PPE

Personal Protective Equipment for Lab and Shops

Respiratory Protection Program

Office of Environment, Health & Safety
2025

EH&S evaluates workplaces for possible airborne hazards and recommends ways to reduce these hazards when found. When appropriate, EH&S will fit campus workers with respirators and provide annual training on their proper use. This program is administered in cooperation with University Health Services. UHS evaluates a person's ability to safely wear a respirator prior to a respirator being issued. For more information contact EH&S at ehs@berkeley.edu.

...

Labs and Research

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.

How do I get my lab coat cleaned/replaced?

Steps:

Whether a lab coat should be laundered, disposed of, or given to EH&S for decontamination will depend on what was spilled on the coat.

Biological Radioactive Chemical

BSL1:

Spray with 10% bleach. Rinse after 20 minutes and let dry Send for laundering

If H-3 (Tritium) contamination is suspected:

Place the lab coat in a sealed bag. Label it with your name, date, and H-3 (Tritium). Contact the Radiation Safety Team for further assistance at (510) 642-3073 or radsafety@berkeley.edu...

Workplace Safety

California state regulations require every employer to establish, implement and maintain an effective Injury & Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). In August 2017, the University adopted a campuswide Workplace Safety Program that serves as the University’s central IIPP for creating a safe and healthful work environment. Having one program for the whole University helps to improve access, consistency, and usability across all departments. EH&S is the responsible department for overseeing the campuswide Workplace Safety Program. The campus Workplace Safety Program is based on the Injury...

Eyewear - Protecting Your Eyes Fact Sheet

Office of Environment, Health & Safety
2006

More than 90,000 eye injuries occur each year in the United States. Many of these could have been prevented with proper protective eyewear. The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) requires that protective eyewear be worn wherever there is the potential for injury from flying particles, hazardous substances, or dangerous light. The eyewear must meet the standards put forth by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in Standard Z87.1-1989. Safety eyewear that meets this standard has “Z87.1” imprinted on the frame or lens. Since eye hazards are common...

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

Plastic Secondary Container Shatters Due to Dry Ice Sublimation

May 28, 2019
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety
What happened?

A researcher packaged a microgram crystalline sample with dry ice to ensure sample integrity. The crystalline sample was first placed inside a glass vial, which was subsequently housed inside a plastic secondary container with a screw cap. The researcher placed dry ice around the glass vial inside the secondary container before loosely capping the top to vent.

When it came time to take out the glass vial, the researcher found that the secondary container was stuck, even though the cap was originally loosely screwed.

The researcher recruited the help of a staff...

Shop Safety Program

UC Berkeley has over 50 shops that provide academic and research support to the UC Berkeley community. This program is intended to cover any space where materials are fabricated, maintained, modified, repaired or tested, including:

Academic shops in which student instruction and use are major components Professional shops in which research support, fabrication and facilities maintenance are major components

The UC Berkeley Shop Safety Program provides guidance and direction for establishing and maintaining a safe and healthy environment in these shops. This program applies to anyone...

2025 Fall Semester Reminders for Labs

September 10, 2025
Office of Environment, Health, and Safety
The fall semester is under way, and Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) would like to help get you started on the right foot with some key lab safety reminders

Wes Chase

Senior Certified Industrial Hygienist
Air Quality
Workplace Safety
Field Research
Wildfire Smoke