Lab Safety Officers

• Help implement Harvard safety requirements in your lab.
• Be a primary liaison between your lab and EHS.
• Foster a strong safety culture by promoting safe work practices, proper use of PPE and engineering controls, and prompt reporting of incidents and near misses. 
• Support routine lab safety inspections and follow-up on corrective actions.
• Attend safety committee meetings.
• Ensure that lab members complete required safety training and that their training is documented.
• Maintain current lab documentation, such as door placards, inventories, and lab rosters.
• Notify your LSA before changing or adding LSOs.

• Ensure that lab members know how to respond to accidents and incidents.
• Use LabCup to manage door placards and room inventories. Door placards communicate lab-specific hazards.
• Display lab emergency contact posters in clearly visible locations throughout your lab.
• Make sure all lab members can access the Lab Emergency Response Guide. Keep a physical copy in your lab or keep a digital copy online that is accessible to all lab members.

Use PeopleSoft to view your lab roster, add and remove lab members, and assign core safety training.

Use the Harvard Training Portal (HTP) to view your lab members, assign any additional training, and see if lab members are overdue for required training.

After you become an LSO:

• Log in to PeopleSoft and ensure you can access your lab roster.
• Confirm that all necessary core HTP trainings are assigned to your lab roster.
• Assign any additional HTP trainings based on your lab’s hazard profile (such as enclosed laser training or makerspace safety training).
• Ensure that lab members meet current training requirements.
• Review PeopleSoft: Managing Lab Rosters and EHS Lab Roster Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Contact hercules@harvard.edu for help with HTP.

Review the Lab Safety Orientation Form with new lab members before they begin work. The form includes safety resources and lab-specific safety procedures.

After you become an LSO:

• Confirm where your lab stores lab safety orientation forms. They are usually in an easily accessible lab safety binder with other safety documents. If your lab keeps digital copies of forms, ensure you have ownership or can access the files.
• Ensure each lab member completes and signs a lab safety orientation form. Keep signed forms on file for each member using the lab.
• Share a digital copy of the form with new lab members so that they can access the links in the document.

Use the Assessment Inspection Management System (AIMS) to view inspection reports, manage inspection corrective actions, and conduct PPE assessments.

After your LSA adds you to AIMS as an LSO for your lab:

• Bookmark AIMS and log in to review your lab information and inspection reports.
• Review your PPE assessments and ensure your current PPE assessment is posted in your lab space.
• Review how to manage and close corrective actions, conduct PPE assessments, and prepare for your annual lab safety inspection.

Use LabCup to manage your lab’s chemical inventory and door placards. Labs must maintain accurate chemical inventories and complete annual inventory reconciliation.

LabCup also uses your chemical inventory to populate chemical hazards for door placards.

After your LSA adds you to LabCup as a Group Administrator for your lab:

• Bookmark LabCup and Chemical Inventory Management System.
• Register for LabCup Group Administrator Training.
• Review your lab’s chemical inventory and chemical storage locations.
• Update your door placards with your contact information. Once updated, print and post the new door placards.

Contact chemicalinventory@harvard.edu for help.

If your group is not onboarded in LabCup, keep using LabPoint to: 

• Create and update door placards with chemical, biological, and radiological hazard pictograms.
• Manage your chemical inventory.

To learn more, follow the LabPoint User Guide.

Contact your LSA to register for LabPoint.

Labs must register all work with biological materials or recombinant DNA with the Harvard Committee on Microbiological Safety (COMS).

If your lab works with biological materials or recombinant DNA:

• Contact your Biosafety Officer (BSO).
• Locate where your lab stores biological safety documents. They are usually in an easily accessible binder with other safety documents. This includes documents like Hepatitis B forms, Exposure Control Plans (ECP) (reviewed and signed annually), and COMS approval letters.
• Confirm with your PI if you are a COMS PI Designee.
• If your lab is registered with COMS, confirm that your registration covers all current research. Review COMS regulated materials and how to register with COMS.
• Add new lab members to your COMS protocol (if applicable).
• Review and bookmark the Biosafety Manual, ECP template, eCOMS system, and eCOMS User Guide.

Radiation safety applies to labs that work with radioactive materials, including:

• Radioactive materials.
• Ionizing radiation generating devices, such as fusors, X-rays, electron beams, or ultraviolet radiation.
• Non-ionizing radiation generating devices, such as lasers, radiofrequency, microwave, terahertz, or intense light sources.
• Devices that produce magnetic fields, such as rare earth magnets, magnetic resonance imaging, or nuclear magnetic resonance.

If your lab works with these materials:

• Ensure your materials or equipment are properly registered and permitted.
• Review SOPs related to any permitted devices or materials. Ensure all information and contacts are accurate.
• Review past inspections of your group’s devices or spaces.

Contact radiation_safety@harvard.edu for help with radiation and radioactive materials.