Are you wearing a lab coat? - (Jan/07/2011 )

But why?

Mainly to (try to) spare my clothes from bleach damage althought I like the option about the safety inspector (definitively that one when it comes to googles)

I have said it before and I'll say it again: NOT wearing a lab coat is a sign of experience and influence..... and makes you really "cool".

All the new ones , students and those that still think its "cool" to wear one and feel more as a scientist wear one... The experienced, cool scientist doenst wear one

You should really think about it...
If you have students at the lab and they see someone one coming in without a lab coat, you can really see the students think: wow, no lab coat, he must be important and know it all...

Same with wearing one, but having some buttons not closed or something like that..

Its a little bit like "not being like someone else".. everyone wears one, so the ones without a lab coat.... are those that dare to not wear one and are not told by others to wear one...==> thus meaning they are their own boss, or have influence to decide if they wear one or not


(offource , those not wearing one when working with heavy, dangerous chemicals and setting themselfs in fire or something like that are just stupid and nothing like what I described above )

pito on Sun Jan 30 09:15:22 2011 said:

yeah, I remember this discussion, pito..."the rebel without a coat"....and this to look cool and apart from the herd...and you work in a microbiogy lab, eh? So you wear the same clothes all day- in the lab handling your bugs and chemicals and afterwards- when hanging out with friends or family somewhere else....perhaps we shld have a poll if this is the cool thing to do?

casandra on Sun Jan 30 16:15:34 2011 said:

The thing is that if you have the knowledge about the things you do.. you can easly not wear a labcoat..

If you work for example with bacteria that are commenly found in the oceans and are not pathogens to humans.. then why wear the lab coat? Those bacteria wont hurt you.. And besides: if you work like you should, you shouldnt have bacteria on your clothes like that.. (they really dont jump out the dishes on your clothes...)
+ a lab coat is more to protect your clothes from chemicals.. not from bacteria really.. the bacteria wont jump on your or if they do: they'll be on your face too etc..
If you work with really dangerous stuff, a lab coat wont really do much.
Besides the LAF is there for a reason...


+ have you even wondered on how clean lab coats are?
I change my sweater or tshirt every day and put it in the wash
.. Those lab coats.. some of them use them day in day out... for months without washing them..

And just to show you how idiot a lot of people are: they weat a lab coat, after working in the laf they wash their hands with ethanol, soap... Go to the halls, take out their lab coat and go to eat or chat with others..
Do you see the mistake here.. They take off their coat.. with they clean hands... If the coat is dirty.. so are the hands.. and so is the rest...

And also dont forget: most lab coats are pretty "open" at the top... so you only protect the lower side of your torso ..
But anyway: it all depends with what you are working...
PS. any microbiologist or lab tech working with bacteria should know that he or she has more bacteria in his face, body and as long as you dont work with the "bad guys".. there is no point being scared of getting sick or whatever.

And offcourse I do weat my coat whenever I work with chemicals that are more dangerous..
But to be honest: when filling a bottle with demineralised water.. I dont see the point in wearing one

Hi Pito,

I wish that my department provide me a full body protected "spaceman suit" for me.
I'm dealing with infections bacteria which suppose to work in BSL-3 lab in US, but we do it in BSL-2 here... with ordinary lab coat and without mask.
Seriously, I don't mind being laugh as a "space bunny"... i just want my life to be safe...

But then, nobody cares about our life as postgrad... and we were among those first to be blamed when there are any incidents...

Also, I wish I can upload some pictures of nurses wearing their "operation theater coats" to the cafe for lunch before doing their work. Now I really pray hard for those people who undergoes surgery... sigh...

adrian kohsf on Sun Jan 30 19:40:08 2011 said:

Yeah well, thats just stupid and the head of your lab must be a real idiot.

pito on Sun Jan 30 18:45:27 2011 said:

Aren't you digressing from your main reason for not wearing a labcoat which is to make you look cool because it exudes experience and influence? And now it's because it's unnecessary in most instances when you're certain you're not dealing with anything pathogenic or dangerous? I see your reasoning of course, but why do you think that most institutes/universities have health and environmental safety offices? Surely not just to do a spot check on us or to irritate us? And furthermore, we don't work in a vacuum. We may know exactly what we're doing and how to do it properly, but we could be sharing our benches and equipments with people who don’t. And then there are accidents....even the most experienced could have those.

Personally, I think that donning a coat or using PPE if it becomes part of our daily routine while working in the lab is a habit that we end up doing automatically. It makes life less complicated. Can you imagine: you enter your lab to fill up a bottle of deionised water so.. you don’t wear the lab coat but then you decide to prepare Tris-Cl buffers as well, so.. you put it on, afterwards you decide to fill up your pipette tip boxes- so off goes the lab coat again and then you have this brilliant idea of preparing acrylamide gels so you put it back on again etc etc etc…,a bit exaggerated, I know but you can get the meaning….

And if one sticks to the recommendations of the health and safety office….lab coats shld only be worn in the lab, they shld be cleaned properly and regularly and if they’re heavily contaminated they shld be disposed of as a biohazard. And non-compliance to these principles shouldn’t be used as a reason to condemn them or not to wear them.

And finally, if you’re training the new students, what should you tell them about the wearing of lab coats in the lab? Wear them only if...don't wear them if....? Or do what I tell you and not what I do because I have more knowledge and experience than you do?

pito on Sun Jan 30 20:24:33 2011 said:

lolx, I would say is the idiotic system being practice...
let me borrow the lyrics from Bee Gees:"cause we living in a world of fools, breaking us down, when they all should let us be..."

pito on Sun Jan 30 20:24:33 2011 said:

Pito,

I think you are contradicting your own statements. If you say that the more experienced people should have the right NOT to wear the lab coat, then let the more experienced decide whether work should be done under BSL 2 or BSL 3!!!

The only reason I see for calling some one a "real idiot" is arrogance!!!!

casandra on Mon Jan 31 04:52:51 2011 said:

I think casandra is right. (Although, I lost the point she was trying to make with wear the lab coat, dont wear the lab coat para )

Lab coats must be mandatory. H&S policies must be followed (Sometimes they go overboard, but thats usually a response to someone's stupidity ). Its simple with lab coats, wear them when you are working.... leave them when you leave the lab!

-gt_ameya-

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