Safety in Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories
Working in university science labs will mean exposure to a variety of chemicals. Working with chemicals can be hazardous and as such you must be prepared for all labs before beginning work. Follow all safety instructions and waste disposal instructions given to you by your Course Instructor, Teaching Assistant, and / or Laboratory Technician.
Department of Chemistry Safety Policy
Trent University Science Safety Program
The Science Safety Program is an integrated program which incorporates the Internal Responsibility System by defining the roles and responsibilities of individuals, supervisors and the university, addresses training requirements and resources, assists in communication, provide document templates and guidelines, describes tools for hazard identification and assessment, discusses hazard control, provides for inspections and audits which allows for reviews of the effectiveness of the Program.
Safety Video
Download the Crash Course Chemistry Safety Video Transcript
Hazardous Waste in Research Labs
The proper disposal of laboratory waste is important to ensure that we are not discarding hazardous or environmentally damaging material into landfill and not putting caretaking staff at risk.
Chemical Waste
All chemical waste should be disposed of through the Hazardous Chemical Waste system. For instructions on the proper disposal of hazardous chemical waste in ESB, SC and CSB. For disposal of hazardous chemical waste in DNA or LHS.
Biohazardous and Biological Waste
Download the Biohazardous and Biological Waste Procedures.
Radioactive Waste
Download the specific procedures for Radioactive Waste Disposal.
Sharps disposal
All material which is considered sharp (such as blades, scalpels, syringes and needles) shall be placed in a yellow sharps container (available through Science Facilities). Plastic pipettes and pipet tips and glass pipettes, slides and coverslips are not considered sharp waste.
Glass and Broken Glass Disposal
All glass pipets, broken glass, slides and coverslips should be placed in the Glass Disposal containers (plastic brown containers or stainless steel containers labelled as such. Do not put glass pipets in normal waste.
Any additional questions on waste disposal can be addressed to Chris Williams or Angela Sikma.