Team:Macquarie Australia/Safety
Lab Safety
Under standard Workplace Health & Safety guidelines, prior to entering the lab for the first time, team members were given a safety induction. This outlined both appropriate laboratory behaviour and laboratory safety features such as: the location of emergency showers; eyewash stations; fire and chemical extinguishers; fire blankets; and emergency power shut off points. All team members wore appropriate personal protective equipment upon entry into the laboratory, which consisted of a lab coat, enclosed sturdy footwear, safety glasses, and tied back hair (where applicable). No eating or drinking occurred within the laboratory and all wet lab work was conducted within the laboratory.
A laboratory technician,academic advisor, or staff member, was always present when any wet lab work was being conducted within the laboratory, and all team members were briefed on the operation of certain pieces of equipment prior to their usage. All potentially hazardous biological substances was disposed of into relevant waste and biohazardous material bins, and benches were cleaned down with ethanol to disinfect them at the end of the day, or after the completion of our experiments. We used designated fridges and freezers for storing our biological products and used biosafety cabinets when diluting H2 gas producing Hydrogen Gas Production Gene Cluster cultures down to a concentration required for Clarke electrode measurements.
Project Safety
The E.coli strain, DH5α, we have chosen to manipulate is a safe strain as its genes cannot be transferred and it is less likely to mutate
Multi-factorial control
Australian Law
Working in an Australian laboratory places us under the Gene Technology Act 2000. This means
