Team:EPFL/Safety
Safety
Safety information
Chemicals
Here is a list of the chemicals that were used during this project and the safety hazards we were aware of for each of them. Generally we adopted personal equipment measures (long pants, closed shoes, lab coat, glasses, gloves).
| Compound | Safety hazard |
|---|---|
| Nitric acid | Oxidizing, corrosive, gas-producing |
| Sodium hydroxide | Corrosive, environmentally damaging |
| Ethanol | Flammable, toxic, health hazard, irritant |
| Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) | Irritant |
| Dimethyl sulfoxide | – |
| Agarose | – |
| Acetic acid | Flammable, corrosive |
| 2-mercaptoethanol | Toxic, health hazard, corrosive, environmentally damaging |
| Tris hydrochloride | Irritant |
| Bromophenol blue | – |
| Glycerol | – |
| Ponceau S solution | Irritant |
| Tris buffer | Irritant |
| Amino acid power/solution (glycine, tryptophane) | – |
| Polyacrylamide | – |
| Sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) | Irritant |
| Methanol | Flammable, toxic, health hazard |
| Phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) | Irritant |
| DAPI | – |
| Acetone | Flammable, irritant |
The lab was equipped with a CO2 extinguisher, sand, emergency blanket, eye rincer, emergency showers, alarms, emergency exits. Before working in the lab every team member had a security training on chemical and biological risks.
Particular security measures
- Funnel for HNO3 use
- Preparation under cold water for 2 M NaOH in water (exothermic reaction)
- All paper based stuff used are immersed into water before putting in the trash
- Special glasses when using UV lamp
- Special heat gloves when preparing gel with microwave
Environmental considerations
- Trash can for acidic compound
- Trash can for basic compound
- Bleach containing trash can for biological compound
- Paper and filter in water before trash
- Clean everything (vessel, bench…) with ethanol
- Wash glassware with washing machine after water and ethanol for analytical chemistry steps
- Autoclaved vessels for biological steps
- Special Trash for GMOs touching equipements (tips…)
- Funnel and fire to avoid contamination of sample (working with DNA)