FIGURE 1.2 Protocol for planning and carrying out an experiment with chemicals in a laboratory.

ratories, like industrial ones, can be the targets of expensive lawsuits. The trustees can assist academic officers both by helping to develop an appropriate institutional safety system with an effective environmental health and safety office and by supporting departmental requests for modifications of facilities that are necessary for compliance with safety regulations.

Increasing concern for laboratory safety is also being engendered by federal granting agencies. The fact that negligent or cavalier treatment of laboratory safety regulations may jeopardize not only an individual investigator's but also a department's or an institution's ability to obtain funding may become a powerful incentive for improvement in this area.

This book is organized around the protocol for planning and executing an experiment with chemicals in a laboratory. Figure 1.2 outlines the work flow. The chapters that follow represent the likely steps in this process, and guidelines on how to infuse the new culture of laboratory safety into each step are presented throughout the book.