For laboratory workers who use hazardous chemicals: know what your Chemical Hygiene Plan covers and where it is, detect and recognize chemical hazards, use the hood and other controls the plan requires, and know your right to medical attention after an exposure.
Based on OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1450 (occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals in laboratories) · about 6 min read
Need proof of training? The full course (20 min) adds practice questions, a job scenario, the final quiz and a certificate your employer can verify.
The Laboratory standard applies to employers engaged in the laboratory use of hazardous chemicals. That means all of these are true:
Chemicals are handled on a laboratory scale (containers designed to be easily and safely handled by one person)
Multiple chemical procedures or chemicals are used
The work is not part of a production process and does not simulate one
Protective laboratory practices and equipment are available and in common use
When it does not apply
Uses that do not meet that definition, even inside a lab. Then the other OSHA chemical standards apply instead.
Lab uses with no potential for employee exposure, for example Dip-and-Read test strips, or commercially prepared kits (such as pregnancy test kits) that contain all the reagents needed to conduct the test.
Where hazardous chemicals are used, your employer must develop and carry out a written Chemical Hygiene Plan (CHP). It must be readily available to you and your representatives. Know where it is.
What you will find in it
Standard operating procedures to follow when lab work involves hazardous chemicals
The criteria for control measures: engineering controls, PPE and hygiene practices
A requirement that fume hoods and other protective equipment work properly, and the measures to make sure they do
Which operations or procedures need prior approval before you start them
Who is responsible, including the Chemical Hygiene Officer
Training, medical consultation, and extra protection for particularly hazardous substances
The employer must review the plan's effectiveness at least annually and update it as needed.
Labels on incoming containers must not be removed or defaced.
Safety data sheets received with shipments are kept and must be readily accessible to you.
What you must be told
You get this information when you are first assigned to a work area with hazardous chemicals, and before assignments involving new exposure situations:
The contents of the Laboratory standard and its appendices, which must be made available to you
Where the Chemical Hygiene Plan is
The exposure limits (OSHA PELs, or recommended limits where there is no OSHA standard)
The signs and symptoms of exposure to the chemicals in your lab
Where to find known reference material on the hazards, safe handling, storage and disposal of the lab's chemicals, including safety data sheets from the chemical supplier
How a release may show itself
Your training must cover ways to detect the presence or release of a hazardous chemical, such as employer monitoring, continuous monitoring devices, and the visual appearance or odor of a chemical being released.
Known composition, produced exclusively for the lab's useThe employer determines whether it is a hazardous chemical. If it is, the employer must provide appropriate training on it.
Byproduct of unknown compositionThe employer must assume it is hazardous and apply the Chemical Hygiene Plan.
Made for someone outside the labFull Hazard Communication rules apply, including safety data sheets and labels.
Your part (good practice): treat an unknown reaction byproduct as hazardous. Handle it with the controls your Chemical Hygiene Plan sets for hazardous chemicals until you are told otherwise.
Your employer must keep your exposure to OSHA regulated substances at or below the permissible exposure limits.
The laboratory hood
A laboratory-type hood draws air from the lab and prevents or minimizes the escape of contaminants into the lab. It is built so chemical manipulations can be done in the enclosure without putting any part of your body inside other than your hands and arms. Walk-in hoods with adjustable sashes also meet the definition, provided the sashes are adjusted during use so that the airflow and the exhaust of air contaminants are not compromised and employees do not work inside the enclosure during the release of airborne hazardous chemicals.
Good practice: at a bench-type hood, keep your head out of the enclosure.
Particularly hazardous substances
Select carcinogens, reproductive toxins and substances with a high degree of acute toxicity get extra protection in the plan, where appropriate:
A designated area (the whole lab, part of it, or a device such as a hood)
Containment devices such as fume hoods or glove boxes
Procedures for safe removal of contaminated waste
Decontamination procedures
Respirators
Where respirators are necessary to keep exposure below the limits, the employer provides them at no cost to you, selected and used under the respiratory protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134).
Your employer must give you an opportunity to receive medical attention, including any follow-up examinations the examining physician finds necessary, in these cases:
If you develop signs or symptoms associated with a hazardous chemical you may have been exposed to in the lab: an opportunity for an appropriate medical examination.
After a spill, leak, explosion or other event that makes a hazardous exposure likely: an opportunity for a medical consultation to decide whether you need an exam.
If exposure monitoring shows your exposure is routinely above the action level (or, where there is no action level, the PEL) for an OSHA regulated substance with exposure monitoring and medical surveillance requirements: medical surveillance as that substance's standard prescribes.
How it is provided
By or under the direct supervision of a licensed physician
Without cost to you, without loss of pay, at a reasonable time and place
The employer gives the physician the identity of the chemicals, a description of the conditions of the exposure (including quantitative exposure data, if available), and a description of your signs and symptoms, if any
Monitoring results
If your exposure is monitored, the employer must tell you the results in writing within 15 working days after receiving them, individually or by posting them where you can see them.
Your part (good practice): report each spill, leak and symptom to your supervisor right away, and note the chemical names so the physician gets accurate information.
Fact-checked against the regulation text on October 09, 2026. This certificate records completion of awareness training based on OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1450. It is not an OSHA card or license, and it does not by itself meet the training requirements of 29 CFR 1910.1450(f). Your employer must still provide you with information and training so that you are apprised of the hazards of chemicals present in your work area, at the time of your initial assignment to a work area where hazardous chemicals are present and prior to assignments involving new exposure situations, including training on the applicable details of its written Chemical Hygiene Plan, with refresher information and training at a frequency the employer determines.
This guide explains the rule in plain words. Always read the regulation itself and your employer's site-specific procedures.