Chemical Hygiene Plan - Queensborough Community College ...

11.6 Protective Clothing
Protective clothing includes lab coats or other protective garments such as aprons, boots, shoe
covers, Tyvek coveralls, and other items, that can be used to protect street clothing from
biological or chemical contamination and splashes, and provide additional body protection from
some physical hazards.
It is strongly recommended that P.I.s and laboratory supervisors discourage the wearing of
shorts and skirts in laboratories using hazardous materials (chemical, biological, and
radiological) by laboratory personnel, including visitors, working in or entering
laboratories under their supervision.
The following characteristics should be taken into account when choosing protective clothing:
• The specific hazard(s) and the degree of protection required, including the potential
exposure to chemicals, radiation, biological materials, and physical hazards such as heat.
• The type of material the clothing is made of and its resistance to the specific hazard(s)
that will be encountered.
• The comfort of the protective clothing, which impacts the acceptance and ease of use by
laboratory personnel.
• Whether the clothing is disposable or reusable - which impacts cost, maintenance, and
cleaning requirements.
• How quickly the clothing can be removed during an emergency. It is recommended that
lab coats use snaps or other easy to remove fasteners instead of buttons.
Laboratory personnel who are planning experiments that may require special protective clothing
or have questions regarding the best protective clothing to choose for their experiment(s) should
contact their EHSO for recommendations.
11.7 Respirators
Respiratory protection includes disposable respirators (such as N95 filtering facepieces,
commonly referred to as “dust masks”), air purifying, and atmosphere supplying respirators.
Respirators are generally not recommended for laboratory workers. Engineering controls, such
as dilution ventilation, fume hoods, and other devices, which capture and remove vapors, fumes,
and gases from the breathing zone of the user are preferred over the use of respirators in most
laboratory environments. There are certain exceptions to this general rule, such as the changing
out of cylinders of toxic gases and emergency response to chemical spills.
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