The Department of Physics at the College of Education for Pure Sciences (Ibn Al-Haitham) of the University of Baghdad has organized a training workshop entitled “Basic Safety Rules in the Educational Laboratory” given by the faculty members of the department with the aim to introduce the most important scientific safety rules, identifying the risks of work environments for workers within the laboratory, health and safety standards that are essential for protect workers who are in contact with chemical hazardous materials.
The workshop began by defining the laboratory as being the main center for obtaining knowledge and developing new materials, as the laboratory is a paradise for research enthusiasts and scientists, and laboratories are one of the most dangerous work environments, as two million deaths have been recorded annually due to injuries and diseases related to the work environment around the world, based on statistics available in the International Labor Organization, due to the lack of awareness of the existence of health and safety standards or how to comply with these standards in order not to be exposed to occupational injuries and diseases. Thus, safety procedures in laboratories are among the global rules and principles. The workshop also stressed the need to meet safety conditions in laboratories, which is that the laboratory must contain a pharmacy for rapid first aid that contains the necessary materials necessary for emergency cases, as well as that the laboratory must contain fire extinguishers.