|                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | NEW Document Available from EPA!

"Environmental Management Guide for
   Small Laboratories"
This fact sheet has been prepared to provide information about a new document on small chemical laboratory
environmental issues.
What is a "laboratory?"
The word "laboratory" (or "lab")
is generally used to describe a
facility that conducts experimental

or routine
testing. Most
people associate
labs with
activities
involving    

chemicals.



Although there are some large lab
organizations, such as research and
development functions in
corporations and government,
most labs are small businesses or
small entities within larger
organizations.



For example, many communities
have at least one independent
testing lab with 10 or fewer
employees. These local labs may
test a wide range of environmental,
physical material, medical,
biological, or food samples. A
review of your local telephone
directory often reveals a surprising
number and variety of labs. At
most small labs, environmental
management is a "shared"
responsibility as opposed to that of
a single individual.




Common small lab types include:

Clinical labs associated with medical or dental practices.Forensic testing labs.Environmental testing labs.QA labs for chemical or other manufacturing plants.Teaching and academic research labs (grade school, high school, and college).

In each of these cases, it is useful
to think of the lab as a small
business that either operates on its
own or is "captive" to a larger
organization. The environmental
aspects of "captive" labs should be
evaluated independently because
lab staff and activities are often
very different from the rest of the
organization or business they are
associated with.



To help protect workers from the
diversity of chemical hazards in
labs, The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA)
established the "Lab Standard" in
1990. OSHA estimated there are
about 35,.000 labs in the U. S..
Given this number, it is probably
safe to assume that most states
have hundreds of labs.

What environmental issues occur in
labs?

Unlike other small businesses such
as printers, auto shops, and dry
cleaners, which tend to generate
large quantities of a few
pollutants, labs typically generate
small quantities of a wide variety
of pollutants. This characteristic
requires careful attention in
dealing with labs on compliance
and on pollution prevention issues.

In fact, because of this

characteristic, the term "lab pack"
was coined years ago by hazardous
waste firms to describe a typical
method of waste handling. In a
"lab pack" a number of small
containers (i.e. jugs and bottles) of
hazardous waste, are individually
packaged in a traditional 55 gallon
drum. Although "lab packs"
appear inefficient compared to
combining all materials, they make
sense because it is unwise, for
safety and legal reasons, to
encourage mixing different lab
wastes in a single container.



Like many other small businesses,
labs have environmental
challenges and opportunities.
associated with air quality
management, wastewater
management and hazardous waste
management. Some examples
follow:
States and local municipalities often regulate wastewater discharges and may also regulate lab fume hood exhausts through a permitting system. The uneven natural patchwork of regulations requires each lab situation to be carefully evaluated.Many labs perform "sink disposal" of waste materials. Though legal in many cases, this practice is still not necessarily the best
environmental management choice.Labs may resist using recycled materials, especially solvents, in analyses due to concerns about compromising test result quality. Because the results of testing are used to make decisions that often have severe financial or legal consequences for their customers, labs are typically focused exclusively on quality and may be resistant to material or process changes.Labs often must follow standard test methods and therefore cannot easily deviate in procedures or materials.Labs often stockpile samples (which may be hazardous) and aged chemicals, until there is no longer sufficient storage space. When this happens, labs may have a "Spring Cleaning" which could temporarily catapult them into a higher RCRA generator class and cause unnecessary disposal costs and paperwork.Some states, like California and Washington, have special
lab-based regulations or assistance programs that may also occur elsewhere. These programs are not well publicized.
In general, labs present a unique
environmental compliance and
pollution prevention situation that
is very different from arty other
small businesses needing
assistance.

More special issues about labs

There are a number of additional
concerns about labs that readers
should be aware of. Among the
most important are: 
Unique health and safety concerns associated with site
visits. Visitors should be especially cautious during a
lab site visit because special
training is often needed to
work within a lab. Consider,
for example, that lab workers
have the second highest rate of
HIV/AIDS infection from
occupational exposure among
all professions (after nurses).Lab workers tend to be highly
educated compared to many
other small business types.
Thus it would not be unusual
to provide assistance to
workers with advanced
college degrees, some of whom may
have uniquely advanced knowledge of chemicals and
reactions.Academic or teaching labs
provide a special opportunity
to provide training. In these
labs, students are learning, for
the first time, how to deal with
chemicals. It is important that
they also learn, at the same
time, how to handle these
materials in a way that does
not Cause pollution.
Environmentally responsible
work habits learned in an
academic lab will hopefully be
taken elsewhere in the job
market.
Finally, because there is no single
association representing all labs, it
is difficult to reach them
effectively. Conversely, it is
difficult for the labs to learn about
the resources EPA and states can
offer.

What EPA resources are available?

EPA recognizes the unique
environmental challenges
associated with small lab
operations and has developed a
document titled, "Environmental
Management Guide for Small
Laboratories" (Guide).

The Guide offers the following:
Small Lab Characterization and
Applicable Regulations: A
summary of lab activities and the
federal regulations that typically
affect these activities. Key topics
include lab waste management, lab
air quality management, and lab
wastewater management.

Self Assessment Tool: A set of
questionnaires that labs or others
can use to assess relative
environmental status in the key
areas mentioned above. With an
emphasis on pollution prevention,
these tools should be useful to labs
of all types and sizes.

Directory of Applicable
Resources: Although there is a lot
of information available on labs,
much is not relevant to the
environmental issues associated
with small chemical labs. This
directory contains a listing of
books, newsletters, meetings, and
Internet sites that should be useful
for anyone interested in the
subject. Each source has been
screened for relevancy.SMALL LABORATORY GUIDE  (214K PDF Version)OPPE HOME  ·  
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http://www.epa.gov/sbo/labguide.htm

This page was last updated on November 9, 1998 | The Guide offers the following:
Small Lab Characterization and
Applicable Regulations: A
summary of lab activities and the
federal regulations that typically
affect these activities. Key topics
include lab waste management, lab
air quality management, and lab
wastewater management.

Self Assessment Tool: A set of
questionnaires that labs or others
can use to assess relative
environmental status in the key
areas mentioned above. With an
emphasis on pollution prevention,
these tools should be useful to labs
of all types and sizes.

Directory of Applicable
Resources: Although there is a lot
of information available on labs,
much is not relevant to the
environmental issues associated
with small chemical labs. This
directory contains a listing of
books, newsletters, meetings, and
Internet sites that should be useful
for anyone interested in the
subject. Each source has been
screened for relevancy. | SMALL LABORATORY GUIDE  (214K PDF Version)
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|The Guide offers the following:
Small Lab Characterization and
Applicable Regulations: A
summary of lab activities and the
federal regulations that typically
affect these activities. Key topics
include lab waste management, lab
air quality management, and lab
wastewater management.

Self Assessment Tool: A set of
questionnaires that labs or others
can use to assess relative
environmental status in the key
areas mentioned above. With an
emphasis on pollution prevention,
these tools should be useful to labs
of all types and sizes.

Directory of Applicable
Resources: Although there is a lot
of information available on labs,
much is not relevant to the
environmental issues associated
with small chemical labs. This
directory contains a listing of
books, newsletters, meetings, and
Internet sites that should be useful
for anyone interested in the
subject. Each source has been
screened for relevancy.
|SMALL LABORATORY GUIDE  (214K PDF Version)