Lab Safety and Equipment

Lab Safety

by Stacy King

​Dress for the Lab and PPE

• Closed-toe shoes​

• Long pants or Long skirts

• ​Secure long hair

• ​Remove Jewelry

• ​Lab coats or aprons

• ​Goggles - take out contacts

• ​Gloves

​Gloves

​Change VERY often

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​when you are practicing diagnostic testing you must remember to change gloves

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​microorganisms are not visible but just as dangerous as all other hazards

​Ignaz Semmelweis and nurse Florence Nightingale

​Advocated hand washing

Lab Equipment

​Types of Lab Equipment

Measuring

​Beaker

​Used to hold liquids, mix solutions, approximate amount of liquids

​Graduated Cylinders

​Used to accurately measure solutions

​Pipette

​Laboratory instrument used to measure out or transfer small quantities of liquid, in volumes of milliliters (mL), microliters (μL)

​Micropipette

​Pipette used to measure microliters of solutions

​Funnel

​Used for guiding liquid or powder into a small opening

Weighing/Measuring (solids)

​Electric Balance

​An instrument used in the accurate measurement of mass of materials

​Triple Beam Balance

​an instrument used in the accurate measurement of mass of materials

​Metric Ruler

​Used to measure the length of an object

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​30 cm ruler

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​100 cm meter stick

Mixing and Storing

Erlenmeyer flask

​Narrow neck

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​Used to contain liquids and for mixing, heating, cooling, incubation, filtration, storage, and other liquid-handling processes.

Stirring Rod

​Mixing of Chemicals

Stoppers

​Mixing and Storing of Chemicals in Erlenmeyer flask

​Test Tube Rack

Used to hold multiple test tubes upright at the same time

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​Very useful when mixing different solutions at the same time

Test Tube

Used to handle chemicals​

Temperature Control and Safety

​Ring Stand

​Used to hold metal ring or utility clamp

Round-bottom flasks

​Used to heat or cool liquids over burner, among other uses

​Thermometer

​Used to measure the relative heat of an object or liquid

​Beaker Tongs

Used to carry hot beakers

​Hot Plate

​Generally used to heat samples in glass beakers, flasks, vials, bottles and other vessels

​Test Tube Tongs

​To manipulate hot test tubes

​Metal Ring (Iron Ring)

​Used to support flasks or funnels upright in a stand

Other common Lab Equipment

​Forceps

​Primary purpose is to grasp, retract, or stabilize tissue

​Microscope

​Used in science laboratories, to visualize very minute objects such as cells, microorganisms, giving a contrasting image, that is magnified

​Microscope Slide and Coverslip

​Slide = used to place the specimen on a glass slide for viewing under a microscope

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​Coverslip = covers specimen on slide for viewing under a microscope

​Test Tube Brush

​Used for cleaning test tubes and other glassware in the lab

​Magnifying Glass

​Hand lens used to magnify small objects so they can be more easily seen