SAFETY AND REPORT WRITING LECTURE

Dr Phathutshedzo Khangale

23 February 2021
 PURPOSE OF LAB INDUCTION

The purpose of a laboratory induction is to help students understand the general

laboratory rules, make them aware of the possible risks or hazards involved with
laboratory work and familiarize them with proper guidelines to ensure safety.

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A. GENERAL LABORATORY RULES

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 GENERAL LABORATORY RULES
 Eating, drinking and smoking are prohibited in the laboratory.

 Long hair, ties, scarves and earrings should be secured.

 Cell phone use is prohibited in the laboratory. If you receive a

call or need to make a call, please do so outside the laboratory.

 No loud talking or yelling.

 No man-handling of each other.

 No touching any equipment that is not directly involved in

your practical.

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Appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Appropriate PPE that should always be worn are as follows:

 Eye goggles should always be worn during the experiments.

 Lab coats should always be worn in the laboratory to protect you and your
clothing from contamination or spillage. Lab coats should not be worn
outside the laboratory.
 Lab footwear should consist of normal closed shoes to protect all areas of
the foot from possible puncture from sharp objects and/or broken glasses
and from corrosive reagents and/or infectious materials.

 Gloves should always be worn when handling hazardous materials.

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 GENERAL RULES

 Always wear appropriate breathing masks when working with toxic or harsh
vapours.
 Use the fume hoods when toxic or harsh vapours are involved.
 Always work in a well ventilated area.

 Dispose all chemical waste properly. Use waste containers marked for that
purpose and update the waste register every time. Liquid and solid waste
containers must be properly used at all times.

 Unused chemicals should not be returned to their original container unless

directed to do so by the lab instructor.

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 GENERAL RULES
 Securely replace lids, caps, and stoppers after removing reagents from
containers.

 Never pour water into concentrated acid.

 Immediately report any accident or injuries to your lab instructor.

 Clean up any spills immediately.

 Make sure that you understand every instruction before starting your
experiment.

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 GENERAL RULES

 Don’t hesitate to ask questions especially if there is any question concerning

proper operating procedure.

 Before leaving the laboratory, make sure your work area is clean and dry and also
ensure that all gas, water, vacuum, and air valves are completely turned off.

 Frequent hand washing is an important safety precaution, which should be

practiced before and after each experimental procedure. Proper hand washing
techniques involves soap, running water and 10-15 seconds of friction or
scrubbing action.

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 GENERAL RULES

 Shower eyewash is available to wash off chemicals mistakenly entered your

eye.

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B. GENERAL LABORATORY CHECKS

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 GENERAL CHECKS
 Know the location and proper use of fire extinguishers, fire blankets, safety
showers, eye wash devices, and first aid kits.

 In case of an emergency, students must know the exit routes.

 Always check your surroundings and report any faults or danger to your
instructor.

 Are you working with dangerous chemicals? If so, make sure that you are
provided with the necessary safety gear (gloves for poisons, masks for volatile
gases and safety glasses for corrosive substances).

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 GENERAL CHECKS
 Read the MSDS of each chemical to be used carefully. There must be a file in the
lab containing the MSDS of all the chemicals used in that laboratory. Please
obtain the relevant MSDS if not in the file before working with the particular
chemical.

 If you are working with flammable substances, ask the lab assistant where the
nearest fire extinguisher can be located.

 Be aware of other practicals in progress in the laboratory. If there is an accident

anywhere in the lab it will affect you and your group.

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 Safety Officials & Contact Numbers:

Lecturer: Dr. Phathutshedzo Khangale, +27 11 559 6314; [email protected]

Head Technician: Mr. Aroon Martinus, +27 11 559 6508; [email protected]

Technical Officer: Dr. Machodi Mathaba, +27 11 559 6569;

[email protected]

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Guidelines for Technical Report Writing

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 What is technical writing?

 Technical writing generally is written reports, grants, proposals, and other

similar papers.

 Aside from writing ethically, the main goal of technical writing is to convey
information precisely and clearly.

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 Some guidelines are:
 Be accurate in your work

 Be honest in your work

 Honor your obligations

 Don’t use the ideas of others without giving proper credit.

 Don’t violate copyright laws

 Don’t lie with statistics

 Don’t hide truth with ambiguity.

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 Why do Chemical Engineers need to write technical reports?

 Chemical Engineers need to be good, clear technical writers in order to

communicate better.

 Engineering students generally have several misconceptions about technical

writing:

 Engineers are naturally poor writers.

 Writing is not important for engineers.

 The rules for writing technical prose are different from those for non technical
prose.

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 Why do Chemical Engineers need to write technical reports?
 Engineers are not poor writers naturally.

 They may learn to be poor writers or may not gain good writing skills.

 Writing well comes from practice.

 Reports and papers are one of the main methods for scientist and engineers to
report their research to each other.
 And, contrary to popular belief, proper grammar is extremely important in
technical writing.
 The rules for proper non-technical and technical writing are the same.

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 General Guidelines for better writing
 One main goal in writing reports is having readable writing.

 Express important actions as verbs, and the characters associated with those
actions as the subjects of those verbs.

 Keep subjects as short as possible so that sentences move quickly from short,
specific subject to an action verb.

 Sentences should begin with old information and end with new information.

 As chemical engineers we need to be sure to make ethical decisions in the

workplace.
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 Overview on report writing

 A good lab report does more than present data

 It demonstrates the writer’s comprehension of the concepts behind the data

 Merely recording the expected and observed results is not sufficient

 You should also identify how and why differences occurred,

 Explain how they affected your experiment, and shows your understanding of
the principles the experiment was designed to examine

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 Overview on report writing

 Bear in mind that a format, however helpful, cannot replace clear thinking and
organized writing.

 You still need to organize your ideas carefully and express them coherently

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 Typical Components (Format) of a Technical report
 Title page

 Synopsis

 Declaration and Acknowledgment

 Table of Contents
 Introduction
 Experimental Procedure
 Results and Discussions
 Conclusions

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 Typical Components (Format) of a Technical report
 Recommendations
 References
 Appendices

 It is recommended that each heading should start on a new page.

 Style: TIMES NEW ROMAN

 Font size: 12, NORMAL

 Headings: 14, BOLD

 Subheadings: 12, BOLD

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Module content

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 Lab Assignments

 Heat Exchanger

 Liquid diffusion coefficient

 Gas diffusion coefficient

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 Lab Practicals

 Pumps

 Fluid mixing

 Process Control

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Assessment

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 Assessment

 Two Tests

 Three Lab Assignments

 Three Lab practicals

 Oral presentations

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Some important note for lab 2A module

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 Laboratory Reports

 Lab Assignments need to be submitted within 5 working days.

 Lab Practicals need to be submitted within 10 working day.

 Late submissions of assignments/practicals will be considered invalid, and you

will obtain a zero mark for the assignment/practical. All submission will be
done online via Blackboard.

 The student is expected to attend all laboratory practicals and test(s) and to
write technical reports and hand-in on the due date specified.

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 Laboratory Reports

 Missing a laboratory practical will automatically result in the student failing

the module and jeopardise the class mark as the student mark will be cap at
35%.

 If a student is sick, contact the lecturer/laboratory assistant within 3 days.

 The student will be expected to produce a medical certificate from an

accredited doctor!

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Questions

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