Safety in the Chemistry Laboratorytable of contents | chemlabs home
We who are involved in teaching undergraduate chemistry at the University of Oregon consider safety in the laboratory to be our #1 priority. Awareness, attitude, and knowledge are all required to ensure a safe environment for yourself and others in the lab. We have prepared a number of resources that will help you to understand the kinds of hazards necessarily present in a laboratory setting, how the presence of hazards is communicated, and what you can do to protect yourself.
If you are a student enrolled in a general chemistry laboratory class at the University of Oregon, you are required to read the General Safety Instructions. This document will give you specific laboratory safety instructions to be observed while in class. You are responsible for knowing the contents of this document. Failure to comply with the instructions listed therein may lead to disciplinary action, up to and including ejection from the class. As time and interest allow, you are urged to read the other documents listed below, especially the one dealing with Hazard Communication.
If you are outside of the University of Oregon community, we hope that you may still find some or all of these documents to be useful. If such is the case, please let us know and share with us any suggestions you might have.