There are many reasons to maintain good housekeeping in a laboratory: to help protect human health, ensure safety and help prevent chemical releases into the environment. Good housekeeping includes proper container management, perhaps including maintaining an inventory of what compounds are present in the lab. Such practices may also show a positive financial return if they lead to greater utilization of chemicals already purchased, and lead to pollution prevention--by reducing the ordering of duplicate chemicals that already exist in inventory.
Good housekeeping also includes other the regulatory requirements or best practices, including:
- Properly labeling containers so that contents and hazards are known
- Ensuring that incompatible compounds or wastes are not stored together
- Providing secondary containment for waste containers
- Keeping containers closed when not in use (a container with a funnel is NOT closed!)
This section contains many more tips about container management, including actions that are required--or prohibited--by the RCRA regulations. You should also be aware that the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) has extensive regulations, entitled "Occupational Exposures to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories" or, more commonly, the “OSHA Lab Standard,” that apply to container management in laboratories. You may find more about these regulations by consulting 29 CFR 1910.1450 http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owasrch.search_form?p_doc_type
=STANDARDS&p_toc_level=0&p_keyvalue=1910_1450.html