Avoiding injuries and accidents due

to handling chemical substances

Chuah Jia Hui | Nur Amalia Sahira Binti Zamri | BNK
What are the aspects that we should
pay attention in handling chemical
substances?
Aspects involved

• Dress code
• Ways to work with glassware and chemicals
• Ways to handle injuries and splits
Dress Code
Eyes Protection
• Wear your laboratory safety
goggles ANSI 78.1 with splash
protection when working with
hazardous chemicals substances.
• Contact lenses may not be worn
in the lab. Vapors and toxic fumes
may get trapped beneath the
contact lenses and harm your
eyes.
Clothing Protection
• Wear clothes that provide
maximum protection and cover
most of the skin. Wear gloves if
possible.
• Wear your laboratory apron or
coat to protect clothing from
stains or damage.
• Avoid loose clothing and tie long
hair back.
Ways to handle Glassware

• Do not use cracked or chipped glassware.

• Most accidents in the chemistry labs are due to inserting and removing glass
tubes and thermometers from rubber stoppers. Always lubricate the glass
tube before inserting it in a rubber stopper and hold it close to the end near
the stopper. Protect your hands with a towel when inserting glass tubing.
Insert carefully with a gentle twisting motion.

• Any broken glass must be cleaned up immediately by instructor. Clean up

broken glass using a dustpan and brush. Broken glass must be placed in the
green and white bin labeled “Broken Glass”. Search the floor and lab bench
for any small pieces of broken glass.
Ways to handle Glassware

• Do not shake a thermometer. Lay thermometer on a towel to cool, away from the
edge of the lab bench.

• If your ground glass stopper is frozen (stuck), report it to your instructor for
replacement. If you force the stopper off the bottle, you may experience a chemical
splash, burn and bodily injury.

• When inserting a pipette into a pipette suction bulb, hold the pipette near the bulb
and gently place the pipette into the opening.

• Using Containers with Stoppers:

-To remove a cork, stopper, or lid, do the following:

After picking up the stopper, turn it upside down before placing it on the
counter top. This will help avoid contaminating the chemical when the stopper
is replaced
Ways to handle hot Glassware

• Heated metals, glassware and ceramics stay hot for a long time. Allow plenty
of time for a hot metal to cool before touching it.

• Handle hot objects like a beaker, evaporating dish, and crucible with the
proper pair of tongs.

• Keep your hair, clothing, and hands at a safe distance from the gas burner.

• Evaporating dishes and crucibles can be heated to very high temperatures.

They will crack and shatter if placed hot on the lab bench or come into
contact with water. Therefore, they should be placed on wire gauze to cool.

• Do not heat a closed container. Pressure build up may cause the container to
explode.

• Do not allow hot glassware to come in contact with cold water. It will shatter.
 Ways to work with chemicals

• Respect all chemicals and be cautious when handling them, especially those you know very
little about. Label all the chemical containers

• Corrosive and toxic chemicals must be handled in the fame hood.

• Never use your mouth to pipette dangerous liquids. Use a rubber safety bulb for all pipetting
purposes.

• Do not carry bottles containing corrosive liquids (concentrated acids, bromine etc) by their
necks. There are baskets specially made for that purpose.

• Avoid direct contact with any chemical. Keep chemicals off your hands, face and clothing,
including shoes. Never smell, inhale or taste a chemical.

• Do not pour or dispose of hazardous materials in the sink. Labelled residual bottles should be
used and kept in the fume cupboard.

• Compressed gas cylinders must be properly strapped and not left standing on their own.
Transferring chemicals……

• Solid chemicals:

The transfer of a The transfer of a Using a piece of

large amount of small amount of weighing paper to
solid. solid. transfer a solid.
Transferring chemicals……

• Liquid chemicals:
• Take an appropriately sized, labeled beaker to the
reagent shelf. The stopper of the reagent bottle should
be held during transfer into the beaker and then close
the reagent bottle. It is a good idea to make this latter
transfer over a sink.

• Always return the stopper to the bottle and the bottle

to the reagent shelf.

• Never put your dropper or pipet into a reagent bottle.

• If the reagent bottle is equipped with a dropper, use

that dropper, being careful not to touch the walls or
contents of your receiving vessel with the dropper.
 Heating of chemicals

• Turn off heat sources when they are not in use.

• Point test tubes away from yourself and others when heating substances in them.
• Use the proper procedures when lighting a Bunsen burner.
• To avoid burns, do not handle heated glassware or materials directly. Use tongs, test-tube
holders, or heat-resistant gloves or mitts.
• For heating, use glassware that is meant to be used for that purpose.
• When heating flasks or beakers over the laboratory burner, use a ring-stand setup with a
square of wire gauze.
• Use a water bath to heat solids.
• When heating with a laboratory burner, gently move the test tube over the hottest part of
the flame.
• Do not pour hot liquids into plastic containers.