All UK research laboratories* using, storing, or handling hazardous chemicals and all personnel working within these laboratories, are required to comply with the OSHA Laboratory Standard (29 CFR 1910.1450)
Compliance with these regulations includes having a written laboratory-specific Chemical Hygiene Plan.
A CHP is the laboratory’s program that addresses the aspects of the OSHA Laboratory Standard. The laboratory-specific CHP must, at a minimum, meet the elements outlined below. For any laboratory or site-specific CHP to be valid, it must contain information specific to the materials and procedures conducted at that location and must include:
- Standard operating procedures relevant to safety and health considerations for each activity involving the use of hazardous chemicals.
- Criteria that the employer will use to determine and implement control measures to reduce exposure to hazardous materials [i.e., engineering controls, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), and hygiene practices] with particular attention given to selecting control measures for extremely hazardous materials.
- A requirement to ensure that fume hoods and other protective equipment are functioning properly and identify the specific measures the employer will take to ensure proper and adequate performance of such equipment.
- Information to be provided to lab personnel working with hazardous substances include:
- The contents of the Laboratory standard and its appendices.
- The location and availability of the employer’s CHP.
- The permissible exposure limits (PELs) for OSHA regulated substances or recommended exposure limits for other hazardous chemicals where there is no applicable OSHA standard.
- The signs and symptoms associated with exposures to hazardous chemicals used in the laboratory.
- The location and availability of known reference materials on the hazards, safe handling, storage, and disposal of hazardous chemicals found in the laboratory including, but not limited to, the Material Safety Data Sheets received from the chemical supplier.
- The circumstances under which a particular laboratory operation, procedure or activity requires prior approval from the employer or the employer’s designee before being implemented.
- Designation of personnel responsible for implementing the CHP, including the assignment of a Chemical Hygiene Officer and, if appropriate, establishment of a Chemical Hygiene Committee.
- Provisions for additional worker protection for work with particularly hazardous substances. These include “select carcinogens,” reproductive toxins and substances that have a high degree of acute toxicity. Specific consideration must be given to the following provisions and shall be included where appropriate:
- Establishment of a designated area.
- Use of containment devices such as fume hoods or glove boxes.
- Procedures for safe removal of contaminated waste.
- Decontamination procedures.
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The employer must review and evaluate the effectiveness of the CHP at least annually and update it as necessary.
*Laboratory use of chemicals is defined by the OSHA Laboratory Standard as:
"handling or use of such chemicals in which all of the following conditions are met:
(i) Chemical manipulations are carried out on a "laboratory scale;"**
(ii) Multiple chemical procedures or chemicals are used;
(iii) The procedures involved are not part of a production process, nor in any way simulate a production process; and
(iv) "Protective laboratory practices and equipment" are available and in common use to minimize the potential for employee exposure to hazardous chemicals."
Laboratory scale is defined by the OSHA Laboratory Standard as:
"work with substances in which the containers used for reactions, transfers, and other handling of substances are designed to be easily and safely manipulated by one person. "Laboratory scale" excludes those workplaces whose function is to produce commercial quantities of materials."