Safety Measures in Chemistry Laboratory and in use of Chemicals

The place where scientific experiments are held is called the laboratory. Similarly, the place where experiments of chemistry are held is called Chemistry laboratory. It is understood, there will be various chemicals in a chemistry laboratory. Almost all chemicals are harmful to some extent for us as well as our environment. Some chemicals are prone to explosion, some are flammable, some harm our body directly and some are dangerous for nature. Most of the apparatus in a chemistry laboratory are made of glass. Therefore, we need to be cautious from the moment of entry into the laboratory to the moment we come
out. Lack of caution may result in accidents, e.g. if acid falls on your body, you will get injured; if acid falls on your dress, the dress will be spoiled. Besides, there may be accidents including fire or explosion in a laboratory. Therefore, you need to wear an apron. The apron will be knee-long and the sleeves will be up to your wrist. Its color will be white. You will use hand gloves and safety goggles on your eyes. Some of these safety measures are given in the following picture:

We need to learn the nature of a chemical before we start to use it. We need to know whether that is flammable or radio-active. These are made clear using some signs on the containers. To introduce a globally harmonized system about this, the United Nations organized a conference named Environment and Development. This conference gave a set of harmonized Signs for different risky substances and their level of risk. The table below contains some signs and their explanations identifying risk, extent of risk and precautions.

Signs and their explanations identifying risk

 

 

Explosive substance 

 

We need to be very careful about these substances. We must keep in mind that friction and fire may cause serious explosion from these which will be harmful for our body as well as the laboratory. We need extreme caution in handling these. TNT, organic peroxide, nitroglycerine etc are such kind of substances. 

Flammable substance

Alcohol, ether, etc are flammable. These may catch fire quickly. Therefore, we need to keep them away from fire or heat.

Toxic substance

Substances with this sign are poisonous. If we come in touch with them or inhale them, they may cause harm to our body. Benzene, chorobenzene, methanol, etc are such substances. We must wear apron, hand gloves and safety goggles when hadling them.

Irritant substance

Cement dust, light acids, base, nitrous oxide etc cause irritation on skin, eyes and breathing system. We must wear aprons, hand gloves and safety goggles when handling them.

Hazardous substance

Direct contact on skin or inhalation of such substances may cause short or long term harm to our health. They may affect our breathing system or even cause diseases like cancer, Benzene, toluene, xylene are such substance. We must wear aprons, hand gloves and safety goggles when handling them.

Radioactive substance

These substances emit harmful rays which may cause disease like cancer or disable somebody. We need to be extremely cautious in handling these. Uranium, radium etc are of this kind.

Dangerous for environment

Substances with this sign are dangerous for the environment, meaning, they harm both animals and plants, They require caution when in use, Again, they have to be gathered in a place after use. They have to be recycled as possible. That way, they cannot do much harm to the environment, 

Corrosive

These cause injury to body in contact. Inhalation of such substances may cause injury inside the body. Hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid etc are examples of this kind.