RUSLING
GROUP LABORATORY RULES
1.
KEEP A LABORATORY NOTEBOOK
2.
All new STUDENTS, POST DOCS and VISITING SCIENTISTS should
attend Safety Training, it is a University Rule and in case of an accident
involved/responsible person’s attendance for safety training will be verified
as a procedure for further action.
Everyone should undergo safety training every two years.
3.
Know the location of the chemical safety sheets on the web.
For emergencies, know the telephone numbers of the fire department and
Environmental Health and Safety Office. All required safety related contact numbers
are posted near telephone in every lab. Do
everything as safely as possible. Wear
safety glasses. Work with solvents and
volatile or corrosive substances in the hood.
4.
MAKE SURE that hood doors are closed. Leaving hood doors open CONSUMES MORE POWER and
LOWERS EFFICIENCY of hoods. By law it is
not allowed to keep hood doors open, we will be in trouble if something goes
wrong and doors were found open.
5.
Clean up all mercury and chemical spills immediately.
Get help from the fire department or Environmental Health and Safety Office if
necessary. Call Poison control center on
exposure to toxic substances for directions.
6.
Label each solution and synthesized chemical with your name,
its' name (in words), and the date.
7.
Return all chemicals and apparatus to their proper places.
8.
Keep PUBLIC SPACE scrupulously clean, e.g.
hoods. No researcher may leave equipment
or, chemicals in PUBLIC SPACE overnight without a note giving his/her name and the
date.
9.
Use your own bench and cabinets areas to prepare and store
solutions and dirty glassware. Store
solutions in storage bottles, not in volumetric flasks. Place storage bottles/chemicals in the fridge
or in cabinets rather than on work table/bench.
10. Clean
your dirty glassware by the approved permanganate + hydroxylamine method
only. This should be posted near the permanganate baths. Do not put rubber or plastic items in the
permanganate. Glass wares used for
organics/emulsions should be washed thoroughly with detergent before putting
into the cleaning solutions.
11. Take
proper care of instruments/equipment; read the manuals!
12. LOG BOOK
entries (NAME, DATE, BEGIN TIME, END TIME, COMMENTS) must be made when using
any of our major lab instruments:
·
·
GC
·
HPLC
·
AFM
LOG BOOKS will be kept with their
instruments at all times.
13. Certain
instruments/equipment will have assigned MAINTENANCE COORDINATORS.
·
A list of MAINTENANCE COORDINATORS will be posted on the laboratory
wall, outside A305
·.
MAINTENANCE COORDINATORS have the following responsibilities:
- Maintain LOG BOOK for assigned
instrument/equipment (if applicable)
- Arrange for maintenance/repairs of their
instrument/equipment.
14. Any
breakage/malfunction of equipment/instrumentation is the responsibility of
the researcher finding it. This
individual must take the following steps to resolve the problem immediately:
·
Note the problem in the LOG BOOK (when applicable).
·
The appropriate MAINTENANCE COORDINATOR must be contacted directly.
·
If there is no MAINTENANCE COORDINATOR assigned to the
instrument/equipment, then the repair is a personal responsibility of the
researcher identifying the problem. These are your tools; keep them working.
15. Instruments
requiring LOG BOOK entries may be RESERVED on the LOG BOOK'S RESERVATION
·A week is defined as a seven day period
starting on Monday.
·No individual researcher may reserve a
given instrument for more than 36 hours per week.
·The maximum continuous block of time
that may be reserved is twelve hours.
·Failure to begin use of their reserved
instrument within 30 minutes of the BEGIN TIME noted in the LOG BOOK will
result in loss of the reservation.
·Unused reserved time will be counted
against the 36 hour limit.
16. Chemical
waste disposal is the personal responsibility of each researcher and
must be dealt with promptly. Filled
waste containers should be labeled with an Environmental Health and Safety
Waste Tag (available in the Chemistry Stock Room) and put under the mercury
waste hood. Environmental Health and
Safety should then be called immediately to advise them that a pickup is
required.
17. No
graduate student will be allowed to graduate without first cleaning his or her
work area in PRIVATE SPACE to the satisfaction of the LABORATORY MANAGEMENT GROUP. This should include disposal of all chemical
waste and cleaning of all
glassware. Postdocs
and Visiting Scientists are also expected to comply.
18. Strict
attention should be paid to purity of chemicals. If you will be often using a
chemical from a large bottle, transfer some of it to a small bottle. This way
if you contaminate it, you have not contaminated the entire lot. Bottles taken
from the cold should be allowed to warm up before removing samples. For
expensive chemicals, use small sample volumes in your experiments!
19. Balance
Use: The analytical balance is to be used only for high precision weighing of
small samples Do not place volumetric flasks or cells on this balance. They are
too heavy and will damage this expensive and delicate balance. Use weighing
paper or small weighing vessels. Weighing large amounts of chemicals should be
done on the larger balances.