Lab safety

Laboratory safety programs apply across many, if not all, campus laboratories. They are developed to ensure the health and safety of university members and to ensure regulatory compliance. The programs also set out the university's program-specific requirements as well as support education and training. The SFU Laboratory safety manual assembles key information from the SFU Laboratory safety program in a single document.

Personal protective equipment

Personal protective equipment (PPE) is the last line of protection between you and the hazardous material you are working with. Even after elimination, substitution, engineering, and administrative controls have been put in place, your work may still require you to directly handle hazardous materials. PPE is selected and worn to reduce your exposure.

According to WorkSafeBC regulations, SFU is responsible for ensuring a safe workplace to protect all workers, which includes providing and maintaining PPE.  Workers must wear appropriate apparel and use appropriate eye, face, hand, and foot protection when working with hazardous materials. 

Supervisors are required to ensure that:

• PPE is available
• workers know how to use it
• PPE is in good condition
• situations are remedied where workers are not wearing PPE as required
• they present as a good role model by wearing PPE when working in the laboratory
  

What PPE is required?

Before beginning any work, the supervisor and employee should complete a risk assessment. This will involve identifying the hazards that you will be working with and determining which PPE controls are required to minimize risk.

Your work may require specialized PPE, such as aluminized heat resistant outerwear when working with open furnaces. These requirements should be discussed with your supervisor before beginning work.

PPE Overview

Review Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in the Laboratory to familiarize yourself with the specific types of PPE that are required based on the hazard(s) that you are working with in the laboratory.

Refer to the Permeation/Degradation Resistance Guide for Ansell Gloves as a primer for glove selection.

PPE Donning and Doffing

It is important to don and doff PPE appropriately to ensure personnel protection because PPE could be contaminated with hazardous agents after use. See the posters below for the proper sequence of donning and doffing. The posters can be downloaded here: PPE Donning and PPE Doffing