Serious and irreversible damage resulting in loss of vision can occur at almost any time in the organic laboratory. Your goggles cannot protect your eyes unless you are wearing them. Unfortunately, since the goggles are sometimes hot and uncomfortable thus tending to be worn on top of the head or around the neck where, of course, they don't offer much protection for your eyes, the following rather stringent means have been adopted in an attempt to insure that the goggles will stay in place for the duration of the lab period. The second infraction will result in an F grade for the lab. Contact lenses interfere with the eye's normal cleansing action, promote irritation in the presence of organic vapors, and cannot be removed readily if something does get into the eye.
Contact lenses are expressly forbidden in the laboratory.
Become familiar with the eye wash stations located near the sinks at diagonal corners of the lab. Do not pour from a large reagent bottle into a small graduated cylinder. If you are faced with such a situation, bring it to the attention of the instructor so that other means of transfer can be arranged. Small liquid spills should be soaked up with dry paper towels and the area then washed down with wet paper towels. Major spills should not be handled by the student but should be brought to the attention of the instructor.