Specialized laboratory facilities can be found in
universities and hospitals throughout the world, and
while each lab is unique, they all require proper
ventilation and functioning safety devices to keep
researchers safe from hazardous materials. Since
each lab will have its own specific safety and air
ventilation requirements, lab designers can’t use a
one-size-fits-all approach to laboratory ventilation.
They must design bespoke solutions for every lab
they work on.
Nathan Ho is the laboratory market leader for P2S
and an expert in bespoke lab solutions. He’s served
on ASHRAE technical committees on ventilation and
indoor air quality and helped to write some of the
very same standards that engineers consult when
designing lab ventilation systems. We spoke to
him about laboratory design’s unique challenges,
the importance of proper lab ventilation, and the
reasons why P2S is a world leader in laboratory
design.
Why is it so important that laboratories are
properly ventilated?
Laboratories use ventilation as a risk mitigation
strategy, they use things like fume hoods, snorkels
and other specialty devices, as well as overall room
air-change rates to address what happens when
chemicals escape from their containers or processes
get out of control and get into what’s called the
breathing zone. We provide ventilation to reduce
the risk of an unplanned emission or exposure event
within a lab. In the event of a spill, the air in the
room will dilute and sweep the contaminants and
minimize occupant exposure. If there was insufficient
ventilation in a lab area, then the air could quickly
become hazardous in the event of an accident.
In the early days of laboratories, before modern
lab ventilation, there were often wooden tables in
a researcher’s home workshop where they would
mix chemicals with an open window for ventilation.
People quickly realized that was insufficient, which
led to the development of ventilation systems to
contain, dilute, and sweep contaminants.
How do lab designers keep emissions out of the air?
There are two complementary strategies we use.
There are containment devices like fume hoods
and snorkels in which occupants at a work station
can engage in open chemistry activities inside
that device because they protect the users from
exposure to emissions. Then there is the room
ventilation rate that is meant for unplanned events
like if somebody accidentally spills something and it
begins evaporating into your space. The equipment
that allows for safe, controlled chemistry within, we
call primary capture devices. The room ventilation
rate is used to dilute and sweep away emissions
from accidents and is often referred to as secondary
containment. Room air change rates in labs
function like seat belts, it’s there in case something
goes wrong. Designers can’t ensure or guarantee
anything as we do not tightly control activities and
materials after facilities are turned over to users, but
we can mitigate how bad it could be by providing
adequate room ventilation rates to dilute emissions
from accidents.
What are some of the essential components of
laboratory ventilation?
We have containment devices that we collaborate on
with architects and lab planners. The lab planners
select the appropriate equipment and we provide the
utilities that enable them to function. For the room
air change rates, we use air terminal units to control
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