Lab Standard Operations Procedure (SOP)

Following are some standard operating procedures which should be always kept in mind during work in biochemical or biotechnological laboratory:

Lab Standard Operations Procedure (SOP):

a. Personal Safety:

i. Always wear a buttoned lab coat or suits whose ergonomic design is critically important for efficient work and management.

ii. Lab Coat Laundry instructions: Wash separately from other clothes with detergent and bleach. When taking lab coat home for washing, carry separately from all other personal effects, i.e., not in your back pack.

iii. Long hair must be tied back. Keep hands away from hair.

iv. Wash hands with antibacterial soap (SWISH contains sodium lauryl sulphate (SDS) a detergent, coco diethanolamide, coco amido betaine, and copolymer of acrylamide) before leaving the lab.

v. Dispose of the used gloves.

vi. No eating or drinking in the lab.

vii. Never mouth pipette. Always use a pro-pipette.

viii. Cover any cuts with a bandage.

ix. It is advisable to wear closed toed shoes.

b. Lab Environment:

i. Wash bench area before and after work with proper disinfectant and cleaning agent like BDD (Back down Detergent Disinfectant containing nonylphenoxy polyethoxy ethanol, alkyl-aryl ammonium chloride and ethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides). This is especially important since biochemistry students use strong acids and bases and other chemicals which may be toxic. Never assume that the lab bench has been cleaned by the previous students or colleagues.

ii. First aid kit should always be present in lab.

iii. All the members of lab must know the location of exits, fire extinguisher, eye wash, full body shower, and first aid kit in the lab.

iv. Every member in the lab should know how to operate equipment before use. DO NOT use equipment unless you know exactly how to operate the equipment. It is advis­able to take assistance from senior or demonstrator.

v. Before leaving always clean your bench area. All equipment’s and supplies should be returned to original location.

Standard Disposal Practices:

Treat animal tissue as a biohazard:

i. All biohazard disposable containers must be labelled with a biohazard label.

ii. All biohazards or biomaterials must be autoclaved. Biohazards include any surface that has come in contact with bacteria or toxic tissues or any other biological sample which is toxic and harmful. The autoclave should be monitored regularly to ensure all organisms are destroyed. After autoclaving the container it is removed, tied and placed in a plastic bag before disposing and then disposed.

iii. Discard all non-sharp biologically contaminated items in separate covered container, this includes micro tubes, API strips, antibiotic strips, micro titration plates, disposable gloves, blood stained towels, etc.

iv. Any ‘pointy’ item must be disposed in deep welled covered bucket (not in ordinary container), this includes pipette man tips, sticks, toothpicks, slides, Pasteur pipettes, bro­ken glassware, brittle plastic objects, metal objects ( needles or blades), etc.

Biohazard Sharps Disposal:

Dispose of all sharps (needles, syringe tops, razors, scalpel blades) in specified container. Dispose of syringe with needle attached do not take apart. Do not replace the needle cap before disposing (high frequency of accidents occur when replacing cap). Sharp’s containers must be autoclaved before disposing. Always dispose of the syringe top in the biohazard sharps container even if not used for biological as it is a perceived hazard by the general public.

i. If broken and need disposal pipettes are autoclaved and boxed before disposing.

Chemical Hazardous Material:

Organic solvents must be disposed of in organic solvent container. The lab-in-charge/senior/ demonstrator should instruct proper disposal methods for labs that contain hazardous materials. Never pour solvents down the sink. Use extreme care with flammable solvents. Alcohol used to flame spread rod should never be positioned within 40 cm of flame. Never put a very hot spread rod into a beaker of alcohol. The alcohol may catch fire.

Some supplied chemicals may be pre­served with 0.1% Na azide, handle with gloved hands. Handle caustic (acids and bases) solutions with care. Never discard an acid or a base greater than one molar down the sink. Discard in labelled glass containers. Use lots of water when discarding caustic solutions (< 1M). When handling stains or reagents, wear disposable gloves as the majority of stains or reagents contain hazardous material.

General Garbage Disposal:

Nothing ‘pointy’ should be disposed in the general waste basket, e.g., disposal pipettes, tips, can top, toothpicks, sticks, etc. Nothing that has come into contact with biological material should be dis­posed in general waste container.

Despite even the most stringent attention to good safety practice, accidents do happen and it is very important to have qualified first aiders to deal with emergencies. Key telephone numbers for emergency services should be clearly and conveniently posted. The disposal of unused chemicals, radioactive isotopes and infected material should be subject to clear procedural guidelines and detailed records be kept of such disposals.

Corrosive chemicals such as acids and alkalis must be neutralized before being disposed. All organic solvents must be stored in metal drums, with chlo­rinated solvents stored separately, before chemical incineration at high temperature radioactive waste in particular is subject to stringent disposal regulations that are legally enforceable. All spent or contaminated tissue or cell cultures or microbial cultures must be sterilized by autoclaving before disposal.