Laboratory Moves

Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) can assist you if your laboratory is moving and you have chemicals you want to take with you. We will provide segregation and packing recommendations, as well as transport the chemicals. Please notify EHS at least two weeks before you would like us to move the chemicals. We will set up a preliminary meeting to discuss our moving protocols as well as perform a walkthrough of your lab. We will only transport chemicals. We will not move furniture, equipment, pack or unpack chemicals. Please use the following guidelines to prepare your chemicals for transport.

Before Your Move

This is also the perfect time to go through your inventory and get rid of expired chemicals in order to minimize the chemicals that need to be packaged for transport. EHS will not transport waste, expired, or unknown chemicals to the new lab. Use the following procedures to prepare your chemicals.

1. Separate your chemicals into the following groups:
   1. Waste/expired chemicals
   2. Unknown chemicals
   3. Useable chemicals
2. Segregate the chemicals within the above groups a, b, and c by hazard (e.g. flammables away from oxidizers; acids away from bases; reactives and organic peroxides packaged alone; and etc.). If you are unsure of the hazards, consult the safety data sheets (SDS) or contact EHS for assistance.
3. Package the segregated chemicals you want moved into sturdy cardboard boxes, bins, or buckets so they will not fall over or bump into one another and break. EHS does not provide boxes, bins, or buckets. 5-gallon or larger containers do not need to be packaged.
   1. Ensure bottles are properly closed with tight-fitting lids (do not use Parafilm®, corks, or rubber stoppers)
   2. Label boxes, bins, and buckets with generic descriptions concurrent with the hazard class (e.g. “Organic Solvents”, “Toxic Solids”, “Water-Reactives”, etc.) of the chemicals they contain.
4. Submit waste, expired, and unknown chemicals for disposal using a Hazardous Materials Pickup Request form.
5. Schedule your moving day far enough in advance to provide EHS at least two weeks’ notice.

On Moving Day

• Ensure chemicals are segregated and packaged in labeled containers and ready for transport at the designated time; EHS will not schedule more than one time slot for your move. Any chemicals not ready for transport on the day of your schedule move will not be transported.
• Ensure EHS has access to the new location. EHS will only transport the chemicals to the new location and place them on the laboratory bench tops. We will not unpack the chemicals.

For more details and/or to arrange for your chemicals to be moved by EHS, call (765) 494-0121.