• Question: what safety precautions do you take before an experiment

    Asked by 08caseb to Alan, Caspar, Murray, Sarah on 24 Mar 2011.
    • Photo: Alan Winfield

      Alan Winfield answered on 24 Mar 2011:

      Our robot experiments are not dangerous – most of our robots are quite small and the worst thing that can happen is you trip over (or tread on) one of them. But we are very careful about more general Health and Safety in our lab. And everyone who comes to work in the lab needs to be trained on safe use of things like soldering irons (which can burn you if you’re not careful), and other electrical equipment.

    • Photo: Murray Collins

      Murray Collins answered on 24 Mar 2011:

      My experiments are really all about collecting data in the forest. I don’t do many experiments in a lab like Sarah would!

      So I have to plan the expedition carefully, take satellite phones, GPS units etc, first aid kits…….

    • Photo: Sarah Thomas

      Sarah Thomas answered on 24 Mar 2011:

      before every experiment I have to fill out a risk assessment form and stick it to the door of my lab so that other people know what i’m doing. Then I have to look up every chemical that I’m going to be using and check to see what safety equipment I need to wear: usually this is a lab coat, gloves, safety glasses and sometimes a face mask. then I have to figure out how I am going to dispose of the chemicals afterwards, most things you can’t just wash down the sink! I have special waste containers for different kinds of chemicals, like metals, halogenated, acetone.

      One of the chemicals I use is harmful to the environment, its called hydrazine. I have to be really careful with it and anything that the hydrazine comes into contact with e.g. flask, needle, pipette, they all have to be bleached, the bleach kills off all the hydrazine, you can see it bubbling and getting hot when you put it in the bleach. Once it stops bubbling, the hydrazine is dead and can be disposed of safely.

Comments