To minimize the inhalation, skin absorption and ingestion of the hazardous materials in a lab exposure control equipment have been installed. Designed procedures and well-equipped techniques are used in order to keep the workers away from all the harmful substances. Fume hoods are one such equipment which is used to reduce the casualties of inhaling the harmful gases. Fume hoods have the potential to protect the workers from inhaling toxic biochemical substances.
What are fume hoods?
Fume hoods are specially designed for lab purposes. They are designed to give protection against all the toxic and volatile chemicals which are being produced in the lab. This is done by continuously delivering the airflow away from the user. Once the airflow is passed through the fume hoods they are again tested in order to check the toxicity level before releasing it in the environment.
Why are fume hoods used?
A properly working fume hood has a lot of application. A correctly operating fume hood can eliminate or reduce the exposure to all the toxic substances such as liquid, specks of dust and mists. The great advice is to use the fume hoods in every laboratory as a protection against the hazardous substances on which people work in a lab.
Requirements for a laboratory fume hood exhaust:
Each fume hood should contain a label or a sticker which will indicate the height at which it is optimum to work with hazardous substances. In case the label is missing you should definitely contact for a re-evaluation of the fume hood.
The laboratory fume hood should be always equipped with a monitoring device. This monitoring device will help in getting the functional status of the hood. The monitoring device should be designed in such a way that it is quantitative and continuous.
These two points should be always remembered before installing a fume hood as these two points hold a great and important position for laboratory protection.
There are some special concerns which are required for a perfectly working fume hood. Let us go through some of them:
- Air flow: air flow is the first and the most important part in a fume hood. Do you know how should be the motion of the air in a fume hood? The airflow should not be turbulent instead it should be uniform and constant throughout the laboratory. The average velocity of the air flow is around 80-120 fpm.
- Alarms and monitoring system: as mentioned earlier all the fume hood should have a monitoring device in order to monitor the functioning and operation if the hood. According to the new rules, every fume hood should be equipped with air flow monitoring device.
- Maintenance and inspection: with every working device maintenance are really important. Similarly, for Portable Fume Hoods, the maintenance of the fume hood is very much important. If not checked properly it can lead to hazardous effects on the environment.
- Fume hood exhaust: People often don’t pay much attention to the fume hood exhaust. But this can prove to be hazardous and harmful. So the exhaust needs to be checked pretty often in order to maintain a healthy environment inside the laboratory and make it comfortable for the workers.
Hence these are few requirements which fume hood exhaust may require for a nice and perfectly working laboratory.
