Safety And Lab Use

On This Page

• Emergencies and incidents — emergency response, spills, problems, and injury reports.
• Working safely — food, samples, PPE, instrument safety, working alone, and waste.
• Lab-use rules — training, accounts, guests, and shared-space responsibilities.

Emergencies And Incidents

Emergency Response

1. Exit route: leave through the lab door into the lounge, then through the lounge door into the Building 8 corridor. Continue to the nearest safe building exit. This is the lab’s only exit route; keep it clear and do not use elevators.
2. For fire or smoke: activate a corridor alarm pull near a building exit as you leave. Do not search inside the lab or delay evacuation. MIT policy is not to fight a fire yourself.
3. Notify Breakerspace staff once emergency help is on the way and it is safe to do so.

Campus phone: dial 100. The phone is on the desk by the lab doors. Use it only when remaining in the lab is safe. Do not stay in the lab or re-enter during a fire or smoke evacuation to reach it.

Use these MIT emergency numbers rather than 911. Do not use Slack or email. See MIT’s emergency contacts.

Emergency equipment — keep access clear:

• Emergency and first-aid supplies: labeled cabinet above the sink.
• Shower and eyewash: immediately left of the sink.
• Fire extinguisher: left of the sink, near the shower and eyewash, marked by a sign.
• Spill kit: in the sink area.

Spills

Use the spill kit only for a minor, known spill you have been trained and instructed to handle safely. For unknown or hazardous material, a large release, an exposure, or a spill you cannot safely control, move away, keep others out, and follow the emergency instructions.

Problems, Damage, And Non-Emergency Incidents

For unexpected sounds, smells, leaks, warnings, damaged parts, unsafe samples, unfamiliar instrument behavior, or other unsafe conditions:

1. Stop the procedure.
2. If it is safe and you know how, leave the instrument in a stable condition without adding risk.
3. Keep others from continuing until the problem has been assessed.
4. Find a staff member. If none is available, use #breakerspace-help on Slack or email dmse-breakerspace@mit.edu.
5. Report the instrument, sample, settings, warnings, what happened, and actions taken.

Report injuries, damage, spills, and near misses even if the immediate problem appears resolved.

Reporting An Injury Or Illness

After immediate needs are addressed, notify Breakerspace staff promptly:

• Unpaid students and visitors: complete the MIT Non-Employee Incident Report as soon as possible.
• MIT employees and paid students: notify your supervisor immediately. The supervisor should submit the EHS Supervisor’s Report of Occupational Injury/Illness in Atlas within 24 hours.

Staff can help identify the right report. See MIT EHS reporting guidance. Reporting must not delay emergency care.

Working Safely

Food And Drink

Keep food, drinks, cups, bottles, and eating utensils in the lounge, not in the lab.

Samples And Materials

Use non-hazardous materials. Hazardous materials or hazardous waste require staff approval of the specific material and procedure before you bring them into the lab.

Ask staff before bringing a sample that is:

• Wet, loose, dusty, reactive, volatile, strongly odorous, staining, or unknown.
• Biological or derived from a biological source.
• Vacuum-sensitive, very magnetic, unusually large or heavy, sharp, or fragile.
• Likely to leak, spill, crumble, outgas, contaminate an instrument, or require a hazardous solvent for cleanup.

Describe the material, its preparation and prior use, what you want to measure, and known hazards. Keep the sample out of the lab until its safety and compatibility are resolved.

Personal Protective Equipment

Gloves: wear nitrile gloves for sample preparation and when loading or unloading samples, holders, tools, or fixtures. Remove and discard them before touching keyboards, mice, touchscreens, or workstations. Put on clean gloves before returning to sample handling or cleanup. Replace dirty, damaged, or contaminated gloves; do not touch shared surfaces with contaminated gloves.

Safety glasses: wear them when operating the Instron or hardness tester, and during tasks that can produce flying particles, chips, fragments, dust, or splashes, including grinding or transferring powders. Ask staff before handling powders that are especially fine, floaty, irritating, or difficult to contain.

Footwear and heavy tooling: there is no general closed-toe shoe requirement. When handling heavy Instron grips, fixtures, or samples, keep feet clear, use two hands and a stable transfer path, and get help if you cannot comfortably control the item. Do not balance tooling on an instrument edge or carry it while adjusting something else.

Follow instrument-specific and staff instructions for additional PPE.

Instrument Safety

Use the intended guards and controls; keep hands and feet clear of moving parts. Do not bypass guards, interlocks, enclosures, warnings, or other safety features.

Follow the instrument instructions for operating steps, approved holders and fixtures, and task-specific precautions. Stop and ask staff if instructions conflict, the safe next step is unclear, or a procedure was not covered in training or the instrument guide.

Working Alone

Routine use by trained users has no additional Breakerspace working-alone restriction. The MIT Working Alone Policy applies at all hours:

• Discuss potentially hazardous work that could cause immediate injury or serious harm with the appropriate supervisor before working alone.
• Undergraduates need prior written supervisor approval to work alone with hazardous materials, equipment, or operations that could cause immediate injury or death.

Ask staff to review unfamiliar setups, modified procedures, unusually heavy tooling changes, and other higher-risk work before attempting them alone. Arrange another person if the risk or your ability to control the equipment is uncertain.

Waste Disposal

Put sharps and glass, including slides, in the sharps container near the sample-preparation area. Sort ordinary recycling and trash into the appropriate bins.

Breakerspace work should not generate hazardous waste. Stop and contact staff if material cannot go into the normal trash, recycling, or sharps container. Do not leave unidentified spills or waste containers.

Lab-Use Rules

Training And Accounts

Complete the required training before using an instrument independently.

Log in with your own account. Do not share credentials.

Guests

Trained users may bring guests and must stay in the lab with them. Hosts must ensure guests follow lab rules and do not interfere with other users or equipment.

Guests, novices, and trainees may operate an instrument under the direct supervision of Breakerspace staff, course staff, or another person designated by Breakerspace staff. Every supervisor must be trained on the instrument. Other trained users may host observers but may not supervise instrument use.

Shared Space And Cleanup

• Remain in the lab throughout your reserved session and follow instrument-specific requirements for long or automated runs.
• Unload samples, follow the instrument’s shutdown steps, and clean the instrument and work area according to its guide.
• Take your samples with you or discard them appropriately unless staff approved leaving them for later work. Do not leave unidentified samples.
• Return holders, tools, fixtures, and shared supplies to their designated locations. Remove and put away Instron tooling.