Safety in the laboratory is an individual and personal responsibility, as well as a management’s duty. Staff training should be directed towards making safety considerations an attitude of mind and an integral part of all work procedures. No document can unsure safe practice within the workplace.

Safety is dependant on the:

• Quality of the previous training and experience of its employees;

• Testing and labeling of the chemicals which are available;

• Design and maintenance of the physical facilities of the workplace; and reliability and safety of the equipment provided.

- The idea of this course is to give an introduction to working in a laboratory. It is hoped that people become aware of their role and function in a laboratory environment. Whatever the function of the laboratory, it’s most important asset is the staff and how those staff perform. This course presents people with the basics to become an integral part of the laboratory and assist the facility to generate data that are of high quality and scientifically reliable.

Upon Completion of the Course, Participants will be able to:

• To exercise total quality management in producing reliable, consistent and independent results and on-time to their customers.

• To increase the awareness of the occupational health and safety in the laboratory environment, and exercising total professionalism in scientific and management areas.

• To identify the most effective and efficient practice in planning, organizing, prioritizing and executing the business requirements.

• To develop effective communication and interpersonal skills among lab personnel

This course is written with the aim of making staff aware of the potential hazards involved with chemicals in the workplace and to instill in them the need to think about what they are doing.
Therefore, it is essential that all staff be made aware that the use of chemicals and equipment in a work environment is potentially dangerous. Staff should take all possible steps to minimize and guard against accidents; and adopt safe work practices at all times. It is important that all laboratory staff adopt a new analytical psychology. This psychology necessitates them becoming totally aware of the work process they are performing, and understanding the techniques and chemicals they are using, to minimize the chances of human error.

Laboratory managers, analytical chemists, medical scientists, laboratory supervisors, research and development scientists, microbiologists, food technologists and quality assurance/control managers.

Day 1:    

• Welcome & Introductions and course briefing

• Safety in the laboratory

• Chemicals and us

• How chemicals harm us (Chemicals classification)

• Chemical reactions

• Poisons and Carcinogens

• Handling toxic substances 

Day 2:

• Spillages

• General laboratory Equipments

• Protective equipment and safety kit

• Fire and evacuation procedures in chemical laboratory

• Occupational health and safety audit

• Total quality management and safety

• Smart work not hard work

Day 3:

• Working under pressure and stress, safety first! 

• Storage and disposal of chemicals materials/compounds

• Laboratory facilities and space

• Identifying potential dangerous laboratory practices

• Cost of safety versus the cost of injuries/accidents

• Safety and quality equal success

• Open forum/presentation of certificates

Day 4:

• Introduction and the expectation

• Types of reports

• What is a Technical Report?

• Analytical Test Reports and Certificates of Quality

• Enhancing Your Report

• Report Writing Strategies

• Exercise: writing a complete technical report

Day 5:

• Scientific Reports

• One Page Reports

• Exercise: write a one page scientific report

• Handling Customer Complaints (reports vs. other techniques)

• Electronic versus paper reports

• Test Method Writing & Customer complaint Response reports

• Reporting to senior management team