TOP TIPS FROM THE BULB TEAM

Six tips to follow in order to make your laboratories safer at the design stage:

1. Carry out a thorough risk assessment of your processes for materials used (chemicals, solvents, biological samples including blood, tissue cell lines), waste generation and handling, and gases/liquid Nitrogen required.

2. Determine if you need any licences to handle and store certain type of samples, for example if you handle human tissues, you need a HTA (Human Tissue Authority) licence.

3. Determine how the materials and waste will be handled, for example on open benches, in biosafety cabinets, in fume cupboards (determine whether you need ducted fume cupboards or if re-circulating types are safe enough).

4. Determine how waste will be decontaminated, stored, or disposed of. What will be the frequency of waste collection by an external waste handling company? Do you need an on-site autoclave?

5. Determine your gas requirements, for example bottle sizes, type of changeover system, monitoring alarms, external and internal storage options. If internal storage is unavoidable make sure cylinders are stored in blast proof cabinets.

6. Determine the need and install appropriate safety signs.