The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulation 29 CFR 1910.1450, “Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories”, requires that a Chemical Hygiene Plan (CHP) be developed for each laboratory workplace to protect employees from injury due to chemical exposure in the workplace. Among other required elements, the OSHA Lab Standard specifies that the CHP must include “criteria that the employer will use to determine and implement control measures to reduce employee exposure to hazardous chemicals including engineering controls, the use of personal protective equipment and hygiene practices, particular attention shall be given to the selection of control measures for chemicals that are known to be extremely hazardous" (1910.1450(e)(3)(ii)).

The USC General Lab Safety Manual and Chemical Hygiene Plan [doc] (General LSM-CHP) was developed by the university's EH&S Chemical and Lab Safety program. This generic plan contains basic information on general lab safety, chemical safety and physical safety.  This document is made accessible online on this page and is not required to be printed as long as lab personnel are made aware of how to access this document.

All lab personnel must review and understand the content of both the General LSM-CHP and the Lab-specific LSM-CHP and sign the clearance form in the lab-specific document.

To create a lab-specific Lab Safety Manual and Chemical Hygiene Plan, each laboratory must complete the Lab-specific LSM-CHP. Once completed, this document must be printed, signed (clearance form and SOPs), kept in a binder, and made accessible to lab personnel.