The School of Medicine Central Lab and the UMKC Environmental, Health and Safety Department reminds anyone using the research laboratories at the School of Medicine of the regulations for lab attire and having food in lab spaces.
Anyone person working in laboratories at UMKC should be required to use a lab coat, smock, scrub or jump suit for their personal protection. All persons while in UMKC laboratories are required to wear footwear covering the entire foot. And at no time should eating or drinking be allowed in a laboratory.
These regulations are outlined in full below. For a complete list of regulations, download the UMKC Biosafety Manual.
The School of Medicine Central Lab does supply lab coats for general lab use within the School of Medicine. For questions, contact Tim Quinn in the Central Lab at 235-1990. To contact the UMKC Environmental, Health and Safety Department, call 235-5241.
8.2.2 Laboratory clothing
Laboratories at UMKC should require the use of a lab coat, smock, scrub or jump suit for personal protection. The laboratory coat should be sized correctly, have long sleeves and be long enough to cover past the waist. Reusable laboratory garments should be capable of withstanding autoclaving in the case of contamination from biological or infectious materials. The laboratory coats should be laundered on a regular basis and should not be taken home to be laundered.
8.3.1 Footwear
Every person in a laboratory at UMKC is required to wear footwear while in the laboratory. All footwear should cover the entire foot. At no time should open toed-shoes, sandals, flip flops and shoes that expose the bare foot in any way be allowed in the laboratory. These types of shoes DO NOT provide suitable protection for the foot. In specific instances, or after a risk assessment, steel toed shoes, treated shoes or other safety shoes may be required in specific situations. Anyone not wearing adequate footwear in a laboratory should not be allowed to enter or work in the laboratory. That person should be instructed that they will not be allowed into the laboratory until proper footwear is changed into.
8.7 Food and drink in the laboratory
At NO time should eating and drinking be allowed at any point in a laboratory at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The 5th edition of the Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) states “Eating, drinking, handling contact lenses, applying cosmetics, and storing food for human consumption must not be permitted in laboratory areas. Food must be stored outside the laboratory area in cabinets or refrigerators designated and used for this purpose.” The School, Department, Principal Investigator and Laboratory director should make available to the laboratory staff areas to store and consume food outside of the laboratory areas. Refrigerators and freezers in the laboratories must also be labeled to indicate that they are not for the purpose of food storage. If food is part of a research project it should be labeled in a way to distinguish it so that it is easily identifiable as research materials. Laboratory microwaves and or any other equipment should never be used for the preparation of food that is consumed.
