Best Safety Practices to Use a Ductless Fume Hood

Being a vital piece of equipment in a lab facility, ductless fume hoods are held responsible to serve as a physical barrier between lab workers and the harmful elements that can be generated in such working places. Should a fume hood be used in an incorrect order or manner, that can make a lab facility a dangerous place to work at. That is why all the necessary safety protocols must be followed at all times by the workers. That is what we are going to discuss in the next part of the post, read till the end to not miss out on important information. 

First and foremost, all the employee training and programs must be up to date. As the safety procedures keep on modifying, the laboratory employees must be fully aware of the same. That will be possible when the employees receive timely training and get skilled in how to deal with safety issues and challenges.

In addition to the above point, there must be some kind of authority that checks if all the necessary safety checks are performed before using any hazardous items in the facility. Some of the items in the checklist include making sure the hood sash is opened at a proper height, the air gauge is properly checked, an exhaust fan is working normally, double checking to see if there are spark sources present nearby, and inspecting the air filters.

While working with ductless fume hoods, the operators must have in-depth knowledge of the chemicals that are being used. Most of the fume hoods should be used only as light-duty fume hoods. Few other filtered fume hoods can be used for a wide variety of chemicals, however, when used for large volume chemicals, this can shorten the life of the filter.

The facility operators must wear the right kind of protection gear and items when using ductless fume hoods. The type of safety gear that will be required would be based upon the specific application for the process. Some of the safety items that can be considered include goggles, face shields, laboratory coats, gloves, and coveralls.