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OSHA Compliance for Laboratories

If you built your chemical safety programme around safety data sheets and container labels, you built the wrong programme. Laboratories have their own standard, and it asks for something different.

The Laboratory Standard displaces ordinary HazCom

Where work meets the definition of laboratory use of hazardous chemicals, 29 CFR 1910.1450 applies in place of the general hazard communication approach for those chemicals. The centrepiece is a written Chemical Hygiene Plan and a designated Chemical Hygiene Officer — not an SDS binder.

Check the rules in your state

What gets cited

The standards behind the findings that come up most in this work. Each links to the text on osha.gov.

  1. 1

    Chemical Hygiene Plan

    29 CFR 1910.1450

    No written plan, or a plan that was written once and never reviewed, never trained on, and does not describe the work actually being done.

  2. 2

    Fume hood performance

    29 CFR 1910.1450

    Hoods not evaluated for adequate performance, or used as storage to the point that airflow is compromised.

  3. 3

    Compressed gases

    29 CFR 1910.101

    Cylinders unsecured, stored with incompatible gases, or kept with valve caps off.

  4. 4

    Eyewash and emergency shower

    29 CFR 1910.151

    Suitable facilities for drenching or flushing not provided or not accessible where corrosives are handled.

  5. 5

    Bloodborne pathogens

    29 CFR 1910.1030

    Clinical and research work with human material without an exposure control plan, training and the vaccination offer.

Why a lab is not a workshop with chemicals

The standard exists because lab work uses small quantities of many substances in changing combinations, which is exactly the situation container labelling handles badly. What replaces it is a plan that describes procedures, controls and the circumstances requiring prior approval — written for how the lab actually operates, and owned by a named person.

Questions we hear

Does the Laboratory Standard replace hazard communication entirely?

For chemicals in laboratory use it takes the place of the general standard, though labelling and safety data sheet provisions still carry through. Work outside laboratory use is not covered by it.

Who can be the Chemical Hygiene Officer?

Someone qualified by training or experience to provide technical guidance on the plan. It is a designated role with responsibility attached, and it must actually be filled.

How often should fume hoods be evaluated?

The standard requires that fume hoods and other protective equipment function properly, with specific measures of performance evaluated when installed and periodically thereafter. Set an interval and keep the records.

Do we need a Chemical Hygiene Plan for a small teaching lab?

Size is not the test. If the work meets the definition of laboratory use of hazardous chemicals, the plan is required.

Templates that apply here

Free checklists from the library — no charge, one short form.

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Compliance for laboratories, without the consultant

WorkSafely SMB builds the programs above, keeps the training attached to them, and has the records ready when an inspector asks.

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General guidance only, not legal advice. Which standards apply is fact-specific and requirements change. Verify against the current text and consult a qualified professional on your own operation.