Chemical Safety
Guides
Chemical Hygiene Plan Training: What OSHA Requires Labs to Provide Employees
What OSHA’s Laboratory Standard actually requires: when Chemical Hygiene Plan training must happen, what topics it must cover, and how labs document it.
Chemical Storage Compatibility: Segregation Rules for Acids, Bases, Oxidizers, and Flammables
The standard chemical segregation groups, the incompatible pairs that cause real lab incidents (acids/bases, oxidizers/flammables, cyanide salts/acids), and how to build a working segregation plan using cabinets, secondary containment, and SDS Section 7/10 data.
Secondary Container Labeling: OSHA HazCom Rules for Lab Chemicals
How OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard governs labels on secondary/workplace containers — squeeze bottles, aliquots, waste containers — and when the narrow immediate-use exemption applies.
Peroxide-Forming Chemicals: Identification, Testing, and Safe Disposal Timelines
How to identify peroxide-forming chemicals like diethyl ether and THF, the Class A/B/C testing system, and safe testing, labeling, and disposal timelines for the lab.
Chemical-Resistant Glove Selection Guide: Matching Glove Material to Hazard
How to read a glove chemical-resistance chart and match glove material to chemical hazard: degradation vs. penetration vs. permeation, ASTM F739 breakthrough time, ANSI/ISEA 105 classes, and a material-by-chemical-class comparison table.
Common Lab Chemical Hazard Classes Explained: A Researcher’s Primer
A primer mapping out OSHA/GHS chemical hazard classes — physical, health, and environmental — and how each one shapes lab storage, PPE, inventory, and waste decisions, with links to CASRAI’s deeper guides on specific hazard classes.
The Chemical Hygiene Officer Role: Responsibilities and Authority in Lab Safety
OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1450 requires labs to designate a Chemical Hygiene Officer, but leaves most of the role’s duties and authority to non-mandatory guidance and institutional policy. Here’s what the CHO actually does, who typically holds the role, and how it differs from related safety positions.
Chemical Fume Hood Certification and Inspection: How Often and What Gets Checked
How often chemical fume hoods must be certified, what ANSI/AIHA Z9.5 face-velocity testing actually checks, and how to read and act on certification results.
Reactive Chemicals: Water-Reactive and Pyrophoric Compound Handling
What makes a chemical pyrophoric or water-reactive under OSHA/GHS, common lab examples (alkali metals, alkyllithiums, metal hydrides), storage and inert-atmosphere handling, why water/CO2 extinguishers are wrong for reactive-metal fires, and safe disposal.
Flammable Liquid Storage Cabinet Requirements: OSHA and NFPA Rules Explained
How OSHA 29 CFR 1910.106 and NFPA 30 govern flammable liquid storage cabinets in research labs: capacity limits, construction specs, labeling, venting, and how many cabinets a room can hold.
How to Read a Safety Data Sheet (SDS): The 16-Section GHS Guide
A practical, section-by-section guide to reading a Safety Data Sheet (SDS): what each of the 16 GHS-aligned sections covers, how it differs from a GHS label, and how to actually use it in the lab.
Particularly Hazardous Substances in the Lab: Select Carcinogens, Reproductive Toxins, and High Acute Toxicity Chemicals
What makes a lab chemical a “particularly hazardous substance” under OSHA’s Laboratory Standard (29 CFR 1910.1450): select carcinogens, reproductive toxins, and substances with a high degree of acute toxicity, plus what a PHS designation requires in your Chemical Hygiene Plan.
Satellite Accumulation Areas: Rules for Chemical Waste at the Point of Generation
Satellite accumulation areas let labs collect hazardous waste right where it is generated, within strict quantity limits and a three-day rule once those limits are exceeded. Here is how 40 CFR 262.15 works in practice.
Lab Chemical Inventory Management: Systems and Best Practices
What a complete chemical inventory record needs, the system options for maintaining one (spreadsheet, barcode, dedicated software), and the audit and upkeep practices that keep it accurate for OSHA HazCom and EPCRA Tier II compliance.
Corrosive Chemicals in the Lab: Hazards, Handling, and First Aid
What makes a chemical corrosive under OSHA/GHS, the corrosive acids and bases most labs stock, why hydrofluoric acid needs separate handling, safe storage/segregation, and first aid for skin, eye, inhalation, and ingestion exposure.
PPE Selection for Chemical Handling in the Lab: Gloves, Eyewear, and Lab Coats
How to choose the right eye protection, gloves, and lab coats for chemical handling tasks, based on OSHA PPE standards and real glove-permeation and flame-resistance considerations.
How to Write and Maintain a Chemical Hygiene Plan (OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1450)
A step-by-step guide to drafting and maintaining an OSHA-compliant Chemical Hygiene Plan under 29 CFR 1910.1450, from designating a Chemical Hygiene Officer through the required annual review.
Understanding GHS Labels: Pictograms, Signal Words, and Hazard Statements
A complete guide to reading GHS chemical labels: the nine pictograms, signal words (Danger/Warning), hazard statement (H-code) and precautionary statement (P-code) systems, and how labels relate to Safety Data Sheets.
