celestial spectacle. The next total solar eclipse to cross the continental U.S. will be in 2044.

Allyson Bieryla , astronomy lab and telescope manager at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), tells us what to expect, and how to view this natural wonder safely.

What should local eclipse-viewers expect?

Cambridge is not in the path of totality, but locally people will experience close to a 93 percent partial eclipse, which will start at 2:16 p.m. and end at 4:39 p.m., with maximum coverage occurring at 3:29 p.m.

During maximum, you will see just a sliver of the sun remaining. It won’t get completely dark like it would in a total eclipse, but it will still be a spectacular sight.

Over the course of the event, you will see a “bite” of the sun being eclipsed by the moon that will grow to cover most, but not all, of the sun. And then it will wane away.

And what is actually happening?

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes in front of the sun, casting a shadow on the Earth. The shadow only falls on a small portion of the Earth, so you are very lucky if it happens to fall where you live.

The “total” part is when the sun is completely blocked by the moon. For those that are able, whether it is this one or a future eclipse, traveling to the path of totality is worth every effort it takes. It is the most unnatural natural experience.  

What opportunities for scientific discovery does a total solar eclipse offer?

A total solar eclipse allows people to view the corona, or the sun’s outermost atmosphere. Because the sun’s surface is so bright, we don’t normally get to see the corona because it is so much dimmer. There is still a lot that astronomers would like to learn about the corona. 

What activities is the CfA hosting for local eclipse-viewing?

There will be a public event taking place in the Science Center Plaza from 2-5 p.m. There will be solar telescopes, free eclipse glasses, and a bunch of activities, including pinhole cameras, cyanotype prints of the sun, and a live feed of the totality.

We will also have LightSound devices converting the brightness of the sun into sound as the light dims, providing a nonvisual way for people to experience the eclipse. 

Rules for safe eclipse-viewing?

Observing the sun is safe if you have the correct equipment. It is never safe to look directly at the sun without proper eclipse glasses or filters, unless you are in the path of totality and in the brief moments of totality. Then, and only then, can you safely look at the sun without protection.

Cambridge is not in the path of totality, so it will never be safe to look at the sun without your eclipse glasses. It is also not okay to point a telescope, binoculars, or a camera at the sun without proper filters.

We will have all the proper equipment and experts on site at the Science Center to guide you safely looking at the sun during the eclipse. Trust me, it is worth it!

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How to make solar eclipse glasses, cereal box viewers and pinhole cameras to watch the 2024 show safely

By Sara Moniuszko

Edited By Allison Elyse Gualtieri

Updated on: April 8, 2024 / 12:08 PM EDT / CBS News

If you can't get your hands on a pair of solar eclipse glasses, experts say there are still ways to enjoy the event safely.

There are also unsafe alternatives, including wearing your normal sunglasses — or even stacking two or three.

"There's no amount of sunglasses that people can put on that will make up for the filtering that the ISO standard filters and the eclipse glasses provide," said Dr. Jason P. Brinton, an ophthalmologist and medical director at Brinton Vision in St. Louis.

You also shouldn't look at the eclipse through a camera lens, phone, binoculars or telescope, according to NASA, even while wearing eclipse glasses. The solar rays can burn through the lens  and cause serious eye injury.

So what can you use? Here's what doctors suggest:

How to make your own eclipse-safe glasses at home

If you don't have the traditional solar eclipse glasses, Brinton said you can also look through No. 14 welder's glasses (for people who may have access) or aluminized mylar plastic sheets.

Just like with traditional solar eclipse glasses, Brinton said it's important to make sure the material you're viewing through is fully intact.

"Make sure that there are no scratches or damage," he said. 

How make a pinhole projector for safe eclipse viewing

No glasses? Indirect viewing is another way to enjoy the eclipse without damaging your eyes. 

Brinton said there are several ways to indirectly view the event, including a homemade pinhole projector. Here's how to make one:

• Put a small pinhole into a piece of paper
• Face away from the sun, holding the paper out so the sunlight hits it
• Watch the pinhole projection of the sun on the ground (or on a second piece of paper you hold underneath), seeing it go from a complete circle gradually disappearing 

"If you're in the path of totality, of course it completely disappears." Brinton said. "That's an indirect way of viewing it that is appropriate."

How to make an eclipse viewer from a cereal box

If you want to make your indirect viewing tool a bit more elaborate, you can make an eclipse viewer with a few more materials around the house. Here's how:

• Find a small box (popular options are cereal and shoe boxes)
• Cut two openings at the bottom of the box
• Using tape, cover one of the openings with a piece of paper or aluminum foil punctured with a small pinhole
• Face away from the sun, allowing the light to hit the pinhole
• Looking through the remaining opening to the inside of the box, watch as the sun projection goes from a complete circle to an eclipse

Need a visual? CBS Pittsburgh meteoroligist Ray Petelin  demonstrated an easy step-by-step on how to make a cereal box pinhole viewer, which you can watch below.

Doctors share how to make sure your eclipse viewers are safe

"Theoretically, since you are not looking directly to the sun during the eclipse or partial eclipse, (eclipse viewers) should be safe," said Dr. Yehia Hashad, an ophthalmologist, retinal specialist and the chief medical officer at eye health company Bausch + Lomb. "However, having said that, it's implementation that sometimes makes us worry."

• Are your eclipse glasses safe? Here's how to know if they'll really protect your eyes during the total solar eclipse .

Why? Sometimes people have a small peek at the sun in order to adjust the box or pinhole in the right direction, he said. This can be especially common with children, who may not understand the consequences of looking at the eclipse.

"This is what makes us sometimes conservative about this method," said Hashad. "We always worry, unless you are supervising the implementation of this, especially with children since they are very vulnerable to these types of situations."

Why do you need a special viewer for the total solar eclipse?

Eye protection during the eclipse is important to prevent eye damage.

"If someone briefly looks at the eclipse if it's extremely brief, in some cases there won't be damaged but damage can happen even within a fraction of a second in some cases," Brinton said. "As an ophthalmologist, I have seen patients who have so-called eclipse or solar retinopathy."

Signs and symptoms of eye damage following an eclipse viewing include headaches, blurred vision, dark spots, changes to how you see color, lines and shapes.

Sara Moniuszko is a health and lifestyle reporter at CBSNews.com. Previously, she wrote for USA Today, where she was selected to help launch the newspaper's wellness vertical. She now covers breaking and trending news for CBS News' HealthWatch.

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‘Many-shot jailbreak’: lab reveals how AI safety features can be easily bypassed

Paper by Anthropic outlines how LLMs can be forced to generate responses to potentially harmful requests

The safety features on some of the most powerful AI tools that stop them being used for cybercrime or terrorism can be bypassed simply by flooding them with examples of wrongdoing, research has shown.

In a paper from the AI lab Anthropic, which produces the large language model (LLM) behind the ChatGPT rival Claude , researchers described an attack they called “many-shot jailbreaking”. The attack was as simple as it was effective.

Claude, like most large commercial AI systems, contains safety features designed to encourage it to refuse certain requests, such as to generate violent or hateful speech, produce instructions for illegal activities, deceive or discriminate. A user who asks the system for instructions to build a bomb, for example, will receive a polite refusal to engage.

But AI systems often work better – in any task – when they are given examples of the “correct” thing to do. And it turns out if you give enough examples – hundreds – of the “correct” answer to harmful questions like “how do I tie someone up”, “how do I counterfeit money” or “how do I make meth”, then the system will happily continue the trend and answer the last question itself.

“By including large amounts of text in a specific configuration, this technique can force LLMs to produce potentially harmful responses, despite their being trained not to do so,” Anthropic said. The company added that it had already shared its research with peers and was now going public in order to help fix the issue “as soon as possible”.

Although the attack, known as a jailbreak, is simple, it has not been seen before because it requires an AI model with a large “context window”: the ability to respond to a question many thousands of words long. Simpler AI models cannot be bamboozled in this way because they would effectively forget the beginning of the question before they reach the end, but the cutting edge of AI development is opening up new possibilities for attacks.

Newer, more complex AI systems seem to be more vulnerable to such attack even beyond the fact they can digest longer inputs. Anthropic said that may be because those systems were better at learning from example, which meant they also learned faster to bypass their own rules.

“Given that larger models are those that are potentially the most harmful, the fact that this jailbreak works so well on them is particularly concerning,” it said.

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The company has found some approaches to the problem that work. Most simply, an approach that involves adding a mandatory warning after the user’s input reminding the system that it must not provide harmful responses seems to reduce greatly the chances of an effective jailbreak. However, the researchers say that approach may also make the system worse at other tasks.

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