If you smell a sharp odor, taste a bitter gas or see a cloud hugging the ground:
- Alert your co-workers
- Evacuate
- Call immediately UCLA's EH&S at (310) 825-9797 or 911
Other possible odors:
Natural gas; most often caused by a bunsenburner that was not turned off correctly or was left unattended
- Alert others immediately and identify the source of the smell; turn off the bunsenburner
- If the source cannot be located call immediately UCLA’s EH&S
- If the smell is very strong and the source cannot be identified quickly, evacuate and call immediately UCLA’s EH&S
Bleach; typically used to disinfect areas or inactivate biohazardous material; the smell can sometimes be overpowering
- Identify the source, often the sink, and flush or wash with plenty of water
- Communicate with co-workers about minimizing bleach odor
Chemical smell due to an accidently left open chemical container. Sometimes solvents are not used in a chemical fume hood when they should be and thus a solvent smell lingers in the lab.
- Communicate with co-workers about using solvents only inside the chemical hood.
Sewer gas smell caused by a dried drain if a sink has not been used for a while.
- Flush drain with plenty of water
Smoke smell from someone smoking outside the building near the building’s air intake; the smoke then enters the lab from the exhaust.
- Identify person and talk with him/her.
- Notify your supervisor and have him/her talk with smoker
- UCLA is a smoke-free campus, refer person to the UCLA Smoke-Free Resource Center
Unidentified odor with unknown source
- Call UCLA’s EH&S and have them investigate
