Laboratory Safety
RAMP-based safety for school and college labs. Educational support, not a substitute for supervision, SDS, or emergency guidance.
This site supports classroom learning with a RAMP lens: Recognize hazards,Assess risks, Minimize them, Prepare for emergencies. It is not a replacement for your instructor, institution rules, the current Safety Data Sheet, or local emergency guidance.
Start here
For the full framework, prohibited-recipes rule, and experiment schema, see Safety in Chemistry — RAMP.
RAMP at a glance
- Recognize what could cause harm for the exact substance, form, concentration, and conditions.
- Assess likelihood and severity given amount, exposure route, temperature, ventilation, and supervision.
- Minimize by choosing the smallest effective amount, substance-specific PPE and ventilation, labelling, no tasting, no casual mixing, and GHS/SDS-consistent storage and disposal.
- Prepare — know spill, fire, and exposure steps before starting; locate equipment and know local emergency and poison-control contacts.
What we will not do
- Universal PPE statements ("always wear gloves") that ignore substance and procedure — PPE is substance-specific.
- Medical treatment instructions beyond "follow the product/institution procedure and seek current local emergency/poison-control guidance."
- Unsupervised demonstrations that require flame, pressure, toxic gases, strong acids/bases, reactive metals, concentrated oxidizers, or unknown substances — when hazard is meaningful we prefer simulations (see in-lesson simulations and periodic-table viewer).
Boundaries to keep in mind
- Household availability does not mean safe to combine (e.g., bleach + acid → chlorine).
- Eye protection, ventilation, disposal, storage depend on the procedure and current local guidance — check the SDS for the lot and quantity you have.
- For symptoms, exposure, spills, fire, or suspected poisoning: follow the SDS/institution procedure and call current local emergency / poison control immediately.
Sources
- ACS RAMP framework —
acs-safety-ramp - GHS Rev. 11 —
unece-ghs - OSHA chemical data —
osha-chemical - Always: current SDS + institutional chemical hygiene plan
Last reviewed: 2026-08-23 · Safety Reviewer: Editorial Safety Review. See /safety for the complete framework and change process in /corrections.