Lab Emergencies

Summary

How to manage lab-related emergencies and incidents, including lab emergency contacts.

Who is this for?

Lab and research staff.

⚠ Reporting accidents and emergencies

If you have an urgent medical, fire, or safety emergency, call 911 immediately.

For all other accidents, emergencies, and incidents, follow reporting and response procedures.

Managing lab emergencies

Use EHS resources and support to help manage incidents and emergencies in your lab, including hazardous material spills and accident investigations.

Follow the Lab Emergency Response Guide and other location-specific emergency response procedures.

Lab emergency contact posters

Emergency contact posters list important phone numbers for lab emergencies.

Print these posters and display them in prominent, clearly visible locations throughout your lab to help staff respond to emergencies.

Related resources

Find documents and online tools to manage lab-related emergencies.

Biosafety Manual

Safety guidance, policies, and procedures for work with biological materials

Chemical Hygiene Plan

Chemical safety requirements and guidelines for labs, including lab chemical standard operating procedures (SOP)

LabPoint

Lab door placards and inventory management system

Radiation Safety Manual

Safety policies and procedures for radiation, radioactive materials, and radiation generating devices

EHS support

Contact lab_safety@harvard.edu or your Lab Safety Advisor (LSA) for more information about managing lab emergencies, including:

  • Lab emergency preparedness, including checklist forms.

Support for Harvard EHS

Contact EHS

If you have questions or concerns about environmental health and safety at Harvard, please contact us.

Share website feedback

We welcome your suggestions for improving the Harvard EHS website.