Have you ever heard about showering inside of a laboratory? It might sound a bit strange at first, but in some places, such as research labs, it is critical for putting safety and health first for everyone. In this read, we are going to understand why lab showering is critical, what happens in there and how it helps in the safety of your scientific workers.
To be clean is to be healthy and safe. This is crucial in the research lab environment. Many different materials and substances can be worked with in a lab. Some of these substances are harmful or even dangerous to touch the skin or enter the eyes or mouth. It is especially important for scientists and lab workers to not get sick or hurt whenever they are performing their experiments. A large part of safety in the lab stems from good hygiene — that is, staying clean.
One method researchers use to remain safe in the lab is to shower before and after they work. This may sound counterintuitive, though, as a shower would, generally speaking, be understood as a thing that we do to cleanse ourselves after getting dirty. But things are a bit different in the lab. Taking a shower is about removing any hazardous substances that could make people ill or create complications. Getting rid of these toxins is critical.
Some of these materials that researchers are working with can be toxic, meaning that they can harm people, or even radioactive, meaning they can be really dangerous. These substances can adhere to a person’s skin and clothing. If they have these toxic materials on their body, they might be exposed for long time, even with them outside of the lab. That’s why it’s really critical for everyone to take a shower before leaving the lab. Taking a shower removes whatever might harm one person and protects the rest of the people.
So what, exactly, goes on during the lab shower? It is a really easy and simple process. Ealier, researchers have to remove their lab coats, shoes and any protective equipment which they were wearing after executing their work inside the lab. This step is important because it gets rid of anything left on their clothes. Once they finish removing their gear, they head to the shower.
Researchers use a special kind of soap in the shower. This soap is specially formulated to lift harmful materials that could have adhered to their skin during contact. That special soap is critically important because regular soap may not be strong enough to wipe away anything malicious. Once they are done showering, they can get dressed in clean clothes and exit the lab. But the process of showering doesn’t stop there. When they return to work, researchers must repeat the entire process to make sure they haven’t tracked any harmful material from outside the lab.
Eye Wash Station: Besides the shower itself, eye wash station are common in lab shower facilities. This is a special place, with a gentle flow water that can be used to wash out the eyes of someone who accidentally got something dangerous in them. Eye wash stations are crucial in labs, especially in places where researchers handle chemicals that have the potential to harm their eyes.
