Safety regulations in the labs

Safety regulations in the labs

Safety regulations

Students and employees performing work in MSE labs or workshops shall review the MSE safety regulations, sign the form on the last page and post/deliver it to the MSE operations controller for record filing. Your unit head (for research and teaching positions) or supervisor (for doctoral students) is responsible for ensuring that this is done as soon as possible, together with other intro material for new hires.

Safety regulations at MSE v1.2 (2024-03-16) (pdf 1.2 MB)

2. KLARA and Lab Safety Course

Everyone working in the lab must be familiar with the risk-assessment system through a KLARA and lab safety course. After completing the introductory course, access to the KLARA inventory system is provided. The course is held by the School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health several times per semester. After completing the course, you will receive access to KLARA.

Sign up for the course in lab safety

3. Access

Apply for necessary lab access from link below. Please note that you do not have the right to use equipment, even if you can enter the space, if you do not have authorisation

Before granting lab access, the lab responsible supervisor will conduct a physical presentation of the lab including review of rules of conduct, routine work, protective equipment and emergency exits. During this presentation, all laboratory risks shall be addressed (including all ongoing trials).

Apply for lab access

4. Workshop course

Everyone working in the workshop must attend a workshop course. The course is held as needed (approx. once per semester) at the Department of Production Engineering. After completing the course, workshop access is granted.

Apply here for the next course

5. Risk assessment

A risk assessment must be carried out before starting laboratory work. Please note that the safety representative and the laboratory responsible shall participate in the risk assessment.

Use the risk assesment template developed for MSE and if chemical hazards exist, the template is supplemented with a risk assessment in KLARA. The risk assessment is done in KLARA under the org "Materialvetenskap". Select the status "Klar" when the risk assessment is completed. After that, the control questions on the printed risk assessment must be answered by the author together with the safety representative and lab responsible, possibly supervisor. The risk assessment is signed by the provider, safety representative, lab responsible, possibly supervisor, and finally by the head of department. Archived by Operations Controller.

If an approved risk assessment is already available in KLARA, it is sufficient that you take part in and carry out the work in accordance with it. However, it should first be discussed with the lab responsible or supervisor (or instrument responsible at Hultgren) if the supervisor (or instrument responsible at Hultgren) has already signed the risk assessment, otherwise the lab responsible is sufficient before the work begins (the safety representative and head of department do not need to sign this copy). Also this version should be saved in KLARA and archived by Operations Controller.

Risk assessment template (Word) (docx 67 kB)

Signature page when risk assessment already exists (docx 31 kB)

6. Lab purchases

All purchases should if possible be done in WISUM and must be approved by lab responsible and supervisor before placing an order. All chemical needs shall be assessed before purchase and use. Are special handling/permits required? Is there special legislation? WISUM MSE instructions: Wisum tutorial - KTH Play .

7. CMR investigation

A CMR investigation must be carried out before purchasing and working with CMR substances. This is done in dialogue with the person responsible for chemical handling. The report is sent to the head of department for approval.

The following must be done before work with CMR can begin:

• • Complete risk assessment
  • Prepare register of employees at risk of exposure leading to risk of illness
  • Implement measures to reduce exposure

CMR investigations

8. Generel fire training

Implement general fire training as soon as possible (given by KTH in spring and autumn). The person responsible for fire safety assesses whether other fire safety training needs to be implemented or approved. Notify the operations controller after course completion.

9. Report risks, incidents, accidents and workplace injuries

Always report risks, incidents, accidents and workplace injuries in the IA system.