Here are 10 bad laboratory practices that can compromise safety, data quality, and reliability of the laboratory.
- Not Wearing Proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): Failing to wear gloves, goggles, lab coats, or other required PPE increases the risk of injury, contamination, and exposure to hazardous substances.
- Mislabeling or not labeling samples can lead to mix-ups, compromised results, and potential safety hazards, especially with hazardous substances.
- Using uncalibrated equipment (e.g., pipettes, scales, spectrophotometers) can result in inaccurate data, making experiments unreliable.
- Disposing of chemicals, biological samples, or hazardous materials in regular trash or down the sink can cause contamination, harm to the environment, and safety hazards for others.
- Eating, Drinking, or Storing Food in the Lab: Consuming or keeping food in the lab area risks contamination and exposure to chemicals or biological agents, which can pose serious health risks.
- Skipping Documentation and Record-Keeping: Poor or missing documentation (such as omitting dates, sample IDs, or method details) makes it difficult to replicate experiments and trace errors, reducing data reliability.
- Neglecting to clean benches, glassware, or instruments properly can lead to cross-contamination, especially in microbiological or chemical labs.
- Overlooking established lab safety protocols, like not reading Safety Data Sheets (SDS) or skipping emergency procedures, increases risks for accidents and injuries.
- Storing incompatible chemicals together or neglecting proper temperature and humidity conditions can lead to dangerous reactions, degradation, or loss of sample integrity.
- Taking shortcuts, skipping steps, or failing to follow protocols precisely can lead to inaccurate results, failed experiments, and increased risks of accidents or errors.