Lab Coat A lab coat is necessary for many operations which could result in a large splash of harmful liquid, as well as for operations involving toxic solid materials that must be prevented from contaminating regular clothes, even in tiny quantities.  Consult the Hazard Assessment Certification requirements for the relevant operation, task description, or job title. Cover over your regular clothes to prevent them from non-obvious contamination and/or to impede saturation of regular clothes and skin surfaces with harmful liquids.  Labcoat material should be chosen for safety compared to the types of work hazards and the types liquids to which they might be exposed.  (See "Limitations" below.) Putting it on (donning), well, let's see.  The opening generally goes in front and the arms go into the sleeves.  Don't you wish everything was that difficult?  The parts that people sometimes forget are that a lab coat should also be buttoned completely, every button, unless you don't really need to be wearing it in the first place, and the sleeves will only protect your wrists if they're covering them.   Doffing (taking off) the lab coat will assume different forms depending on whether it's a leisurely routine doffing or an in-the-emergency-shower-in-a-hurry doffing.   In the latter case it is acceptable to rip the buttons off, but be as calm as possible at all times.   Lab coats can prevent small splashes from contacting your skin and/or contaminating your street clothes, and this is quite important, but they do not do much more.  Do not continue to wear a lab coat if there is a reasonable chance that chemical contamination from it will reach your clothes or your skin.  Do not use a coat not made lab chemical use, nor a homemade lab coat unless you are certain the fabric is suitable for your work (some synthetic fabrics are extremely vulnerable to particular chemicals and could actually harm your skin  in the event that the wrong chemical was splashed on them).  Many synthetic fabrics will burn and melt somewhat easily and should not be worn in areas where open flames or other cources of fire might present the potential of igniting the coat. No protective equipment that has been contaminated with hazardous materials should be taken home.  This includes lab coats.  If/when they become contaminated with hazardous materials they should be
-	cleaned on site (at the University), or
-	sent out for cleaning by professionals who have been informed of the potential hazards, or
-	disposed of (as hazardous waste if they qualify, see below)
The useful life of a lab coat worn daily, laundered regularly, and taken very good care of can reasonably be expected to be one year or less, depending on the types of chemicals to which it is exposed and the rigors of the daily use.  Anything (including a lab coat) which is so grossly contaminated with hazardous material as to qualify as hazardous waste must be disposed of as such.  (This is a call that might be difficult for you to make; the criteria for identifying a waste as hazardous waste are extremely bizarre.  See "when is a waste a hazardous waste?")  Lab coats (and other items) which are contaminated with biologically hazardous matierals, and which you cannot or do not wish to clean, should go into the biowaste.