Housekeeping

Keeping laboratories clean and organized helps provide a safer laboratory. The following items are steps to take to ensure the up keep of a laboratory.

• Keep drawers and cabinet doors closed and electrical cords off the floor to avoid tripping hazards.
• Keep aisles clear of obstacles such as boxes, chemical containers, and other storage items that might be put there even temporarily.
• Avoid slipping hazards by cleaning up spilled liquids promptly and keeping the floor free of stirring rods, glass beads, stoppers, and other such items.
• Never block or even partially block the path to an exit or to safety equipment such as a fire extinguisher or safety shower and eyewashes.
• Make sure that supplies and equipment on shelves provide sufficient clearance so that fire sprinkler heads operate correctly. There shall not be any storage within 18 inches of a sprinkler head.
• Put ordinary wastepaper in regular trash.
• Broken glass shall be disposed in the proper containers separate from regular trash. See Broken Glass Disposal. For water soluble chemicals, rinse the remaining traces of chemicals in the sink with plenty of water and then dispose in the broken glass box. The glassware does not need to be broken. Obscure any labels shown on the glass. If the chemical is a high hazard, do not rinse the container. It must go out as chemical hazardous waste.
• Biological waste shall be disposed in the proper containers separate from regular trash. See  Biological Waste Disposal.