Laboratory Safety: Laboratory Hoods

Restricting the movement of fumes, mists, vapors, particulates and aerosols in laboratory environments is the job of the lab hood. Ensuring the hood is properly used and well maintained is the responsibility of lab employees. This Video On Demand explains how lab hoods work, why it is essential to follow safety protocols while performing procedures within hoods, and the importance of good housekeeping within the hood. Viewers are familiarized with the standard air flow and face velocity tests that must be conducted periodically to ensure chemical lab hoods operate properly. The course describes information relevant to chemical hoods, biohazard hoods and radio isotope hoods.

Lab employees are reminded to always place their work at least six inches inside the lab hood, and to keep the lab sash closed as far as possible to ensure air outside the hood remains uncontaminated. Other safe working tips include never placing one’s head inside the hood and elevating large pieces of equipment so air flows beneath and around it allowing the hood to operate efficiently. Minimizing physical movements in and around the hood is stressed. Lab safety includes being prepared for accidents. This training demonstrates procedures for cleaning up spills, ways to extinguish fires and how to deal with ventilation failure.

Labs are inherently dangerous places, and workers who use hoods are doing so because the materials in use are hazardous. Ensuring workers use the proper personal protection equipment, understand how to work safely within a hood, practice good housekeeping, and know which hood to use with different materials will go a long way toward providing a safe work environment. This brief video provides an overview of what every lab workers needs to know about working safely within a controlled air environment.

This course has been updated to include GHS container labels and Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for GHS compliance.

   This course is in the Video On Demand format, to read about Video On Demand features click here.

Lab employees

• Introduction
• Chemical Exhaust Hoods
• Testing Laboratory Hoods
• Using Laboratory Hoods
• Specialized Lab Hoods
• Preparing For Emergencies
• Review

• Laboratory Safety: Preventing Contamination in the Laboratory
• Laboratory Safety: GHS Safety Data Sheets in Laboratories
• Laboratory Safety: Handling Compressed Gas Cylinders in the Laboratory