Lab Safety

Biological Safety

Bloodborne Pathogens Program

Chemical and Laboratory Safety

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

SOPs are an integral part of a research laboratory's safety control plan. EHS has developed a SOP Guidance Document [pdf] to help research laboratories identify chemicals in their inventory that require an SOP.

Chemicals that fall into one of the below hazard classes must have an established SOP by December 31, 2021. The below documents are SOP templates for each of the required hazard classes and lists of chemicals in excel that fall into each hazard class.

The SOP Guidance Document, along with the templates linked above, provide a definition of the hazard class and provide resources to identify chemicals using an existing inventory. A blank SOP template [docx] is also available for use.

SOP templates for some commonly encountered or higher risk chemical hazards are available below (not subject to the December 31, 2021 deadline):

Examples of completed SOPs are available to aid development of laboratory-specific SOPs:

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) released Experimenting With Danger in response to three serious laboratory accidents that occurred at academic institutions. The CSB encourages all universities to study the key lessons from the video and to make every effort to provide safe working environments in their labs.

Chemical Procurement

Requests for the use of new chemicals in research are reviewed by the campus Chemical Hygiene Officer to ensure that we have adequate facilities and engineering controls to support the safe use of that chemical. To request a new research chemical, please fill out the Hazardous Materials Request Form and submit it to the purchase request mailbox for review: ehschemicalpurchasingrequests@sjsu.edu

Laser Safety

Hazard Communication

Medical Monitoring

Hazard Assessments and Inspections

Environmental Health and Safety has implemented a set of tools designed to improve safety and facilitate regulatory compliance in laboratories across campus.

The software includes two integrated modules:

  • Assessment: This tool allows Principal Investigators (PIs) to conduct hazard assessments relevant to their research environment and determines the proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that should be used to ensure safety in the lab.
  • Inspect: A flexible, customizable tool that manages the scheduling, completion and long-term tracking of safety inspections. It is available for phones, tablets and desktops. To get started with Inspect, view the Getting Started Guide [pdf].

Risk and Safety Solutions developed Assessment and Inspect as part of its suite of risk management and safety tools for the University of California. The software has been used extensively throughout UC’s 10 campuses and five medical centers. The CSU has partnered with the UC to extend this software to all 23 campuses in the CSU system.

In September 2018, on site training was provided to instructional support staff who will work to help implement this system campuswide. Additional training materials are provided below.