Laboratories are workplaces where small amounts of chemicals are used in non-routine ways.
Because of these characteristics, laboratories have unusual problems in assessing and controlling their impacts on the environment. These problems are compounded by the fact that federal, state and local regulations treat laboratories as though they were industrial facilities, subject to the same pollution control strategies and regulations as large scale users of hazardous chemicals. In 1990, OSHA recognized the unusual nature of the laboratory workplace by promulgating the OSHA lab standard . Unfortunately, EPA regulations have not made this distinction between laboratories and other workplaces. There are several efforts proceeding across the U.S. to develop more reasonable alternatives to the environmental regulations which are currently being applied to laboratories.