Lab Safety

Providing support, in the form of risk assessment, review, consultation(link sends e-mail), training, and the necessary resources and guidance for research at UC Berkeley.

Fume Hood Sash Cracks due to Reaction Vessel Overpressurization

September 25, 2023
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety
What happened?

Using dry Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) as solvent, a reaction between an organic macrocycle and bromoethane was placed in a round bottom pressure vessel. The reaction was heated using armor aluminum beads in a stainless steel bowl sitting atop a hotplate. The setup was briefly left unattended inside a fume hood with the sash closed.

Without a means for temperature control, the hotplate generated excess heat, which in turn produced excess pressure. Overpressurization caused the round bottom vessel to shatter. Glass shards along with the aluminum heating beads...

Electrical Safety Program

Electrical Safety at UC Berkeley

The UC Berkeley Electrical Safety Program provides information about electrical hazards, guides University safe-work policy, electrical safety procedures, equipment design, development and installation for all electrical work, equipment and systems at UC Berkeley. All faculty, staff, students, visitors and contractors must comply with the requirements of this program as it ensures their safety by:

Defining safe work practices and use requirements for...

Equipment and Tool Safety

Providing resources and guidance for the safe use of tools by UC Berkeley personnel.

UC Center for Laboratory Safety - 2023 Workshop

July 24, 2023
UC Center for Laboratory Safety
2023 Workshop on Laboratory Safety

The UC Center for Laboratory Safety (UCCLS) will be hosting a hands-on in-person workshop to promote research safety for researchers and safety professionals on Sunday, September 17 - Tuesday September 19 in Los Angeles.

About the Workshop

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https://cls.ucla.edu/workshop-2023

Risk Assessment in the Research Lab Workshop

July 21, 2023

The ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety will be hosting their RAMP in the Research Lab workshop on ...

Needles and Sharps: Safe Handling, Injury Response and Disposal

Office of Environment, Health & Safety
2020

A sharp is any device with corners, edges, or projections capable of cutting or piercing. Sharps include,
but are not limited to, the following:

Needles Needles with syringes and attached tubing Blades (razors, scalpels and X-acto®) Glass pasteur pipettes Broken glass, glass slides, and coverslips

Department Safety Coordinator List Update

March 6, 2023
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety

Department Safety Coordinators (DSC) play an important role in campus safety structure – coordinating, implementing, and documenting safety practices in departments across campus. The Office of Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) partners with DSCs to help implement safety and compliance programs and communicate information to departments.

Update DSC Contacts

In order to ensure that DSC contacts for departments are current and accurate, we kindly ask for your help in circulating a ...

New PPE Fitting Location

February 21, 2023
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety

The following announcement was sent to Lab Safety Coordinators and Department Safety Coordinators.

What's New?

The personal protective equipment (PPE) fitting room has relocated to Physics North, Room 156

About PPE Fitting

The PPE fitting room is where EH&S fits new researchers for lab coats and eyewear, as well as where PPE is picked up post-appointment. Previously, appointments were held in University Hall.

New researchers are notified of this...

Laboratory Workers & Students

Potential Fire Hazard: Agilent Gas Chromatography

December 6, 2022

Agilent, a lab instrumentation company, has identified a potential fire safety hazard affecting the 8890, 8860, and Intuvo 9000 Gas Chromatography (GC) instruments. If your department has any of these instruments, please share the attached notification with potential users for more details about corrective actions that can be taken to mitigate the fire safety hazards.

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