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Facilities & Safety Operations
Safety is our priority at the Faculty of Applied Sciences. We aim to provide our students, faculty and staff with safe working conditions and practices when working on campus. For any urgent concerns regarding safety, please contact our Safety Operations Officer at fas_safety@sfu.ca.
Chemical Safety
Chemical safety includes policies, procedures and best-practices which work to minimize the risks associated with working with chemicals and ensure compliance with regulations. Anyone working chemicals needs to be aware of the associated regulations.
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SFU has an online Lab Hazard Inventory System for maintaining an inventory of chemicals and other hazards present in lab spaces on campus. Any researcher working with chemicals, hazardous materials, lasers, x-rays or strong magnetic devices is required to have an inventory for their lab. This inventory helps SFU meet regulatory requirements and researchers have a responsibility to ensure it is up to date.
The inventory is organized into “lab groups” which serve as repository for a principal investigator (PI) and their lab members. New faculty or PIs using chemicals for the first time will need a lab group set up for them by a department administrator. The PI should take the following steps:
- Login to the inventory using their SFU ID/password through this link.
- Fill out your user information including a daytime and after-hours phone number.
- Send an email to fas_safety@sfu.ca to request a lab group in the inventory. The lab group will be established with the PI as the supervisor.
- Once a lab group is set up, PIs can add members, add rooms, and start completing their inventory.
Additional instructions for using the inventory system are available here.
Hazard Door Signs
Based on the chemicals and hazards listed in the Lab Hazard Inventory System, door signs are automatically generated which reflect the hazards stored in a lab space. These doors signs include a National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) diamond providing an at-a-glance measure of the health hazard, flammability, and reactivity of the chemical inventory as well as emergency contact information for the lab. There is required to be at least two emergency contacts for each room.
Door signs must be printed at a minimum annually but should be re-printed anytime there is a significant change in inventory.
Hazardous Waste
All waste at SFU must be disposed of responsibly an in compliance with local regulations. If you have questions or need assistance disposing of lab waste please contact fas_safety@sfu.ca.
Lab members can refer to the EHS Laboratory Waste Handling Guide.
Hazardous waste must be appropriately labeled indicating all of the contents. There are three types of labels available at SFU: Non-halogenated flammable liquid waste, halogenated liquid waste, chemical waste. Labels can be picked up from Science Stores in Burnaby or from the FAS Safety Officer in Surrey (email fas_safety@sfu.ca).