Chemical Fume Hood Certification

Chemical fume hood certification is necessary to ensure that hoods are performing adequately to contain hazardous chemical vapors and gases. Fume hoods must be certified annually by the Office of Research Safety Affairs. If the chemical fume hood in your work area is past due for certification, please contact the Office of Research Safety Affairs at labsafety@uthsc.edu to let them know the building and room number where your fume hood is located. Details about the certification procedure are provided in the UTHSC Chemical Hygiene Plan.

Problems with fume hoods (e.g. fume hood is alarming) should also be reported to the Office of Research Safety Affairs.

Chemical fume hoods must be used properly to provide effective containment and adequate protection to research personnel. Information about the proper use of chemical fume hoods is provided in the UTHSC Chemical Hygiene Plan.

• Never allow your head to enter the plane of the hood opening. For example, for vertical rising sashes, keep the sash below your face; for horizontal sliding sashes, keep the sash positioned in front of you and work around the side of the sash.
• Use appropriate eye protection. Even when the sash is in place researchers are still required to wear eye protection when handling hazardous chemical inside of a fume hood.
• The sash should be positioned as low as possible while working within the fume hood.  Researchers should not work with the sash height above the level indicating on the frame of the hood.
• When not working in the hood, close the sash.
• Keep all materials inside the hood at least six inches from the sash opening.
• Be sure that nothing blocks the airflow through the baffles or through the baffle exhaust slots.
• Elevate large equipment (e.g., a centrifuge) at least two inches off the base of the hood interior.
• Do not permanently store chemicals inside of the fume hood.
• Never put your head inside of an operating chemical fume hood.