Difference between revisions of "Team:ETH Zurich/Safety"

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<h2>Safety in iGEM</h2>
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<h2>Safety at the ETH Zurich labs</h2>
  
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<p>Please visit <a href="https://2015.igem.org/Safety">the main Safety page</a> to find this year's safety requirements & deadlines, and to learn about safe & responsible research in iGEM.</p>
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<p>Every new person in the lab must undergo a specifical safety training provided by Niels Bürckert.</p>
  
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<p>On this page of your wiki, you should write about how you are addressing any safety issues in your project. The wiki is a place where you can <strong>go beyond the questions on the safety forms</strong>, and write about whatever safety topics are most interesting in your project. (You do not need to copy your safety forms onto this wiki page.)</p>
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<h3>Lab personal equipment</h3>
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<p>Lab coat use is compulsory inside any of the labs. This is essential for the proper protection of ourselves in case of splashing of chemicals. In our lab, the lab coats are colour coded: a green collar is for the normal lab, a yellow collar is for working with radioactivity, and the red collar is for the biosafety 2 lab. Of course, no lab cost can be worn inside the dining room!
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Goggles are essential for avoiding the entrance of chemicals inside the eyes. It is highly recommended to wear goggles all the time in the lab, as accidents may involve people who are nearby. Goggles have to protect the eyes, there is no use of them if they are hanging on the nose!</p>
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<p>Gloves is the third essential in the personal equipment. Gloves have to be used only once and then removed carefully to avoid any contact of contaminants with the skin. No gloves can be worn outside the lab, as small traces of chemicals might be on them!</p>
  
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<h3>General lab rules</h3>
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<p>No smoking, eating or drinking is allowed inside the lab. A proper labelling of the chemicals has to be done. Nobody wants to find tens of suspiciously looking bottles after coming from the weekend!</p>
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<p>Doors should usually be kept closed. This allow a proper exchange rate of air, can permit maintaining negative pressure in the labs that require it, and might be helpful in case of fire.
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Chemicals have to be stored in an ordered way, never above the eye level and not in the middle of the way!</p>
  
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<h4>Safe Project Design</h4>
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<h3>Use of specific machinery</h3>
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<ul>
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<p>Does your project include any safety features? Have you made certain decisions about the design to reduce risks? Write about them here! For example:</p>
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<li><p><i>Centrifuge</i>: must be always properly equilibrated. An unequilibrated centrifuge can be lethal if it dismantles at high speed.</p></li>
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<li><p><i>Balance</i>: must be kept clean at all times! No one wants to find a suspicious unknown powder spread all over the place.</p></li>
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</ul>
  
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<h3>What to do if an accident occurs?</h3>
 
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<li>Choosing a non-pathogenic chassis</li>
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<li><i>All the bottle of ethidium bromide ended up on my lab coat!</i>You need to go outside the lab and take an emergency shower. It is better if you also take out the potentially contaminated clothes.
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<li>Choosing parts that will not harm humans / animals / plants</li>
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<li><i>I forgot to put my goggles on and now I have sulphuric acid in my eye! </i>There are eye washers in every lab. The eye should be washed for about ten minutes and a doctor must be visited afterwards to check the state of the eye and if it suffered any damage.</li>
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<li>Substituting safer materials for dangerous materials in a proof-of-concept experiment</li>
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<li><i>My</i> E. coli <i>are on fire</i>! First, do not panic! By panicking one might expand the fire. If the fire is small, it is possible to use a fire blanket to cut the access of oxygen to the fire. If the fire is difficult to isolate or if it involves the presence of chemicals it is better to use a CO2 fire extinguisher. Also, emergency services have to be called just in case the fire gets out of control.</li>
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<li>Including an "induced lethality" or "kill-switch" device</li>
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</ul>
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<h4>Safe Lab Work</h4>
 
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<p>What safety procedures do you use every day in the lab? Did you perform any unusual experiments, or face any unusual safety issues? Write about them here!</p>
 
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<h4>Safe Shipment</h4>
 
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<p>Did you face any safety problems in sending your DNA parts to the Registry? How did you solve those problems?</p>
 
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Revision as of 15:54, 30 June 2015

"What I cannot create I do not understand."
- Richard Feynmann

Safety at the ETH Zurich labs

Every new person in the lab must undergo a specifical safety training provided by Niels Bürckert.

Lab personal equipment

Lab coat use is compulsory inside any of the labs. This is essential for the proper protection of ourselves in case of splashing of chemicals. In our lab, the lab coats are colour coded: a green collar is for the normal lab, a yellow collar is for working with radioactivity, and the red collar is for the biosafety 2 lab. Of course, no lab cost can be worn inside the dining room! Goggles are essential for avoiding the entrance of chemicals inside the eyes. It is highly recommended to wear goggles all the time in the lab, as accidents may involve people who are nearby. Goggles have to protect the eyes, there is no use of them if they are hanging on the nose!

Gloves is the third essential in the personal equipment. Gloves have to be used only once and then removed carefully to avoid any contact of contaminants with the skin. No gloves can be worn outside the lab, as small traces of chemicals might be on them!

General lab rules

No smoking, eating or drinking is allowed inside the lab. A proper labelling of the chemicals has to be done. Nobody wants to find tens of suspiciously looking bottles after coming from the weekend!

Doors should usually be kept closed. This allow a proper exchange rate of air, can permit maintaining negative pressure in the labs that require it, and might be helpful in case of fire. Chemicals have to be stored in an ordered way, never above the eye level and not in the middle of the way!

Use of specific machinery

  • Centrifuge: must be always properly equilibrated. An unequilibrated centrifuge can be lethal if it dismantles at high speed.

  • Balance: must be kept clean at all times! No one wants to find a suspicious unknown powder spread all over the place.

What to do if an accident occurs?

  • All the bottle of ethidium bromide ended up on my lab coat!You need to go outside the lab and take an emergency shower. It is better if you also take out the potentially contaminated clothes.
  • I forgot to put my goggles on and now I have sulphuric acid in my eye! There are eye washers in every lab. The eye should be washed for about ten minutes and a doctor must be visited afterwards to check the state of the eye and if it suffered any damage.
  • My E. coli are on fire! First, do not panic! By panicking one might expand the fire. If the fire is small, it is possible to use a fire blanket to cut the access of oxygen to the fire. If the fire is difficult to isolate or if it involves the presence of chemicals it is better to use a CO2 fire extinguisher. Also, emergency services have to be called just in case the fire gets out of control.