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Security and Public Safety > Environmental Health and Safety Policies >Electrical Safety in the Instructional and Research Laboratories

Modern scientific laboratories contain a variety of essential electrical equipment.  Both commercial instruments and locally made devices are employed to accomplish the work of scientists and students.  As with all aspects of laboratory practice, such equipment should be used in a manner to minimize risks to everyone.

Electrical circuits are characterized by voltage, current and power.  It is not possible to list values of current or voltage that are absolutely safe or that are unacceptably dangerous.  For instance, a car battery (12 volts) presents virtually no danger of electrocution, but if the terminals of a car battery are touched together by a small screwdriver then the current flow can be great enough to melt the screwdriver and perhaps cause skin burns.  On the other hand, students studying electrostatics with a van de Graaff generator routinely subject themselves to a million volts, with hair-raising but non-lethal consequences, because of the small currents involved.  Indeed, anyone feeling a static electricity spark while touching a doorknob has been shocked by several thousand volts.

Electricity is dangerous when there is enough voltage across part of a body to cause appreciable current flow through that part.  Current flowing from a wire into a hand, for example, frequently causes the muscles to contract and hold uncontrollably on to the wire.  If enough current flows near the heart, it will be stopped.  Of course, medical technicians use electricity to start hearts, too.

Fortunately, prudent safety practice for electricity is straightforward and effective: do not touch conductors that can electrocute you.  In teaching and research laboratories, the instructor or supervisor should take reasonable measures to prevent students from being harmfully shocked by electricity.  The instructor should speak clearly to students about these issues.  In all likelihood, the instructor will know the most about appropriate safety procedures for their laboratories.  If questions arise, however, the instructor is expected to seek advice from other knowledgeable individuals, such as the department chairperson or an electrician in Facilities Management.

In general, the laboratory instructor oversees the safety of electrical laboratory instruments, while Facilities Management oversees the safety of electrical power sources (building wiring and outlets), lighting, and HVAC in the laboratory.  Cooperation and communication between these groups is desirable.

Here are a few items that should be considered with regard to electrical instruments in a laboratory:

  • replace damaged power cords
  • verify operation of grounds in outlets
  • verify neutral and hot sides in outlets
  • check assignment of outlets to circuit breakers and know where the circuit breakers for the laboratory outlets and lights are located
  • when possible, use GFI (Ground Fault Interrupt) outlets near places where water can contact electrical circuits
  • check for warm plugs and replace as needed
  • for devices drawing large currents (for example, motors, heating elements, high-power lasers), minimize the number of plugs and sockets in the power lines; use twist-lock plugs and sockets when possible, or better still, hard-wire the equipment
  • check insulation between heating elements and equipment casings
  • routinely used hazardous circuits should be suitably enclosed or insulated; if this is not possible, appropriate signs should be posted; devices under development are exempt, though appropriate notification should be made to those who may come near the work area
  • when possible, relative neatness in wire arrangement is desirable - if problems develop, it will be easier for someone else to understand the circuit and avoid danger