Lab Safety Series: Preventing Contamination

This laboratory safety course focuses on preventing contamination across chemical, biological, food, and research laboratory environments. Participants will learn to identify and control the four major types of laboratory contamination—chemical, biological, particulate, and cross-contamination—while mastering essential contamination prevention practices including proper glove discipline, hand hygiene protocols, surface decontamination procedures, and correct use of clean benches versus biosafety cabinets. The course emphasizes practical workflow design, zone control, and real-world contamination scenarios to help workers understand how contamination spreads through routine contact and equipment use, often without visible signs. By combining OSHA Laboratory Safety Guidance principles with CDC biosafety recommendations, this training provides workers with the systematic approach needed to protect both personnel safety and sample integrity, ensuring contamination chains are actively broken before they can compromise analytical accuracy, research validity, or regulatory compliance.