Working in laboratories

Working in laboratories carries specific risks, usually involving hazardous chemicals. Make use of our risk assessment document to help keep you on the straight and narrow.

Managing the risks

To help you identify the hazards associated with such work and the appropriate ways of controlling them, use our example Risk Assessment - Working in Laboratories . It covers the generic hazards associated with activities in this type of environment and suggests control measures to reduce risks to an acceptable level.

Make your instructions clear

Don’t include activities in your document that simply don’t need to be there. Work to the principle that if there is any chance of your staff being unaware of the safe way of doing something, then you will need to make it clear in your document. Finally, always ensure that any control measures you identify and follow only go so far “as is reasonably practicable”.   

Note 1. The list of potential hazards we have included is not exhaustive. However, for your risk assessment to be considered suitable and sufficient in the eyes of the law it must accurately reflect the “significant” hazards found with the activities that take place in your laboratory environment.

Note 2. Where chemical substances are used you may need to carry out additional risk assessments as defined by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended) .