Security Measures

Always wear laboratory goggles while working in the laboratory.

Wear suitable gloves for your job. Exit the laboratory by removing your gloves at the end of the work or during breaks in case of possible contamination risk. Try not to touch the places (such as door handles, refrigerator, and cabinet doors) where people may have common contact with gloves.

Do not work with open flames in laboratories. If necessary, use it in the fume cupboard and make sure that there are no flammable and volatile materials near you.

Be very careful while carrying the chemicals you will use in the laboratory. Wash the contaminated area with water immediately in case of contact with your skin or clothing. Clean up spilled chemicals immediately. Make sure your laboratory is well ventilated. Never smell chemicals and do your experiment with volatile chemicals under the fume cupboard. Before using the chemicals, you will use in the laboratory, read the “Material Safety Information (MSDS)” forms. Avoid direct contact with chemicals and always wear a lab coat. While experimenting, make sure that your apron is covered. If you are using them, wear your name tags on your chest not with the long lanyard but with a clip card.

The pressurized gas cylinders you use in the laboratory should always be secured with a strap or chain.

All chemicals used in laboratories must have labels.

When using chemicals, pay attention to good ventilation or to work in a fume hood.

If there is toxic or dangerous smoke, gas, or dust, work on the fume hood.

Use a dust mask while you are using powder chemicals. If you are working with materials that pose a health risk, use a mask appropriate for the situation.

Do not leave the containers with chemical substances open.

It is strictly forbidden to bring food and drink into laboratories. Smoking is completely prohibited.

All waste must be collected, stored and disposed of following regulations. Dump the wastes generated while experimenting in the laboratory into the appropriate waste bins in the laboratories. Do not pour unsure wastes into the marked bins. Ensure safe storage by keeping it in a separate container.

After the syringe needles used in the laboratory during the experiment are placed in needle storage containers, throw them into the appropriate waste bins in the laboratories. If you work with biological materials, be especially careful about medical waste.

Inform the authorities about the accidents immediately and take the necessary measures.

Burning of lab gown/apron: Prevent someone whose lab gown is burning from running or doing activities to increase the flame. Rolling on the floor can prevent the fire from extinguishing and prevent flames from being inhaled through the trachea. Take the burning person to the nearest emergency shower immediately and keep them under the shower until the flame goes out. Be careful when you have to use CO2 fire extinguishers. It may cause the person you are helping to suffocate. Authorities should be informed when a problem that may cause a fire hazard is observed in the devices’ electrical cables.

Immediately turn off the flame burners. Remove flammable chemicals and solvents. If there is minimal burning, stop contact with air by covering it with a glass-like beaker. Use the closest fire extinguisher tube to extinguish the fire.

Never use water in chemical fires. The correct extinguishing agent should be used in solid material fires that, in contact with water, emit flammable, explosive and flammable gases.

Wash the burning area with cold water for at least 15 minutes. In case of chemical spills on the lab coat, the apron should be removed and the shower should be taken under the emergency shower. If the chemical substance is dust, it should be washed with water after being removed from the body with a brush or a dry cloth if it has a harmful effect when in contact with water. If an open burn wound has occurred, it should be covered with sterile gauze that can be found in the first aid cabinet. In case of chemical contact with eyes, wash your eyes with plenty of water using eyewash stations. If the person who had an accident does not open their eyes, lay them on the ground, open their eyes, and wash them with plenty of water.

In case of minor cuts, you may encounter in laboratories, clean the glass and metal parts from the cut area and wash the cut area with water. Apply a tampon to the cut area. In case of large cuts, apply a tampon to the cut area, if there is a sunken glass or metal piece, do not try to remove it and immediately call the relevant health unit for professional help.

Call the nearest poison control unit. You can reach Call Centre for the National Poison Information Centre on phone number 114.

• Gas cylinders should be fixed with a chain to prevent them from falling over.
• Gas cylinders should be transported in containers specially designed for carrying cylinders.
• The lids of the gas cylinders should be kept closed during transport or not in use.
• Gas cylinder connections should be made by laboratory technical staff.
• Empty gas cylinders should be marked and the laboratory management should be informed.
• Connection hoses, regulators, etc., should be checked regularly.

Properties of Compressed Gases

• Stored tubes must in be secured such a way that they cannot tip over or rollover. Tubes should always be kept vertically, if possible, valves should be capped, and tube caps should be permanently attached.
• Tubes filled with empty tubes should always be stored separately from each other, and the use of full tubes should be initiated first.
• Cylinders of oxygen or other combustion-supporting gases should be stored at least 6 m away from flammable gas cylinders or separated from these tubes by a fire-resistant wall.
• Flammable and combustible gas cylinders should be stored separately from other flammable materials.
• After separating the tubes in the storage area into groups, each group’s characteristics should be determined by hanging signs.
• Users should be informed by posting warning signs and posters where necessary.
• All cylinders should be stored in an area away from sources that radiate heat that will cause an increase in internal pressure. Tubes should not be exposed to temperatures above 55 °C and should not be stored under direct sunlight. The internal temperature of tubes left in the sun may rise to undesirable values ​​and cause the tube’s labels and marks to fade.
• Flammable materials should not be stacked in or around the cylinder storage area, and there should be no fire, arc, or heat source in the spaces. The creation of naked flames and smoking in or near cylinder storage spaces should be prevented.
• The floor of the area where the tubes are stored should not be soil, slope, pit, crack, etc.
• Cylinder storage areas should be kept clean and tidy, and unauthorized persons should be prevented from entering them. Signs indicating the storage of the tube should be clearly posted.
• People working in the cylinder storage area should definitely wear steel-toed safety shoes and work gloves. To provide ease of access to the tubes, space should be left for walkways in the storage area.

A safety fence should surround the tubes stored in open areas to prevent them from falling out of the area. Besides, these tubes should be protected against rusting and severe weather conditions (sun, snow, storm, etc.), and should not be kept in corrosive environments and shapes.

• Fire extinguishers (containing carbon dioxide or dry chemicals) should be available for an emergency response to any fire in the cylinder storage area. To use it in the cylinder cooling process in case of fire, there should be a pressurized water source within the distance that can reach the cylinder storage area.
• The general condition of the stored tubes and any leakage from the tubes should be checked regularly. When entering spaces with flammable or toxic gas cylinders, the presence of these gases in the air should be determined by using appropriate devices for this job.
• Flammable or toxic gas cylinders should be kept in stock as few as possible.

• A microbiology laboratory is a place where only microbiological analyses are performed. In this laboratory, studies on microorganisms, including primary pathogens, are carried out. Microbiology laboratory should be used by specialists, as these can be dangerous if they enter the body through different ways, such as cuts in the skin.
• Desks should be wiped with a disinfectant material (0.5% formol, 5% Lysol, etc.) before and after the work.
• No items other than the material used in work should be kept on and around the desk.
• While working, hands should not contact the mouth, nose, face or eyes, and items such as pens, paper, thread, and tags should not contact the mouth.
• Tubes or petri dishes containing microorganisms should not be left open on the desk.
• While sowing or working, windows should be closed, prevent from talking, and unnecessary hand-arm movements should be avoided.
• When a material containing pathogenic or non-pathogenic microorganisms spills around, or the culture tubes are broken, it should be covered with cotton soaked in a disinfectant material and collected after a suitable effect time. In such cases, laboratory authorities should be informed immediately.
• After the work, hands should be washed with soapy water first and then disinfected with a disinfectant agent.
• Commonly used materials such as a microscope, pH meter, balance, water bath, centrifuge should be used very carefully, and they should be cleaned and disinfected before and after using them.
• The materials such as tubes and petri dishes to be placed in ovens, refrigerators, and freezers should be labelled legible. Unlabelled materials must be renewed.
• When leaving the laboratory, a shirt, hood, mask, and gloves should be taken off. Gloves should be put in the disinfectant, and other materials should be hung or left in their places for sterilization.
• In laboratories, flies or insects that may be dangerous by carrying microorganisms should be destroyed.
• While working, you should be clean, tidy, and conscious, and aseptic conditions should be observed to the maximum extent.
• Laboratory air should be ventilated from dust.