Facility Guidelines

The following guidelines that are applicable to all activities related to making and material usage on the Harvard GSD campus, whether that’s in one of the Fabrication Lab spaces, at your desk in studio, or outdoors. Please read to learn more about the following:

Staffing

The Fabrication Lab has a full-time staff of three supervisors. Each has significant experience in areas of the Lab and are available for consultation by email, chat, or via the Fabrication Lab Community Forum. When on campus, our collective availability during the academic semester is generally within the following blocks of time:

  • 10 AM – 8 PM Monday and Tuesday
  • 10 AM – 10 PM Wednesday and Thursday
  • 10 AM – 6 PM Friday
  • 12 PM – 8 PM Saturday and Sunday

Additionally, each area of the Lab is staffed by trained students (Technical Assistants) who are available for consultation and act as health and safety monitors while on duty. See our facility calendars for more detailed hours of availability.

Students and faculty members are expected to perform their own work while in the Lab. Staff are available primarily to facilitate safe and appropriate use of Lab resources, not to perform work for others. However, operation of some equipment within the Lab is restricted to trained staff only.

All users must follow staff direction while in the Fabrication Lab or when pursuing ‘making’ activities elsewhere on campus. Failure to comply with these Health and Safety Guidelines, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the equipment or materials you are using, or staff direction will result in the suspension of access privileges to Fabrication Lab resources at the discretion of the Fabrication Lab Advisory Committee.

Standard Operating Procedures

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for common hazardous materials and all major lab equipment is posted and available through the SOP tab on the Material Safety page of this website. Never use any machine or hazardous material unless you have received appropriate by a Lab staff member and are knowledgeable of its safe use. If you have any questions or concerns do not hesitate to ask a staff member. Report any malfunctioning equipment to Lab staff as soon as you notice an issue. Do not attempt to use any equipment that does not appear to be functioning properly; notify other users by placing an “Out of Order” sign on the machine. Access to many of the machines within the Lab environment is controlled by user ID card, activated following completion of affiliated training hosted on the Harvard Training Portal. Hours of access vary across the Lab within the academic year and are posted on the facility calendars and entry ways to the lab as they are updated.

General Lab safety and etiquette must be observed at all times when in the Fabrication Lab. Never work when you are impaired, tired, stressed, or unable to work carefully. Never work alone; when working after staffed hours have a peer of equal or greater ability work with you and only after you have gained approval for after-hours access from a Lab supervisor.

Equipment should never be left unattended while it is running. All machines can be either stopped or paused if you have to leave the area, even if only for a short period of time. Never interrupt, distract, or walk directly behind a person operating a machine. Never place hands or other body parts in the area of any cutting head, blade, drill, pinch-point, or other moving, rotating or cutting device/tool. Remove all hand tools, accessory devices, and foreign objects from the immediate work area before beginning to operate any equipment. Only the material to be machined, its fixturing (if necessary), and safety mechanisms should be in the work area. Ensure that all safety mechanisms such as guards, shields, and light curtains are operating correctly and securely in place prior to operating any equipment.

Material Safety

Be knowledgeable of the materials with which you are working. Manufacturers supply Safety Data Sheets (SDS) listing potential health and safety hazards associated with their products. SDS for materials commonly encountered in the Fabrication Lab are available in designated SDS Binders, located in the lab areas these materials would be most likely to be encountered, as well as on the GSD SharePoint site. Materials whose SDS have either a Signal Word “Danger” or “Warning” with a Hazard Category of 1 require an SOP be written by Lab staff. Consult Lab staff if you are unsure about the suitability of a material or particular process before you introduce it into the school. Some materials are not appropriate for use in the Lab environment or school. Always ensure material is free of foreign objects, such as screws and staples in wood.

See the Materials Safety page for more details.

Protective Equipment and Clothing

Appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) must be worn while in the Lab environment. Always consult the affiliated SOP before using a tool or material as additional safety measures may be required. The Lab itself is inherently a potentially hazardous environment to be in, requiring personal protection measures be observed even if you are not going to be working directly with Lab equipment or handling materials.

Safety glasses should be worn at all times. Safety goggles are also available and can be worn over prescription eye glasses. Hearing protection should be worn whenever loud equipment is in operation and noise levels in excess of 85 dB(A) can be expected in many areas of the lab at all times of day. Disposable dust masks capable of filtering out 95% of non-oil airborne particulate are available for use. A significant amount of airborne particulate can be encountered in all areas of the Lab and keeping doors to the hallway and between adjacent spaces closed will also help to isolate and vacate the sources of particulate. Many of the materials in use within the Fabrication Lab can potentially create noxious fumes when processed; consult the SDS and SOP for each material and operation before beginning any work. Some work will need to be done in the spray booth, with the use of the fume extractors, or other lab space where adequate ventilation for the type of work exists. Respirators are available for purchase in the shop store if required for certain hazardous materials. When handling rough, sharp, or hot material, it is advisable to wear leather gloves. Nitrile gloves are available for use when handling hazardous materials. Gloves should never be worn when operating motorized or moving equipment as they may get caught or prevent you from adequately controlling the material as it encounters the equipment.

Appropriate attire must always be observed while in the Lab. Footwear must, at minimum, cover the entire foot, be secure to the foot on all sides, and provide a stable working posture. Shoes such as sandals, clogs, ballerina flats, and heels are not acceptable. Loose clothing such as scarves, neck ties, droopy sleeves, and drawstrings present significant safety threats while around equipment in the lab and should never be worn in the Lab environment. Similarly, jewelry such as necklaces, watches, bracelets, rings and earrings that could potentially get caught in machinery should not be worn in the Lab environment. Long hair, including beards, must be tied back such that it is kept away from the front of the face and neck; if it’s long enough to tie back, do so. Wearing corded headphones and/or listening to portable music players is not allowed anywhere in the Lab environment.; cords can potentially get caught in machinery.

Emergency Response

If an injury should occur, notify Lab staff or a peer immediately. An incident report must be completed with a Lab staff member within 24 hours. First-aid kits are available for minor injuries throughout the Lab environment. Fire extinguishers are also found throughout the Lab for extinguishing or controlling minor fires in emergency situations. If you hear fire alarms, stop any equipment you are using and exit the building according to evacuation guidelines, making sure to close all doors behind you. An Emergency Eyewash and Shower are located in the Project Room, L31. An Emergency Call Box is located in the hallway outside L35. Phones available for emergency purposes are located throughout the Fabrication Lab. Harvard Police can be reached by dialing 5-1212 from any internal land line (617-495-1212 from outside the school’s network). A security guard is available at the front desk in the Gund Lobby during evening and weekend hours for assistance.

Maintenance and Waste

Keeping the Fabrication Lab a clean and well-maintained environment is important to the health and safety of everyone in the Lab. It is the responsibility of all users to clean up after themselves and dispose of all waste appropriately. Keep your work area clean both while working and when you have finished working in the area. Remove chips and waste pieces from work surfaces and the floor using a broom/brush and dust pan, or vacuum. Do not handle chips with your hands/fingers. Using compressed air is not an appropriate method for clearing chips as it promotes the hazardous dispersion of particulate and chips into the air and potentially into the eyes, hair, clothing and skin of individuals within the Lab environment. Clean up any spilled liquids. If it is a potentially hazardous or oily liquid, then contact Lab staff so that they may respond with the appropriate measures.

Return large, unused portions of material to the shared scrap areas so that others may use leftover material. Wood products (plywood, OSB, and solid wood) can be recycled and the red bins in the Wood Shop are available for this purpose. MDF, masonite, and particle board should be discarded in the grey trash bins only, as they are not recyclable. Recyclable paper, cardboard that has been broken down, and recyclable plastics should be discarded in the blue recycle bins. Any recyclable food containers should be clean and free of liquids. Non-recyclable materials must be disposed of in the grey trash bins. Sharps containers are to be used for the disposal of cutting knife blades and other sharps. Metal barrels in the Machine Shop and Metal Shop are available for collection of scrap metal (steel, copper, brass, aluminum, etc.) and electronic components. Battery recycling containers are located throughout Gund. Aerosol cans should be discarded in the white receptacles located at each spray booth.

Many liquids used in the Fabrication Lab are not appropriate for sink disposal as they are potentially hazardous to natural and drinking water systems. Such materials include paint, plaster, paint thinner, stain, wood sealer, resin, rubber, solvents, and many others. Be aware of the materials you are using and how they should be disposed before beginning work. Hazardous Waste collection containers are located in the Project Room (Gund L31) and in the 3D Print Suite (Gund L40C). Each container is labeled with its appropriate contents; do not dispose of a material into a container that does not have its contents listed on the label. Consult lab staff if you have any questions or have a material that does not have an affiliated Hazardous Waste container available. Follow posted Hazardous Waste Disposal Procedures.

Other Resources

The webpage of the Harvard Environmental Health and Safety Department