12.sop.form.intro
The OSHA Laboratory Standard requires that Chemical Hygiene Plans include specific elements and measures to ensure employee protection in the laboratory. One such requirement is Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) “relevant to safety and health considerations to be followed when laboratory work involves the use of hazardous chemicals”. This is especially the case if your lab operations include the routine use of " 'select carcinogens,' reproductive toxins and substances which have a high degree of acute toxicity." (29 CFR 1910.1459(e)(3) (viii)).
Standard Operating Procedures can be stand-alone documents or supplemental information included as part of research notebooks, experiment documentation, or research proposals. The key idea with laboratories having standard operating procedures is to ensure a process is in place so that an experiment is well thought out and includes and addresses relevant health and safety issues.
At a minimum, SOPs should include details such as:- The chemicals involved and their hazards.
- Special hazards and circumstances.
- Use of engineering controls (such as fume hoods).
- Required personal protective equipment.
- Spill response measures.
- Waste disposal procedures.
- Decontamination procedures.
- Description of how to perform the experiment or operation.
While the OSHA Laboratory Standard specifies the requirement for SOPs for work involving hazardous chemicals, laboratories should also develop SOPs for use with any piece of equipment or operation that may pose any physical hazards. Examples include:
- Safe use and considerations of lasers.
- Use of cryogenic liquids and fill procedures.
- Connecting regulators to gas cylinders and cylinder change outs.
- Use of equipment with high voltage.
Standard Operating Procedures do not need to be lengthy dissertations and it is perfectly acceptable to point laboratory personnel to other sources of information. Examples to include as part of SOPs include:
“To use this piece of equipment, see page 4 in the operators manual (located in file cabinet #4).” “The chemical and physical hazards of this chemical can be found in the MSDS – located in the MSDS binder. Read the MSDS before using this chemical.”
EH&S can assist laboratories in developing general and specific SOPs for chemical use in laboratories. Due to the large variety of research and the number of laboratories on the Cornell campus, it is the responsibility of each laboratory, department and college to ensure that SOPs are developed and the practices and procedures are adequate to protect their lab workers who use hazardous chemicals.
Examples of Standard Operating Procedures include:
- How to write an SOP
- Blank SOP Form – Sample 1
- Blank SOP Form – Sample 2
- How to Prepare an SOP Form
- Chemical User Authorization Form
- Example of completed SOPs
The following links are examples of SOPs from other university websites:
*Disclaimer: EH&S has not verified the accuracy of the information contained within these links and SOPs. It is the responsibility of the laboratory personnel to ensure the accuracy of these non-Cornell SOPs. These links are being provided only as examples and each lab should write an SOP that is specific to their processes and procedures.
- A list of SOP examples and resources on the web from the University of Maryland
- The SOP library (with numerous examples) from the University of California - Irvine
- The Michigan State University SOP webpage (with a number of examples)
- A blank form that can generate a custom SOP online – Michigan State University.
- Example of a process SOP – American Chemical Society Publications
- An example of a procedural SOP – Stanford University
- Example of a chemical specific information sheet type SOP (generic – not lab specific) – University of California, Irvine
- A blank template for chemical specific or chemical group SOP - University of California, Irvine
- An example of a chemical list SOP (generic – not lab specific) – University of Pennsylvania