Fire Safety | Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Fire safety is an integral part of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS). EHS provides resources and education to promote a fire safe campus for students, faculty, staff and visitors. EHS also provides Emergency Action Plan (EAP) training, fire extinguisher inspections and training, building and residential hall fire safety inspections, hot work and building impairment permitting, event fire safety and a variety of fire safety education and training.

Policies regarding hallway storage, egress, and space heaters can be found below.

WPI Safety Rules for Hallways, Storage, and Egress Compliance

Policy on Space Heaters and Personal Appliances

Flame Sterilization on the Open Bench

Flame sterilization is a standard microbiology technique. If possible, disposable sterile inoculating loops and cell spreaders should be substituted for flame sterilization to eliminate the need for open flame. If this technique must be used, researchers must ensure that the ethanol and other sources of combustion are not too close to the open flame, and that the open flame is positioned in a place which limits the passage of your hands near the fire. Researchers must adhere to the following steps when flame sterilizing on the open bench.

Personal protective equipment, including a fire-resistant lab coat, gloves, and safety glasses MUST BE WORN. Tie back long hair and remove dangling jewelry. Appropriate lab attire, including long pants and close toed shoes are required in all WPI laboratories.

Clean your work bench and remove all unnecessary items from the immediate work area, especially flammable items and chemicals. Ensure that no combustible materials are on shelves above or below the work area. Note the location of the nearest eye wash and emergency shower.

Pour ethanol into a secondary container made of PYREX GLASS or METAL, wide enough to dip a spreader or inoculating loop. Check the integrity of glass containers to ensure they are free of cracks or chips. The container should have an easily replaceable lid to smother ignited ethanol. Only a small volume of ethanol is needed, enough to cover the end of the loop or spreader (approximately 1 cm or less in depth or about 10 ml in volume). An ideal container is a Pyrex Glass Petri Dish. Clean up any ethanol that may have spilled while pouring from the stock bottle into the container before beginning work.

Review and organize the work area before each use.

The ethanol container should be removed and stored elsewhere from the flame and should be positioned in the work area so that it is not necessary to pass the flamed sterile instrument back over the ethanol container prior to immediate use. Ensure all ethanol is burned off before moving the instrument to back over the main work area.

Liquid cultures and petri dishes should be kept reasonably close to the flame to maintain a sterile environment by utilizing the updraft of air created by the flame.

If the ethanol ignites a fire that cannot be smothered, evacuate the area while notifying others of the fire.

During a fire emergency, WPI's Environmental Health & Safety and Campus Police departments emphasize safe evacuation as top priority. While evacuating, shut the biosafety cabinet sash (if applicable) and close doors behind you. Notify emergency services of the fire and its location by either of the following methods: