Team:NTNU Trondheim/Safety


Safety

At NTNU, every laboratory is regulated by strict regulations priory set up by executive leaders and which ensure a safety work place for the employees and students. The Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) governed by prevailing legislative Acts and statutory regulations in combination with centrally determined and local regulation have been established. A HSE handbook is available for all students, employees, visitors at NTNU providing the regulations regarding the laboratories. This handbook includes 12 main parts:

  • HSE-responsibilities and tasks
  • General remarks regarding safety in laboratories and workshops
  • Protective equipment and hazard signage
  • First aid and dealing with accidents
  • Fire
  • Equipment and technical aids
  • Chemicals and hazardous substances
  • Special HSE guidelines
  • Risk assessment
  • Biological agents
  • Radiation protection
  • Special considerations related to gloves

Prior to work in the laboratory, everyone needs to fill the risk assessment form by indicating the hazardous products that he/she will be using. This form allows to determine if the techniques and products used are safe enough to be accepted for further work. Moreover, a training is also mandatory consisting to learn about the safety regarding the use of hazardous product and to know in which circumstances the use of any kind of protective equipment, protective devices is necessary. This training also includes the necessary information about the fire extinguishment, the first aid, the use of chemical substances index and Safety Data Sheets.

Safety in the lab

The safety in the lab concerns the person who is working due to the use of hazardous products, but it also concerns the material used for the work such as the genetic material which can easily be contaminated by the user itself. Some general rules are applied to the laboratory space such as the prohibition to eat/drink, smoke and to pipette with the mouth. Moreover, it is mandatory to wear cotton coat and closed shoes.

There are common rules which concern the worker and the laboratory respectively. Concerning the worker, it is necessary for enter in the laboratory to wear a coat. But also depending on the products used, it is required to use goggles and gloves. For that on each door, there is a symbol of the mandatory protective equipment to use..

  • Protective equipments which are most of the time needed to be used:
  • The cotton coat: need to be wear every time a person enter the lab work place
  • Gloves: When hazardous product are used or genetic material to avoid contamination
  • Protective eyewear: Used when a danger of splashing, danger of explosion, ( for us : used when using gelred, chemical products, corrosive products…)

The laboratory staff such as media, pipettes, tips… need to be throw in adapted trash.

The use of toxic products such as antibiotics , but also the use of irritant product need to be manipulated under a hood.

Kitchen

This lab is where the media, glassware and other materials are prepared and autoclaved. So in this lab it is mandatory to wear goggles and gloves due to the use of many different irritant and corrosive chemicals.

The GelRed Lab

In this lab, the agarose gel are prepared and run with the samples. Because of the use of the Gelred it is required to wear goggle and gloves.

The main Lab

It is where most of our work is done such as the genetic part and the alginate part. It is necessary to wear as in the other lab below the cotton coat. Concerning the genetic work, the gloves are important to avoid contamination and for the alginate part the glove wearing is also recommended.

Moreover, due to the use of microorganism it is important to wash regularly the hands for avoid contamination.