Standard Operating Procedures

Generating Standard Operating Procedures for the Manipulation of Hazardous Chemicals in Academic Laboratories

“…An SOP for chemical manipulations is a document that guides students through a detailed series of steps to safely achieve a desired result (Figure ). The use of SOPs is common in industry research laboratories as well as in pilot plant operations where following the stepwise process provides control over thermal instability to prevent runaway events and yields a consistent, quality product. − Typically, a well-documented SOP eliminates the guesswork for researchers related to safety decisions such as solvent selection, temperature control methods, the use of correct heating and cooling devices, substrate addition, personal protective equipment (PPE) selection, engineering controls, proper waste management, and possible emergency scenarios.…”

Human Factors Guidance for Writing Effective Laboratory Standard Operating Procedures

“…The health and safety community, as well as the scientific community, has generated several sources of guidance for generating SOPs. ,, However, although these sources provide important guidance on the content of the SOPs, they provide little on how to develop (e.g., format or sequence) these critical documents. Although many may assume this is a trivial issue, studies have found that ineffectively formatting an SOP can reliably increase the likelihood of unwanted behaviors. , Further, many may also assume that their existing procedures are sufficient because there has never been an incident or problem with them before.…”