The purpose of fume hoods

Fume cabinets are designed to prevent scientific and medical researchers being exposed to dangerous or harmful chemicals. It is important to recognise that they are not designed for use with biological agents such as micro-organisms. If your laboratory is involved in experiments involving micro-organisms, a microbiological safety cabinet or biological safety cabinet must be used instead.

Microbiological safety cabinets (MSC) give protection to the user by means of an inflow air curtain. In additiona, experimental material used in the cabinet is protected from the dirty work room air by a constant stream of HEPA filtered air.

Efficiency

The efficiency of a fume cupboard in preventing exposure of the laboratory worker to
harmful chemicals depends on the following factors:

The basic design of the fume cabinet and meeting of minimum safety standards (e.g. BS 7258 and BS 7989)

The maintenance and testing of the fume cupboard once it has been installed in a laboratory

The location of a fume cupboard in a scientific laboratory in relation to other extract equipment being used in the laboratory, local airflows and the number of people who walk through the laboratory

The amount of chemicals and equipment being stored in the fume hood

The types of experiments and research performed inside the fume cupboard

The efficiency of re-circulating fume cupboards (ductless fume cabinets) depends on:

The selection and employment of the correct type of filter for the fume hood
Regular replacement of the filter using a safe method
Appropriate and safe disposal of filter
The volume of dangerous substances being dealt with at any one time

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The purpose of fume hoods

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