Basic Documentation

Chapter 3–Unique Ventilation Needs of a Laboratory Facility
12 Siemens Building Technologies, Inc.
Stringent ambient controls appropriate for the species of animals present are necessary to
ensure maintaining accreditation and thus validation of the research. Certain room
arrangements may also require supplying highly purified air directly to cage racks or having a
dedicated HEPA filtered exhaust. Exhaust air from these rooms should first be rough filtered
to prevent animal hair and other airborne residue from accumulating in the laboratory exhaust
system.
General Chemical and Analytical Laboratory Rooms
These are very common types of laboratory rooms using a wide variety of chemicals for
experimentation and analysis work. This type of laboratory room is not intended for handling
extremely hazardous substances such as highly explosive, highly toxic, carcinogenic, or any
other that are considered very dangerous. In addition, these laboratories should not contain
apparatus which requires very high voltage or high power including higher power lasers,
high-pressure gasses or liquids, and all but minimal amounts of radioactive materials.
Operations and procedures involving chemicals in these laboratory rooms are typically done
in chemical fume hoods. Maintaining environmental goals in a general chemistry laboratory is
normally done by providing a minimum overall ventilation rate, maintaining adequate fume
hood face velocity and minimum fume hood exhaust rate, and ensuring that no room air is
recirculated or migrates to other parts of the facility. The temperature and humidity of these
laboratories is typically controlled for occupant comfort.