Erlab's Laboratory Safety. How Well Are You Protected?

The concepts presented in this blog are offered to aid in providing solutions to maintain a safe and odor free lab environment.

If you are among the myriad of professionals who leave the lab wreaking of the chemicals used during the day, you should ponder how much of those chemicals and vapors you are also inhaling. Not a pleasant thought but one that lab managers need to address.

While serious concerns are being addressed, in many industries, pertaining to hazardous The Perfurmers Apprentice_Halo Smart (6) chemicals and molecules emanating from their work environment, lab professionals in the flavor and fragrance industry find themselves with additional challenges.

They are also contending with nuisance odors interfering with their ability to differentiate between pleasant and unpleasant odors (cross-contamination). This presents a challenge when the success of their products depend on their ability to add or subtract ingredients based primarily on their sense of smell.

This is a situation, that if not addressed, could jeopardize formulas, health, and the bottom line.

A lab managers first responsibility, above all else, is to guarantee the safety of their personnel from dangerous emissions. They need to know the difference between what chemical concentration signifies a health hazard and which odors are affecting their personnel’s comfort level. A very real red flag exists if these odors are following people home on the skin and clothes. It is a sure sign that emissions in your lab have not been contained. It also suggests that your lab is LabWHalosAndCaptairin need of a robust air filtration system.

What air filtration equipment should you consider

What is required to capture all fugitive emissions? Let’s first examine where and how these emissions are being introduced into the lab environment and what equipment should be considered to counter their effects.

As chemicals are constantly opened, used, closed, and stored during daily tasks in the lab, it is obvious that air filtration is needed from the moment these chemicals first enter a lab and throughout their use, all day – every day.

Consider a solution that is easy to setup and use. A laboratory air filtration system that can be installed in areas of heavy concentration or where odors intrude on environmental ambience and human comfort. Ideally, such a system would have audio/visual communication for any issues detected, a powerful, but quiet means of filtering and exchanging the air while trapping and containing molecules (the building blocks of the final compound and/or chemical) in a sustainable manner. This system will take air (and everything at the molecular level) up vertically, capture the emissions effectively, and release clean air horizontally, while eliminating turbulence in the laboratory and its’ dead air zones.

Better still…

Products that are designed to plug and play into an existing system with no HVAC requirement HALO and no impact on a building’s infrastructure are ideal. Typically, the solution is thought to be increased air exchanges from between 4-12 depending on the lab.

With a laboratory air filtration system this costly and mostly ineffective “solution” is eliminated. Other products ideally suited for lab applications include: ductless filtering chemical storage cabinets for complete adsorption and containment of stored samples and/or hazardous chemicals. A ductless filtering fume hood for working with liquids or powders is also recommended. Find a trusted brand that guarantees safety, and is backed by expertise in research and development, as well as, designing and manufacturing. You also want to make sure that an individual chemical applications analysis and recommendation in writing accompanies your RFQ.

More technical information is available on our industry webinar.

Experience the value of filtering ductless fume hoods

Get to know the many benefits derived from installing air filtration devices in your lab. The concepts presented in this blog are offered to aid you in providing solutions to maintain a safe and odor free lab environment. Do the research and query your colleagues, to understand the value of purchasing a self-contained air filtration product for your lab. Benefits include:

An odor free facility

• More pleasurable working environment
• Precise area for weighing applications (Powders/Liquids)
• Controlled sample storage
• Safer laboratory without costly HVAC & additional building loads
• Contribution to your sustainability efforts

About Erlab

As the Inventor of the ductless laboratory fume hood and worldwide leader since 1968, Erlab’s passion is to focus on the research and development, design, and manufacturing of cutting-edge toxic gas air filtration in the laboratory. As an industry innovator, Erlab is committed to safety, performance, energy efficiency, and sustainability, and has remained number one in the world for ductless fume hoods.