Mind & body, Research

Lab-coat distribution event promotes safety culture

By Cathy Cockrell

Close to a thousand new lab researchers and staff are being fitted with lab coats, safety eyewear and other personal-protective equipment during a distribution event Oct. 7 and 8 at the foot of the Campanile.

student gets lab glasses

EH&S staffer helps a student get fitted with protective eyewear for use in the lab.

The Office of Environment, Health and Safety plans to distribute some 5,000 articles of safety equipment over the course of two days, in an effort to promote a strong, campuswide lab-safety culture. This is the second event of its type this year.

According to EH&S Director Mark Freiberg, anyone entering a campus research lab in which hazardous materials are used must wear long pants (or equivalent) and closed-toed shoes, “with no skin exposed between the shoe and pant cuff.” When working with hazardous materials at the bench, “the minimum requirement is a lab coat, ANSI-rated safety eyewear and gloves.”

For details on new UC policies and campus measures on lab safety, read this 2013 Q&A with Freiberg: “New measures to make Berkeley labs, workshops safer.