Imagine this scenario: A worker is badly injured on your job site. Not only is this a tragic event for the worker and his or her family, it’s also a huge risk for a lawsuit that could have debilitating fiscal ramifications for your company.
Fortunately, correctly designed signage can go a long way toward preventing injury and even death in the workplace. But how can you know that the signs you are posting are compliant with the standards set by Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)? Here’s how to be sure that the safety signage you are posting is doing its utmost to help prevent injury or death:
1) Colors Count: It pays to know your colors when it comes to signage. Red is for prohibition, yellow for caution, green for positive action, and blue for mandatory actions. So for example, to stop someone from operating machinery, you would want to use a red tag.
2) Shapes Matter: Along with colors, symbols matter for international safety signage. A circle or disc is for prohibition and instructions. Triangles are for warnings. And squares and rectangles are used for emergency and information signs.
3) Buy Right: When you purchase your signage, you want to be sure that it’s designed to be OSHA- and ANSI-compliant, so that you are conforming to the highest safety standards. Look for signage that is durable and easily posted—such as self-laminating safety tags that are developed to withstand the toughest industrial environments.
4) Know When to Use Your Signs: Safety signs must be used whenever a hazard or danger cannot be easily avoided. Before installing safety signs, an employer should examine whether it is possible for the hazard to be avoided or reduced by putting in place precautions that protect everybody, rather than expecting the signs to do all the work of protection.
5) Wordsmithing: Be aware of the nature of wording. The wording of any sign should be easily read and concise. The sign should contain sufficient information to be easily understood. The wording should make a positive, rather than negative suggestion, and should be accurate in fact.
6) It’s Biological: For biological hazard signs, the biological hazard warning should be used to signify the actual or potential presence of a biohazard and to identify equipment, containers, rooms, materials, experimental animals, or combinations of these which contain, or are contaminated with, viable hazardous agents. The term "biological hazard," or "biohazard," should include only those infectious agents that present a risk or potential risk to the well-being of workers and others.
7) Know When to Tag It: Tags should be used as a means to prevent accidental injury or illness to employees who are exposed to hazardous or potentially hazardous conditions, equipment or operations, which are out of the ordinary, unexpected or not readily apparent. They should be used until the identified hazard is eliminated or the hazardous operation is completed.
8) Position and Placement: Signs should be positioned so that they are easily visible and legible from a distance. They must be placed to draw maximum attention to the existing hazards. This means you need to give careful thought to where you locate signs around your facility, and you may need to relocate signs from time to time when you make changes or alterations that affect the visibility or usefulness of existing signs or when the equipment or materials that pose the hazard are moved.
9) Be Alert to New Hazards: Your facility will not be in compliance with the regulations if you just put up signs and forget about them. You must review your sign and tag program regularly to make sure it is still performing the task it was designed to do. For example, whenever new hazards are introduced into the workplace, new signs need to be put up right away. And when temporary hazards arise, tags need to be attached to warn employees until the hazard no longer exists.
For a complete collection of signs and tags, such as self-laminating tags, that adhere to the highest standards of safety per OSHA and ANSI, visit the Idesco Safety web site.
Our laboratories are full of signs, aren’t they? From the chemical bottles to the basins, signs are everywhere. But that’s a good thing and important for our safety.
The lab safety signs on bottles, for example, tell you about the properties of the product you’re about to use so that you can take appropriate precautions while using it. You can also use these signs to label bottles after you’ve made a new solution to let others know what it is.
I remember my first days in the lab—lost in the signs. It took me some time to figure out the details of all these signs, so I’ve pulled together a quick overview of the most common lab safety signs to help you out.
Flammable Material
This is probably one of those self-explanatory signs—chemicals labeled with this are flammable and you should store them accordingly. Some laboratories have separate storage facilities for such chemicals (e.g. we have special security storage cabinets outside the lab for storing large bottles).
When using flammable chemicals make sure you keep them away from any oxidizing substances, flames, or sparks. You should also wear eye protection when working with highly flammable substances. Some examples of flammable chemicals we regularly use in the lab are ethanol and isopropanol for plasmid preparation.
Oxidizing Material
These substances are responsible for removing an electron from another substrate and are thus one component involved in an oxidation–reduction reaction. You should be very careful involving them in chemical reactions (e.g. mixing them with another chemical) while preparing a solution.
Oxidizing agents usually transfer oxygen to another chemical substrate. In this way, they provide oxygen to flammable substances to burn when used in the lab. You should always store them separately from flammable substances!
Oxidizing agents may also set you and your clothing on fire if you’re not careful—so don’t forget your gloves, eye protection, and lab coat as precautions.
Corrosive Material
Strong acid (e.g. sulfuric acid) and strong alkali (e.g. sodium hydroxide) solutions are both corrosive. The \beta-mercaptoethanol you use for reducing the disulfide bonds of your protein before running an SDS-PAGE or the crystal violet dye you use for staining your bacteria are also corrosive (along with their other individual hazards).
One drop of these corrosive substances can cause you serious eye damage! When working with corrosive substances, non-corrosive gloves, eye protection, and lab coats are all essential.
You should also make sure you know where the eye-wash station is, in the event of any accidents.
Toxic Material
These are highly harmful substances and, in extreme cases, can even cause death if you swallow, inhale, or absorb them through your skin.
Examples of toxic chemicals include the HCl you use for adjusting your buffer to the right pH and the universal pH indicator methyl orange. You should always use eye protection, gloves, and a face mask to prevent inhalation when working with toxic substances. And don’t forget: handle the chemical inside a fume cupboard.
Irritant
For example, the calcium chloride you use to make your competent cells and the SDS for your protein gels are both irritants. You should be careful while preparing solutions containing irritants and make sure you protect yourself properly.
Health Hazard
For example, the ethidium bromide used in DNA agarose gels is a potential mutagen. Phenol and chloroform both belong to this category too—phenol is a reproductive toxin and its vapor is also corrosive to the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract. Acrylamide is carcinogenic and neurotoxic too.
So make sure you use appropriate PPE—eye protection, nitrile gloves (for chloroform you need special 8 mil or heavier nitrile gloves), a lab coat, and a face mask are all essential when working with such substances.
Environmental Hazard
For example, bromoform and phenol are environmental hazards. Before you start working with these chemicals in the lab, make sure you learn the rules for disposing of them.
Explosives and Compressed Gas
Gas cylinders and aerosol cans are compressed gases that should be treated with caution. Stocks of compressed gas cylinders are normally stored separately from the main lab in special safety cabinets.
Biohazard
For example, cloning regions of interest into a plasmid using E. coli is a standard laboratory technique, but imagine what could happen if we let all of these cloned bacteria free in our environment! Or worse—maybe you are working with contagious organisms; we could get in serious trouble if these organisms left the lab.
Protect yourself properly when working with such organisms, avoid any direct contact, and make sure you know what bins you should use for disposal.
Laser and Ionizing Radiation
Lasers can harm your eyes, causing severe injury; you should be well protected before entering labs that use lasers.
If you have to work with radiolabeled isotopes (e.g. you want to run an EMSA), you generally have to check with your doctor first that you’re in a fit condition for such work. Make sure you’re fully informed about all the safety rules and the type of PPE you’re required to use to protect yourself and those you work with before your enter these labs.
High Voltage
When running gels, be careful! If you’re not paying attention you can end up giving yourself an electric shock. You can find the high voltage sign in your gel electrophoresis apparatus, so don’t forget to switch off the main switch before your take your gel out of your running buffer.
Hot and Cold Temperatures
I think most labs have one electric plate or induction cooker for sterilizing small quantities of solutions, or for creating a supersaturated solution if you’re struggling to dissolve something. Some of these hot plates can reach temperatures of 450°C, so be careful you don’t give yourself a nasty burn when using them!
At the other end of the spectrum, it’s also important to understand the safety concerns associated with extremely cold temperatures; the –80°C freezer is the standard storage option for cDNA and glycerol stocks, and how often do you use liquid nitrogen to freeze your samples?
Special cold-resistant PPE is required to use both the –80°C and liquid nitrogen facilities to avoid frostbite.
Lab Safety Signs Summarized
While this list of lab safety signs isn’t exhaustive, and you’ll have to look up the other warning signs present in your lab, there are a few general rules you can follow to keep yourself safe in the lab. It’s always best to wear:
- a long-sleeve lab coat (you can always fold your sleeves when you work in the laminar airflow bench);
- full pants (yes, even on those hot summer days when your lab air conditioning isn’t working);
- closed shoes;
- eye protection.
Make sure you know what type of chemicals or hazards you will be working with and protect yourself accordingly—prevention is better than cure! Check out our article on how to carry out a risk assessment.
Are there any lab safety signs that you think we should add? Let us know in the comments.
Originally published July 18, 2016. Reviewed and updated August 2021.