UL 200B: Guidance Document on the Safe Use of 3D Printing for Institutions of Higher Education
Creators: name: Chemical Insights Research Institute
Publisher: name: UL Research Institutes
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 3303
subject: Design
classificationCode: 330309
subject: Industrial and product design
classificationCode: 4206
subject: Public health
classificationCode: 420603
subject: Health promotion
classificationCode: 420605
subject: Preventative health care
classificationCode: 350505
subject: Occupational and workplace health and safety
classificationCode: 320605
subject: Nanotoxicology, health and safety
classificationCode: 34
subject: Chemical sciences
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
classificationCode: 4105
subject: Pollution and contamination
classificationCode: 401104
subject: Health and ecological risk assessment
classificationCode: 440706
subject: Health policy

description: This guideline publication of UL 200B dated May 8, 2023 provides a resource for the safe use of 3D printing in institutions of higher education.<b>Purpose of the Guidance Document</b>The purpose of this guidance document is to provide a resource for the safe use of 3D printing in institutions of higher education. Recommendations in this document may not apply to all the diverse 3D printing technologies available or to manufacturing and industrial printing spaces. Recommendations in this document will be most relevant to material extrusion and vat photopolymerization applications, but some may be generalized for the safe use of other types of 3D printing processes in higher education. This document focuses on best practices and makes evidence-based recommendations but is not meant to be an exhaustive resource nor is it meant to provide strict, quantitative guidance or suggestions for individual campus policies around 3D printing.<b>Audience for the Guidance Document</b>The audiences for this document are those that purchase, use, and/or oversee the use of 3D printers at institutions of higher education. This document focuses on smaller, commercial-grade 3D printing units that are most often seen on campuses in makerspaces, design labs, research labs, and dormitories. These units most often make use of material extrusion technologies and vat photopolymerization printing methods.Additive manufacturing, or 3-dimensional (3D) printing, is a valuable tool that has transformed research, instruction, and the student experience in higher education. The use of 3D printing in education recently tripled within two years. 1 As with so many new technologies, there are unintended consequences and safety considerations that must be managed in higher education settings. Research shows that steps can be taken to mitigate these unintended consequences and allow users to leverage the benefits and innovative capabilities of 3D printing safely with fewer impacts on human health.To address this issue and provide a resource for institutions of higher education, discussions and reviews were facilitated among an expert group of volunteers convened by Chemical Insights Research Institute (CIRI) and the Campus, Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA). This group is known as the CIRI + CSHEMA Task Force on 3D Printing in Higher Education. The task force consists of chemical exposure experts and campus environmental health and safety (EHS) professionals from a variety of universities in the United States.<br><br>