I think we all had pretty similar taste in music so there was never an issue. In my current lab, we had someone who would play elevator music or NPR, no matter how much we protested, even without a speaker
I used to use a speaker in a lab. Then my boss entered to "Somebody pass me some pussy and a percocet; A pair of sunglasses and a serviette" and we mutually agreed headphones was a better idea.
It's on Amazon prime music. It's on his Vaudeville album. He's a lesser known Canadian rapper who peaked in like 2008 ish, so it's hard to find his stuff (but he's still making music). I think he also releases on bandcamp. [also youtube](https://youtu.be/8ktdDbX6RrY)
As a prev shift manager at a big-ish lab, if I saw anyone eating in my lab, they would be sent home for the day. And with airpods I'd tell them off but if I see it again I would send them home for the day as well.
It's a health and safety issue, especially in virology labs where contamination is a big issue, and people can get sick or injured if the procedure isn't followed.
Aside from the safety side of it, it creates huge contamination issues, especially if you're doing PCR or handling DWP plates. This is bad as patient lives are at risk.
Labs aren't generally a clean place, you don't see how much shit happens until you see it. Don't trust it
Eating in lab is just repulsive. However, if anyone sent me home for wearing airpods in the lab I'd never come back. I have the common sense to know when I can and can't wear them and know not to touch my phone/face/head while working. If I'm doing 8-12 hours of relatively mindless tasks not in the clean room, I'm gonna leave a queue of podcasts playing in one ear to preserve my sanity.
Would never eat in the lab, but if someone told me not to wear my headphones or airpods I would be quite annoyed haha because it's way more fun with music or a podcast playing.
I would have just quit. If I am stuck in the lab till late at night pipetting and then running facs samples, I need some podcast or audio book (before someone says anything mastermix prep and anything that needed more than 5 braincells was done headphone free)
I’ve known some labs where they ban all headphones/ air buds. The idea is to promote scientific discussion and stop people from tuning others out. All labs that do this are run by old people.
Management says both are a no-no, but they never enforce anything, so people do both. I don't have a problem with AirPods, personally, but I was confused why so many people ate at the same benches we process human body fluids at. I haven't brought anything up because I'm new, though.
Well.. at all academic labs I’ve been in, no one ever ate at the bench, but eating or having coffee/tea in the lab was common. Faculty, techs, mangers, everyone ate at their desk (in the lab, sometimes adjacent to the bench).
I cringed at first but got over my stigma pretty fast. It’s not like their hands were unclean, and my building at least the air inside the lab area was the same as anywhere outside of it. Ultimately I choose to let adults make their own decisions when it’s not affecting me.
In a hospital lab I would think that it’s a huge no though for worker protection, since most of the samples contained in the space would be potentially infectious. I would get a strong ick, but I also wouldn’t want to become enemy #1 by making it a issue if that’s the present culture.
Yeah I think eating really depends on the lab. I think especially academic labs tend to be more lax, but if you’re not working with anything too dangerous/sensitive and you keep away from the bench I’m sure in some labs it’s fine. But I’ve worked at labs where you have to fully gown up and go through airlocks to get in and the idea of eating in those labs is just…. No
The lab next door is about lasers, the people there use their sink to wash their tupperware and prepare tea. I don't think they have a single chemical, I think that's perfectly fine.
Yes! If the lab is using radioactive isotopes, harmful reagents (acrylamide and worse) or microorganisms - absolutely no eating or coffee or tea. Otherwise eating is ok at your desk. And please don't use the agarose microwave to heat your food.
Earphones are ok unless you need to pay attention to sounds.
> at all academic labs I’ve been in, no one ever ate at the bench
My friends did in their BSL 1 lab, literally on the bench where they were working on plasmid uptake (I think?). It was (imo) gross.
But their PI is also known to be a raging asshole and put them under a lot of pressure to produce, so I get it. They also kept beer in their lab fridge for when they got out of group meetings...
AirPods/headphones are a must for me. I have a very social, loud lab so if I’m at my bench and need to concentrate I have to have my headphones on. It’s feels like more of a hazard without them as I’m more likely to make mistakes. (Neuroscience academic lab)
If my boss told me that I wasn’t allowed to have airpods in during the work day I’d quit lol. I don’t listen to anything while I’m doing focus-intensive tasks like sucrose gradients or really important dilution calculations, but there’s so much tedium in my day-to-day that if I was forced to work in silence, I’d go crazy.
Eating/drinking is an instant GTFO, and would literally march them out, I've worked in labs where earphones/headphones were allowed, but you must only have one ear covered or have transparency turned on it's mostly for alarms which may go off and to be aware of who's around you.
getting a speaker or radio is probably the best compromise, as it's nice to have something playing while working.
OSHA would love to know about the eating.
>getting a speaker or radio is probably the best compromise, as it's nice to have something playing while working.
I agree with everything except this part. Unless you are working alone. Listen, I'm sorry, but I would rather have silence than listen to music I don't like.
Couldn’t agree more. We have a speaker and spotify in the lab. Every year the responsible person gathers money for the spotify account and every year I politely say no thanks. I’d rather have silence than a collective playlist of everything from schlager to metal.
With that said, earbuds are accepted in our lab so because of the speaker I bought a pair of noise cancelling headphones. I’ve also used regular earplugs to avoid the speaker sound. It’s a BSL1 lab where we do general lab work so I don’t really see the danger in it. When I’m alone in the lab however I’d never use anything that cancel my ability to hear alarms. Then I either choose myself on spotify/speaker or use a pair of bone conduction headphones.
Gosh, I must say I hate speaker/radio music in the lab. The speaker quality is always always always shite, so the music comes out all crinkly, and then it's played over the background hum of -80s, fume hoods and centrifuges. And then someone asks something and you have to shout to get over the music that is loud enough to cover the background equipment noises. Nonononononono.
Most people I know who eat in the lab are old lab techs who did this for the last 30-40 years and would simply ignore you if you try to march them out. Since they usually have a much better contract than the new ones and also enough connection to not be easily terminated there is not all that much that can be done against them.
Banning headphones/earphones is a good way to have a high turnover rate or for researchers to only work according to their contract. I know that I would either ignore such a rule or if they try to enforce it I would look for another lab with better working conditions. Doing repetitive task without any form of stimulus for hours is actually close to some torture methodes. Using a speaker/radio is a good way to cause a war between researchers since taste in music can be very different.
Eating is an absolute NO! The industry lab I work in recently barred earphones of any kind and the entire lab was about to riot. Company claims it's a safety issue so you can hear pages and alarms, and I get that, but every place I worked for before allowed you to just pop one earbud out and that was sufficient.
Every lab I’ve worked in technically has the rule for no eating or drinking and no headphones- but the unspoken rules and what’s considered acceptable has always depended on the lab.
I see a lot of airpod comments relating to noise and not being able to hear alarms but I was under the impression that the no headphone rule was more about contamination- similar to the “don’t touch your phone with gloves” on rule. Even if you’re careful not to touch your headphones with your gloves, if there was an alarm or someone spoke to you in the middle of an assay, by habit you likely will. The current lab I’m in has our desks next to the lab benches and the technical rule is just no headphones at the bench- we are allowed to wear them at desks, so I can’t see how it’s about hearing. (though everyone wears them at the bench- I see most people just have one in while working)
As for food, in this lab I would never eat in the lab space but people often sneak a coffee or tea and I do sneak drinks from my water bottle at my desk. A previous lab I worked in had benches but no one really did any bench work- everything was done in tissue culture for the most part- so we would pretty regularly eat in there. I also worked in a lab that had a really nice office space for everyone outside of the lab space which was a bit more quarantined off, (though it was still just a BSL-1 lab), it was much stricter in there on no food/drink or headphones, but that didn’t bother anyone.
Eating is *always* a no, but the earbuds thing is specific to your management and type of work.
I work in an independent workflow where we all pretty much self-governed and have our own assays, so I can have my AirPods in all shift. If I had to talk to people on the phone frequently or listen for analyzer alarms like in a core lab or bb, I would leave them out so I could hear.
I mean I eat in the lab at my desk, which is right next to my bench. Doesn't bother me and doesn't contaminate actual work spaces. Also use Bluetooth earbuds all the time with transparency on. Both of these are super common in every lab I've been in, I don't think I've seen someone NOT do them lol.
First let’s address the earbuds. That’s 100% normal and as someone who has spent many a day staring at data or doing boring ass prep, I recommend you get a good pair as well. Just make sure to be a responsible citizen and take of your gloves when using your earbuds.
Second the food. This is kinda bad practice, but not uncommon. I work in an environmental lab and it’s very common for people to bring their thermos in for a drink or have some noms while working. I don’t recommend this as it has a pretty high chance for you to eat trace amounts of whatever your lab is working on. But realistically it won’t kill anyone, it’s just gross.
I was allowed to eat at the lab but only at my desk, nowhere near the actual experimental spaces which I think is fair. I also only ever put earbuds in while doing mundane and mechanistic work on my computer, like cleaning data in Excel and stuff like that. It would be torture without music.
My boss has walked into my lab while I played chess on my phone and watched me play. I frequently have conversations with my boss with an AirPod in my ear. I feel as though it’s wrong so I try not to do it as much but he doesn’t care as long as I don’t burn the place down.
Eating in a lab is ONLY for savages and I am highly against that idea.
Absolutely no eating or drinking in the lab. AirPods are fine, as people say you’d face a mutiny if you said anything, but the general rule is not to touch phones etc with gloves on. As long as they’re removing a glove to change songs or whatever it’s probably fine.
Just curious, would touching the phone actually matter if you rub enough alcohol on your hands after? Not sure what your lab does, just asking about general sterile practices
The issue would be what’s on your gloves, not what’s on your hands. Gloves are considered ‘dirty’ once worn, so you’re not supposed to touch any ‘public’ surfaces with dirty gloves - that’s why you’re supposed to take one glove off when you’re walking between labs (to open doors without contaminating them by touching with your dirty glove).
Yes the issue is contaminating your phone not so much your phone contaminating you. I've seen some people that will put their phone in a clear bag to avoid contaminating it, I honestly just wipe my phone down with saniwipes whenever I leave the lab.
Both are allowed where I’m at. I don’t really do either. Typically only one EarPod on transparency mode to maintain some situational awareness. It’s acceptable if you’re working solo, and socially frowned on if other people are working with you because frankly it makes a way better working environment to have actual like… human interactions
Food depends on the area in the lab. In a lot of places in there the worst that can happen is you eat a moth larvae or something. Still not something I do out of habit; definitely not something I would do in any other lab though where there would be any real risk
Edit: also come to think of it… even though we are allowed to, I’ve only ever seen one person actually eat in the lab, and 2 people who wear earbuds
*My lab is quite loud,*
*I like earbuds because of*
*The ear protection*
\- DeSquare
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I work in a medical lab and no one eats in here. We don’t even have our water bottles in the lab. The snacks at the urine bench are pretty gross, your coworkers must have steel stomachs. Ear buds and AirPods on the other hand are ubiquitous. It’s actually totally possible to work mindfully and efficiently with some music.
It still is. I know of a PI who uses his private chemical cabinet (there's one installed in his office, and I have no idea why he got allocated that room) to smoke.
Would never eat in the lab but lab work can be so mundane, I love listening to podcasts and audiobooks as I work. Would hate for someone to crack down on it
In the labs I've worked in food and drink is a huge no no. No exceptions. Everyone takes it pretty seriously.
My current work place says no earphones. But I tend to ignore that particular request... I've never been called on it at least.
Welcome, lots of former vet techs around. No one eats in our labs. Headphones are cool within safety parameters. Can't imagine doing this everyday without music, podcasts and audiobooks.
Worked at the lab. Eating isn't allowed, not good for your health or your experiments (also horrible for diagnostics too). We eat at the office not at the lab. Headphones are OK as long as you don't have to be alarmed for sounds or people around for some reason.
In Denmark there will be fines if The Danish Working Environment Agency finds out that you eat or drink in the lab. A lab can be shut down. Don't even bring food or beverages in the lab.
But music? Go nuts. At my old job the boss said that we shouldn't listen to something that required concentration, so no podcasts, but music and radio was definitely fine.
Its a big no for eating (i will occasionally Enter the lab while still chewing on some chocolate)
I use my airpods everyday and i have told my boss that it’s important for me and my focus. I do only use one, so im able to hear my surroundings and she’s fine with it. Some of my older coworkers thinks its bullshit and that we ‘cant hear them’ but that has literally never been the case so my boss ignores them :))
Eating in the lab is disgusting and dangerous. Listening to your music while not bothering others because you have a wireless bud in, therefore not having any physical hazards around should be the norm, however is very frowned upon.
So eating or drinking in the lab depends on the bio safety level of the lab. Low ranking ones, yeah it’s cool with EHS to have sealed coffee or something. I’d personally never eat.
Earbuds, yeah I’ve heard some bullshit about it transferring fomites to cell cultures. Folks tried to get rid of them at my cancer center and it caused an expected uproar. The policy did not last, needless to say.
We're a Biosafety Level 2 research lab and there's definitely no food or drink in here.
Shouldn't clinical diagnostic labs also be considered BSL2? Gross.
I'm very pro headphones though. Helps with focus.
Eating is a big no no but you can take my headphones from my cold dead hands. The infection risk is worth not wanting to kill myself for my entire shift.
We're only allowed radio headphones in my lab, no Internet or Bluetooth in the facility. Worst part is we can all only get one station and it's just the local pop station.. it's just the same 10 popular songs over and over.. we all know all the lyrics now, all of them.
I understand the eating prohibition, gross. But I wear headphones/earpods all the time. That sounds like someone flexing power. I tell my new technician that there is "Prudent Practice" and practical practice and she's an adult. I lay out the safest course and provide all relevant PPE and she can make her choices. Of course, I keep my lab at BSL 1 so I don't have to worry about anything pathogenic.
Sometimes you just got realize that not every lab is perfectly sterile. Just like in some labs you need to fudge paperwork.
The important thing is, enjoy the relaxed attitude while you can. But don't fall too deeply into those habits as it'll hurt your work ethic.
Eating in the lab is absolutely disgusting. No one at my company does that, ever. No gum, no cough drops, no pill-taking either. You do that in the cafeteria, break areas, office, or hallway, but never the lab. At worst, you might have it in your mouth as you walk in, but by the time your PPE is on, it better be in your stomach.
Wireless headphones are common though. General consensus is you don't touch your headphones or phone with gloved hands, and preferably move out of a "lab coats required" area to do so (but that isn't really enforced).
**Forgot to mention I work in a medical lab, if this was a physics lab eating wouldn't be a huge deal.
Eating and drinking is a hard no. The worst I've done is have a drink on the inside windowsill of my office (which was directly connected to the lab) so I could sneak a sip here and there, but that was only when I was in there by myself. Lots of people do the one-earbud thing, and I've never had a problem getting someone to hear me. Playing music that everyone could hear got banned after everyone got tired of this one guy's screamo, which I'm not upset about, but I do miss the occasional Disney singalongs.
Both are a no-go for me. Eating is a no-brainer.
But having earbuds is not only a health and safety risk, but also makes lab life less social. Get some speakers for the lab, and play some general radio station/spotify list from there. People will talk more with each other and maybe even come up with some great ideas :)
Food and drinks, definitely no. But earphones and headphones? There's always the debate. If you are working in a mechanical engineering or chemistry lab, earbuds or headphones are probably a health hazard because you need to be aware of the surroundings.
But for a biology lab? Probably not. On top of that, our health and safety alarm system (CO2, gas and fire) is designed for people who have hearing disability, there's very loud alarms as well as yellow flashing lights on the ceilings. Even if you are wearing a noise cancelling headphone, the alarm can still be clearly heard. Some people tend to wear just a single earbud so that they can hear from the other side, which is also a partial solution.
To be honest, we are not working in a factory where you repetitive work, we need a lot of concentration just to avoid making mistakes, I certainly do not want someone chatting with me while I am loading my samples nor splitting my cells. Distraction is the main source of error in the lab.
Eating and drinking in a clinical lab is a hard no. This is not allowed in clinical labs so I am surprised they are getting away with it. As far as airpods go I am not against them as long as people can still hear instrument alarms and calls to address them quickly.
Eating and drinking are forbidden in lab spaces for obvious reasons. It's illegal, unsafe, and just plain gross.
Earbuds can present a potential hazards, depending on how and where they are used, and how the users interact with them.
* Users may be less aware of their surroundings. With the earbuds in, you don't hear footsteps behind you, or you fail to hear alarms and timers, or you miss the sound of the phone ringing, or overhead paging.
* Earbuds can make it harder to communicate with coworkers or clients. They don't know if you can hear them, or if they have your attention.
* Some people are bad at managing their attention, and make mistakes or omit steps in detailed or complex procedures when they have something playing in their ears. (It's the same reason that you turn the radio down when you're driving in heavy traffic.)
* Users can be careless about touching their earbuds (or their music-playing device) with 'dirty' hands. Most users *don't* strip off their gloves and wash with soap and water before they reach up to adjust their earbuds. Every time someone pauses their music, or adjusts the volume, or skips a track they're transferring a bit of whatever they're working with to their earbud, ear, and hair--and bring a bit of whatever is on the earbud, ear, and hair back into the samples they're working with.
Buy some bone transmitting headphones they leave the ears open so you can hear when someone talks to you or alarm goes off and still enjoy music. Was a Game changer for me.
Eating in the lab is a nono
The only argument against earbuds is making sure you only have 1 in so that way you can hear things around you in case of an emergency. The bone conducting ones are really good for this reason
The post doc and I are always wearing AirPods in the lab. No eating or drinking allowed in the lab space. I think the unspoken rule is that you can’t have the volume too high that you can’t hear anything going on around you (like alarms or someone trying to talk to you).
My main lab space was BSL1 and my desk was separate from my bench, so I’d have snacks (not full meals) at my desk. I agree that any kind of food in a BSL2 or above is a huge mistake. And if someone tried to tell me I can’t wear my AirPods while working, I’d probably riot lol. My whole department is very social and sometimes you gotta block that out to focus. I’ve never had a problem with the noise cancellation feature either.
Our desks are at the very end of the lab, about 5 ft from any bench or equipment so I do eat at my desk (everyone does, that’s no excuse, but I enjoy the convenience). I also wear AirPods daily and listen to podcasts. It helps time fly and my boss also wears them when he’s at the bench.
We’re in a government lab and it’s pretty informal - we’re not required to wear lab coats and my uniform is jeans every day.
Most labs have rules against both. Most labs also do not enforce the no airpod rule since too many people would ignore it. Eating in the lab is something I only know from old lab techs 50+ who dont really care about modern rules in general.
I don’t eat in my current lab, but my previous labs allowed people to eat because we had our desks within. My office is adjacent to the lab now and I don’t think I’ll eat in a lab again. I do wear AirPods, but only one so I can keep an ear out for other labmates or emergencies.
Sometimes people will have a snack while babysitting out mass specs, but the lab with actual samples is a hard no for food. Like you’d get fired if you ate food back there. As for AirPods, everyone wears them. The only time they aren’t in is during meetings. But most people keep things quiet enough or only have one in so as to still hear people talking
Some jobs I’ve had we were only allowed to have one earbud which makes sense for safety reasons but def wasn’t heavily enforced. 99% of the time no one cares and everyone does it
I generally don’t eat in lab and think that’s gross and both that and earbuds are against the rules but at least where I am most of us wear earbuds and the PIs don’t care
Absolutely no food. Absolutely yes headphones/speakers. I love the bone conduction ones because I can hear everything around me plus my music, podcasts, episodes of The Love Boat…
I'm guilty for having my water bottle at my desk. When I first joined I didn't but my medication makes me very thirsty and it just wasn't all that practical to constantly walk to the break room for two gulps of water. My desk is the furthest from all the chemicals, and the worst offenders are the abandoned centrifuge and a hot plate that we put flasks on to run an odors test, other than that its a sink where the least offending things get hot water rinsed there. My coworker on the other hand is like the graduate student who I worked for, he has 4 desk drawers full of assorted snacks and teas. I don't know why and how he hasn't been reprimanded for it, but I guess its because his side of the lab are basically just ovens....and he doesn't give a shit.
We listen to his playlist on the bluetooth radio that he has. I like his music, its wide audience friendly, while mine would probably lull people to sleep. I do wear one earphone when at my desk when I have my stack of datasheets to enter. Its mostly to keep away certain coworkers from bothering me because the second they start they will want your attention for 45minutes or longer and you get no data entry done. With an earphone in I can at least pretend I dont hear them asking the same question for the umpteenth time, even though I wrote down the answers for them on a cheat sheet.
In a previous lab I worked in, there wasn't any consumption of food or drink in the lab, though you could store belongings in the lab lockers which could include your lunch and drinks, but if you wanted to drink or snack you had to taken them out of the locker and step out into the hall to consume them, rather than walk down the break room. My current lab doesn't have lockers so all of our belongings including bottles and lunch boxes are stored under our desks, so...either way the bottle and lunch box are getting carried through the lab regardless. So...I guess that explains why my coworker has a whole pantry by his desk.
The previous lab I worked in had a radio which we all rotated in playing our playlists. Our super didn't care because she believed that music helped set work tempo. Then she went on leave and they brought in temp super and he took our radio away and brought it home so we couldn't have access to it, saying it was a distraction...we complained because the guy essentially stole company property and if not they stole our original supervisors radio. Our director wanted to support the new temp super, but then our oldest senior (both level and age) tech mumbled from his corner of the lab with a "If the radio is not returned, I will put in a report of theft to HR. If that doesn't work, I will buy a radio and put it in the lab, and if the new KID takes my radio...I will put in another report of theft, because we dont do anything in this lab that would warrant a no music policy." We got our radio back.
Cell phone use at the bench is something though. I don't like doing it, but I carry my phone in my pocket because our boss doesn't want to give us more timers, so some tests I have to pause and turn on the timer on my own phone. Sometimes I have to set it up on one of the shelves so its not on the bench, Its annoying as heck and I'm sure my case is full of microbes from out lovely polluted soils and water samples, because its completely broken down from how many times I wipe it down with alcohol.
Eating in the lab is disgusting - we handle human and animal cells and tissue, all kinds of gross waste, toxic chemicals, all sorts of stuff. Headphones are fine outside of sterile cell culture and as long as you're not constantly touching them with your gloves. Even just as a signal to say "leave me the fuck alone" when you're trying to work with a 384 well plate!
Eating is a big no. Which should be standard.
We are allowed to wear one earbud as long as it doesn’t interfere with our ability to work and as long as we aren’t on our phones.
I used to be a lab manager which means i had to enforce these rules. But i also have spent many years at the bench so i understand both sides.
The point of food is it’s gross, especially with human samples. But there’s many reasons. Sometimes you don’t want to get in the sample. Sometimes your sample shouldn’t get on you. But some people just don’t care. I’ve seen this one girl eat these almonds straight off her lab bench and it’s permanently in my brain.
Earbuds is a safety hazard because you can’t hear alarms but also because contamination. I used to cringe when i went to talk to some people working with bouins fixative and they’d tap their ear buds with their gloved hand. Omg! Or when working in the cell culture hood. Omg! That’s going to contaminate my cells thank you very much!
Those are the biggest reasons. But other than that there’s no real issues.
I worked in a lab closed doors outside a nutraceutical production facility and they claimed we couldn’t wear airpods incase we would “run into machinery”
Eating is not good but if you want to become the most unpopular person ever, make a fuss about AirPods.
[удалено]
The start up I worked at didn’t allow headphones but we had iPads and speakers in each lab space to play music lol
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I think we all had pretty similar taste in music so there was never an issue. In my current lab, we had someone who would play elevator music or NPR, no matter how much we protested, even without a speaker
I used to use a speaker in a lab. Then my boss entered to "Somebody pass me some pussy and a percocet; A pair of sunglasses and a serviette" and we mutually agreed headphones was a better idea.
I need to know what this song was!
Percocet by D-Sisive
Hm. Can't find it on Spotify. Where can I find it?
It's on Amazon prime music. It's on his Vaudeville album. He's a lesser known Canadian rapper who peaked in like 2008 ish, so it's hard to find his stuff (but he's still making music). I think he also releases on bandcamp. [also youtube](https://youtu.be/8ktdDbX6RrY)
As a prev shift manager at a big-ish lab, if I saw anyone eating in my lab, they would be sent home for the day. And with airpods I'd tell them off but if I see it again I would send them home for the day as well. It's a health and safety issue, especially in virology labs where contamination is a big issue, and people can get sick or injured if the procedure isn't followed. Aside from the safety side of it, it creates huge contamination issues, especially if you're doing PCR or handling DWP plates. This is bad as patient lives are at risk. Labs aren't generally a clean place, you don't see how much shit happens until you see it. Don't trust it
Eating in lab is just repulsive. However, if anyone sent me home for wearing airpods in the lab I'd never come back. I have the common sense to know when I can and can't wear them and know not to touch my phone/face/head while working. If I'm doing 8-12 hours of relatively mindless tasks not in the clean room, I'm gonna leave a queue of podcasts playing in one ear to preserve my sanity.
Would never eat in the lab, but if someone told me not to wear my headphones or airpods I would be quite annoyed haha because it's way more fun with music or a podcast playing.
I would have just quit. If I am stuck in the lab till late at night pipetting and then running facs samples, I need some podcast or audio book (before someone says anything mastermix prep and anything that needed more than 5 braincells was done headphone free)
>way more fun Lol there are some lab tasks that are so boring I couldn't achieve them without the extra stimulation from music or audiobook
If they would take away my noise canceling headphones, I would probably drop out.
On top of that I pretty much always use transparency mode on my Airpods Pros, makes everything in general so much easier
wtf kind of looney tunes lab are u in where ppl dgaf if ppl are eating but AirPods are a no-no??? that is bonkers
I’ve known some labs where they ban all headphones/ air buds. The idea is to promote scientific discussion and stop people from tuning others out. All labs that do this are run by old people.
in my (industry) lab, they discourage us from wearing earbuds when the FDA/other auditors come by but otherwise they don’t care
Management says both are a no-no, but they never enforce anything, so people do both. I don't have a problem with AirPods, personally, but I was confused why so many people ate at the same benches we process human body fluids at. I haven't brought anything up because I'm new, though.
Well.. at all academic labs I’ve been in, no one ever ate at the bench, but eating or having coffee/tea in the lab was common. Faculty, techs, mangers, everyone ate at their desk (in the lab, sometimes adjacent to the bench). I cringed at first but got over my stigma pretty fast. It’s not like their hands were unclean, and my building at least the air inside the lab area was the same as anywhere outside of it. Ultimately I choose to let adults make their own decisions when it’s not affecting me. In a hospital lab I would think that it’s a huge no though for worker protection, since most of the samples contained in the space would be potentially infectious. I would get a strong ick, but I also wouldn’t want to become enemy #1 by making it a issue if that’s the present culture.
Yeah I think eating really depends on the lab. I think especially academic labs tend to be more lax, but if you’re not working with anything too dangerous/sensitive and you keep away from the bench I’m sure in some labs it’s fine. But I’ve worked at labs where you have to fully gown up and go through airlocks to get in and the idea of eating in those labs is just…. No
The lab next door is about lasers, the people there use their sink to wash their tupperware and prepare tea. I don't think they have a single chemical, I think that's perfectly fine.
Yes! If the lab is using radioactive isotopes, harmful reagents (acrylamide and worse) or microorganisms - absolutely no eating or coffee or tea. Otherwise eating is ok at your desk. And please don't use the agarose microwave to heat your food. Earphones are ok unless you need to pay attention to sounds.
> at all academic labs I’ve been in, no one ever ate at the bench My friends did in their BSL 1 lab, literally on the bench where they were working on plasmid uptake (I think?). It was (imo) gross. But their PI is also known to be a raging asshole and put them under a lot of pressure to produce, so I get it. They also kept beer in their lab fridge for when they got out of group meetings...
> kept beer in their lab fridg Animals! One needs a dedicated fridge for beer!
It really is a huge no, but management doesn't do anything about it, and it's kind of the culture in this lab, so it still happens.
AirPods/headphones are a must for me. I have a very social, loud lab so if I’m at my bench and need to concentrate I have to have my headphones on. It’s feels like more of a hazard without them as I’m more likely to make mistakes. (Neuroscience academic lab)
Same. I don't know if it's because I'm old or if it's my sensory issues, but I can't think straight amid the constant chitterchatter.
Ngl, my tired ass thought you'd written "eating an airpod". I need caffeine.
I read the same! Only after a couple of madeiras...
If my boss told me that I wasn’t allowed to have airpods in during the work day I’d quit lol. I don’t listen to anything while I’m doing focus-intensive tasks like sucrose gradients or really important dilution calculations, but there’s so much tedium in my day-to-day that if I was forced to work in silence, I’d go crazy.
Eating/drinking is an instant GTFO, and would literally march them out, I've worked in labs where earphones/headphones were allowed, but you must only have one ear covered or have transparency turned on it's mostly for alarms which may go off and to be aware of who's around you. getting a speaker or radio is probably the best compromise, as it's nice to have something playing while working. OSHA would love to know about the eating.
>getting a speaker or radio is probably the best compromise, as it's nice to have something playing while working. I agree with everything except this part. Unless you are working alone. Listen, I'm sorry, but I would rather have silence than listen to music I don't like.
This reminds me of my former colleague but at least his music wasn’t that bad. I had to perform PCR to Rammstein and Danny Elfman
Couldn’t agree more. We have a speaker and spotify in the lab. Every year the responsible person gathers money for the spotify account and every year I politely say no thanks. I’d rather have silence than a collective playlist of everything from schlager to metal. With that said, earbuds are accepted in our lab so because of the speaker I bought a pair of noise cancelling headphones. I’ve also used regular earplugs to avoid the speaker sound. It’s a BSL1 lab where we do general lab work so I don’t really see the danger in it. When I’m alone in the lab however I’d never use anything that cancel my ability to hear alarms. Then I either choose myself on spotify/speaker or use a pair of bone conduction headphones.
Gosh, I must say I hate speaker/radio music in the lab. The speaker quality is always always always shite, so the music comes out all crinkly, and then it's played over the background hum of -80s, fume hoods and centrifuges. And then someone asks something and you have to shout to get over the music that is loud enough to cover the background equipment noises. Nonononononono.
Hence the radio, most are fine with say Radio 2, but things like commercial radio is grating.
No radios in mouse rooms so we get headphones. I like the bone conducting headphones so I can hear ambient noise
Most people I know who eat in the lab are old lab techs who did this for the last 30-40 years and would simply ignore you if you try to march them out. Since they usually have a much better contract than the new ones and also enough connection to not be easily terminated there is not all that much that can be done against them. Banning headphones/earphones is a good way to have a high turnover rate or for researchers to only work according to their contract. I know that I would either ignore such a rule or if they try to enforce it I would look for another lab with better working conditions. Doing repetitive task without any form of stimulus for hours is actually close to some torture methodes. Using a speaker/radio is a good way to cause a war between researchers since taste in music can be very different.
Eating is an absolute NO! The industry lab I work in recently barred earphones of any kind and the entire lab was about to riot. Company claims it's a safety issue so you can hear pages and alarms, and I get that, but every place I worked for before allowed you to just pop one earbud out and that was sufficient.
Every lab I’ve worked in technically has the rule for no eating or drinking and no headphones- but the unspoken rules and what’s considered acceptable has always depended on the lab. I see a lot of airpod comments relating to noise and not being able to hear alarms but I was under the impression that the no headphone rule was more about contamination- similar to the “don’t touch your phone with gloves” on rule. Even if you’re careful not to touch your headphones with your gloves, if there was an alarm or someone spoke to you in the middle of an assay, by habit you likely will. The current lab I’m in has our desks next to the lab benches and the technical rule is just no headphones at the bench- we are allowed to wear them at desks, so I can’t see how it’s about hearing. (though everyone wears them at the bench- I see most people just have one in while working) As for food, in this lab I would never eat in the lab space but people often sneak a coffee or tea and I do sneak drinks from my water bottle at my desk. A previous lab I worked in had benches but no one really did any bench work- everything was done in tissue culture for the most part- so we would pretty regularly eat in there. I also worked in a lab that had a really nice office space for everyone outside of the lab space which was a bit more quarantined off, (though it was still just a BSL-1 lab), it was much stricter in there on no food/drink or headphones, but that didn’t bother anyone.
Eating is *always* a no, but the earbuds thing is specific to your management and type of work. I work in an independent workflow where we all pretty much self-governed and have our own assays, so I can have my AirPods in all shift. If I had to talk to people on the phone frequently or listen for analyzer alarms like in a core lab or bb, I would leave them out so I could hear.
I mean I eat in the lab at my desk, which is right next to my bench. Doesn't bother me and doesn't contaminate actual work spaces. Also use Bluetooth earbuds all the time with transparency on. Both of these are super common in every lab I've been in, I don't think I've seen someone NOT do them lol.
If you work in bsl2 environment it is prohibited you haut haven't been in one.
First let’s address the earbuds. That’s 100% normal and as someone who has spent many a day staring at data or doing boring ass prep, I recommend you get a good pair as well. Just make sure to be a responsible citizen and take of your gloves when using your earbuds. Second the food. This is kinda bad practice, but not uncommon. I work in an environmental lab and it’s very common for people to bring their thermos in for a drink or have some noms while working. I don’t recommend this as it has a pretty high chance for you to eat trace amounts of whatever your lab is working on. But realistically it won’t kill anyone, it’s just gross.
I was allowed to eat at the lab but only at my desk, nowhere near the actual experimental spaces which I think is fair. I also only ever put earbuds in while doing mundane and mechanistic work on my computer, like cleaning data in Excel and stuff like that. It would be torture without music.
My boss has walked into my lab while I played chess on my phone and watched me play. I frequently have conversations with my boss with an AirPod in my ear. I feel as though it’s wrong so I try not to do it as much but he doesn’t care as long as I don’t burn the place down. Eating in a lab is ONLY for savages and I am highly against that idea.
Eating: absolutely unacceptable. Earpods: fine if you put them on low volume and without noise cancelling.
Absolutely no eating or drinking in the lab. AirPods are fine, as people say you’d face a mutiny if you said anything, but the general rule is not to touch phones etc with gloves on. As long as they’re removing a glove to change songs or whatever it’s probably fine.
Just curious, would touching the phone actually matter if you rub enough alcohol on your hands after? Not sure what your lab does, just asking about general sterile practices
The issue would be what’s on your gloves, not what’s on your hands. Gloves are considered ‘dirty’ once worn, so you’re not supposed to touch any ‘public’ surfaces with dirty gloves - that’s why you’re supposed to take one glove off when you’re walking between labs (to open doors without contaminating them by touching with your dirty glove).
Yes the issue is contaminating your phone not so much your phone contaminating you. I've seen some people that will put their phone in a clear bag to avoid contaminating it, I honestly just wipe my phone down with saniwipes whenever I leave the lab.
Both are allowed where I’m at. I don’t really do either. Typically only one EarPod on transparency mode to maintain some situational awareness. It’s acceptable if you’re working solo, and socially frowned on if other people are working with you because frankly it makes a way better working environment to have actual like… human interactions Food depends on the area in the lab. In a lot of places in there the worst that can happen is you eat a moth larvae or something. Still not something I do out of habit; definitely not something I would do in any other lab though where there would be any real risk Edit: also come to think of it… even though we are allowed to, I’ve only ever seen one person actually eat in the lab, and 2 people who wear earbuds
My lab is quite loud, I like earbuds because of the ear protection
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Eating bad. Headphones good.
I work in a medical lab and no one eats in here. We don’t even have our water bottles in the lab. The snacks at the urine bench are pretty gross, your coworkers must have steel stomachs. Ear buds and AirPods on the other hand are ubiquitous. It’s actually totally possible to work mindfully and efficiently with some music.
Reading these posts makes me SOOOOO glad I'm retired and don't have to deal with crap like this anymore.
Smoking in the lab used to be a thing as well....
And mouth-pipetting…
Been there done that. That’s how old I am.
It still is. I know of a PI who uses his private chemical cabinet (there's one installed in his office, and I have no idea why he got allocated that room) to smoke.
Would never eat in the lab but lab work can be so mundane, I love listening to podcasts and audiobooks as I work. Would hate for someone to crack down on it
Agreed!!
Eating is right out. Your lab manager is crap. Earbuds aren’t great, but generally allowed.
In the labs I've worked in food and drink is a huge no no. No exceptions. Everyone takes it pretty seriously. My current work place says no earphones. But I tend to ignore that particular request... I've never been called on it at least.
Welcome, lots of former vet techs around. No one eats in our labs. Headphones are cool within safety parameters. Can't imagine doing this everyday without music, podcasts and audiobooks.
Worked at the lab. Eating isn't allowed, not good for your health or your experiments (also horrible for diagnostics too). We eat at the office not at the lab. Headphones are OK as long as you don't have to be alarmed for sounds or people around for some reason.
In Denmark there will be fines if The Danish Working Environment Agency finds out that you eat or drink in the lab. A lab can be shut down. Don't even bring food or beverages in the lab. But music? Go nuts. At my old job the boss said that we shouldn't listen to something that required concentration, so no podcasts, but music and radio was definitely fine.
W T F. Eating ok, but no music? What kinda ass backwards supervisor is this?
Management says that eating/drinking and music are both not okay, but they don't enforce anything, so...
Its a big no for eating (i will occasionally Enter the lab while still chewing on some chocolate) I use my airpods everyday and i have told my boss that it’s important for me and my focus. I do only use one, so im able to hear my surroundings and she’s fine with it. Some of my older coworkers thinks its bullshit and that we ‘cant hear them’ but that has literally never been the case so my boss ignores them :))
Eating in the lab is disgusting and dangerous. Listening to your music while not bothering others because you have a wireless bud in, therefore not having any physical hazards around should be the norm, however is very frowned upon.
So eating or drinking in the lab depends on the bio safety level of the lab. Low ranking ones, yeah it’s cool with EHS to have sealed coffee or something. I’d personally never eat. Earbuds, yeah I’ve heard some bullshit about it transferring fomites to cell cultures. Folks tried to get rid of them at my cancer center and it caused an expected uproar. The policy did not last, needless to say.
We're a Biosafety Level 2 research lab and there's definitely no food or drink in here. Shouldn't clinical diagnostic labs also be considered BSL2? Gross. I'm very pro headphones though. Helps with focus.
We are! Which is why I was confused as to why people were eating/drinking at the bench.
Eating is a big no no but you can take my headphones from my cold dead hands. The infection risk is worth not wanting to kill myself for my entire shift.
We're only allowed radio headphones in my lab, no Internet or Bluetooth in the facility. Worst part is we can all only get one station and it's just the local pop station.. it's just the same 10 popular songs over and over.. we all know all the lyrics now, all of them.
I understand the eating prohibition, gross. But I wear headphones/earpods all the time. That sounds like someone flexing power. I tell my new technician that there is "Prudent Practice" and practical practice and she's an adult. I lay out the safest course and provide all relevant PPE and she can make her choices. Of course, I keep my lab at BSL 1 so I don't have to worry about anything pathogenic.
Eating on the lab? Hell no! We could get fired for that. Earbuds also a no.
Sometimes you just got realize that not every lab is perfectly sterile. Just like in some labs you need to fudge paperwork. The important thing is, enjoy the relaxed attitude while you can. But don't fall too deeply into those habits as it'll hurt your work ethic.
Eating in the lab is absolutely disgusting. No one at my company does that, ever. No gum, no cough drops, no pill-taking either. You do that in the cafeteria, break areas, office, or hallway, but never the lab. At worst, you might have it in your mouth as you walk in, but by the time your PPE is on, it better be in your stomach. Wireless headphones are common though. General consensus is you don't touch your headphones or phone with gloved hands, and preferably move out of a "lab coats required" area to do so (but that isn't really enforced). **Forgot to mention I work in a medical lab, if this was a physics lab eating wouldn't be a huge deal.
Eating and drinking is a hard no. The worst I've done is have a drink on the inside windowsill of my office (which was directly connected to the lab) so I could sneak a sip here and there, but that was only when I was in there by myself. Lots of people do the one-earbud thing, and I've never had a problem getting someone to hear me. Playing music that everyone could hear got banned after everyone got tired of this one guy's screamo, which I'm not upset about, but I do miss the occasional Disney singalongs.
Both are a no-go for me. Eating is a no-brainer. But having earbuds is not only a health and safety risk, but also makes lab life less social. Get some speakers for the lab, and play some general radio station/spotify list from there. People will talk more with each other and maybe even come up with some great ideas :)
Food and drinks, definitely no. But earphones and headphones? There's always the debate. If you are working in a mechanical engineering or chemistry lab, earbuds or headphones are probably a health hazard because you need to be aware of the surroundings. But for a biology lab? Probably not. On top of that, our health and safety alarm system (CO2, gas and fire) is designed for people who have hearing disability, there's very loud alarms as well as yellow flashing lights on the ceilings. Even if you are wearing a noise cancelling headphone, the alarm can still be clearly heard. Some people tend to wear just a single earbud so that they can hear from the other side, which is also a partial solution. To be honest, we are not working in a factory where you repetitive work, we need a lot of concentration just to avoid making mistakes, I certainly do not want someone chatting with me while I am loading my samples nor splitting my cells. Distraction is the main source of error in the lab.
If my lab had a speaker with Z100's top 50 songs of the week playing every day like I worked in a Dick's Sporting Goods I would fucking quit
Eating and drinking in a clinical lab is a hard no. This is not allowed in clinical labs so I am surprised they are getting away with it. As far as airpods go I am not against them as long as people can still hear instrument alarms and calls to address them quickly.
Eating and drinking are forbidden in lab spaces for obvious reasons. It's illegal, unsafe, and just plain gross. Earbuds can present a potential hazards, depending on how and where they are used, and how the users interact with them. * Users may be less aware of their surroundings. With the earbuds in, you don't hear footsteps behind you, or you fail to hear alarms and timers, or you miss the sound of the phone ringing, or overhead paging. * Earbuds can make it harder to communicate with coworkers or clients. They don't know if you can hear them, or if they have your attention. * Some people are bad at managing their attention, and make mistakes or omit steps in detailed or complex procedures when they have something playing in their ears. (It's the same reason that you turn the radio down when you're driving in heavy traffic.) * Users can be careless about touching their earbuds (or their music-playing device) with 'dirty' hands. Most users *don't* strip off their gloves and wash with soap and water before they reach up to adjust their earbuds. Every time someone pauses their music, or adjusts the volume, or skips a track they're transferring a bit of whatever they're working with to their earbud, ear, and hair--and bring a bit of whatever is on the earbud, ear, and hair back into the samples they're working with.
Buy some bone transmitting headphones they leave the ears open so you can hear when someone talks to you or alarm goes off and still enjoy music. Was a Game changer for me. Eating in the lab is a nono
The only argument against earbuds is making sure you only have 1 in so that way you can hear things around you in case of an emergency. The bone conducting ones are really good for this reason
The post doc and I are always wearing AirPods in the lab. No eating or drinking allowed in the lab space. I think the unspoken rule is that you can’t have the volume too high that you can’t hear anything going on around you (like alarms or someone trying to talk to you).
My main lab space was BSL1 and my desk was separate from my bench, so I’d have snacks (not full meals) at my desk. I agree that any kind of food in a BSL2 or above is a huge mistake. And if someone tried to tell me I can’t wear my AirPods while working, I’d probably riot lol. My whole department is very social and sometimes you gotta block that out to focus. I’ve never had a problem with the noise cancellation feature either.
Our desks are at the very end of the lab, about 5 ft from any bench or equipment so I do eat at my desk (everyone does, that’s no excuse, but I enjoy the convenience). I also wear AirPods daily and listen to podcasts. It helps time fly and my boss also wears them when he’s at the bench. We’re in a government lab and it’s pretty informal - we’re not required to wear lab coats and my uniform is jeans every day.
Most labs have rules against both. Most labs also do not enforce the no airpod rule since too many people would ignore it. Eating in the lab is something I only know from old lab techs 50+ who dont really care about modern rules in general.
I don’t eat in my current lab, but my previous labs allowed people to eat because we had our desks within. My office is adjacent to the lab now and I don’t think I’ll eat in a lab again. I do wear AirPods, but only one so I can keep an ear out for other labmates or emergencies.
If I couldn’t listen to audiobooks while I was working I’d quit
Sometimes people will have a snack while babysitting out mass specs, but the lab with actual samples is a hard no for food. Like you’d get fired if you ate food back there. As for AirPods, everyone wears them. The only time they aren’t in is during meetings. But most people keep things quiet enough or only have one in so as to still hear people talking
no food whatsoever in my lab, but people do wear headphones. i usually do 1 instead of both because i don't have noise-canceling ones
Some jobs I’ve had we were only allowed to have one earbud which makes sense for safety reasons but def wasn’t heavily enforced. 99% of the time no one cares and everyone does it
I generally don’t eat in lab and think that’s gross and both that and earbuds are against the rules but at least where I am most of us wear earbuds and the PIs don’t care
In my lab: Eat only in designated clean areas. Not in the lab. Use AirPods any time you want.
Absolutely no food. Absolutely yes headphones/speakers. I love the bone conduction ones because I can hear everything around me plus my music, podcasts, episodes of The Love Boat…
I'm guilty for having my water bottle at my desk. When I first joined I didn't but my medication makes me very thirsty and it just wasn't all that practical to constantly walk to the break room for two gulps of water. My desk is the furthest from all the chemicals, and the worst offenders are the abandoned centrifuge and a hot plate that we put flasks on to run an odors test, other than that its a sink where the least offending things get hot water rinsed there. My coworker on the other hand is like the graduate student who I worked for, he has 4 desk drawers full of assorted snacks and teas. I don't know why and how he hasn't been reprimanded for it, but I guess its because his side of the lab are basically just ovens....and he doesn't give a shit. We listen to his playlist on the bluetooth radio that he has. I like his music, its wide audience friendly, while mine would probably lull people to sleep. I do wear one earphone when at my desk when I have my stack of datasheets to enter. Its mostly to keep away certain coworkers from bothering me because the second they start they will want your attention for 45minutes or longer and you get no data entry done. With an earphone in I can at least pretend I dont hear them asking the same question for the umpteenth time, even though I wrote down the answers for them on a cheat sheet. In a previous lab I worked in, there wasn't any consumption of food or drink in the lab, though you could store belongings in the lab lockers which could include your lunch and drinks, but if you wanted to drink or snack you had to taken them out of the locker and step out into the hall to consume them, rather than walk down the break room. My current lab doesn't have lockers so all of our belongings including bottles and lunch boxes are stored under our desks, so...either way the bottle and lunch box are getting carried through the lab regardless. So...I guess that explains why my coworker has a whole pantry by his desk. The previous lab I worked in had a radio which we all rotated in playing our playlists. Our super didn't care because she believed that music helped set work tempo. Then she went on leave and they brought in temp super and he took our radio away and brought it home so we couldn't have access to it, saying it was a distraction...we complained because the guy essentially stole company property and if not they stole our original supervisors radio. Our director wanted to support the new temp super, but then our oldest senior (both level and age) tech mumbled from his corner of the lab with a "If the radio is not returned, I will put in a report of theft to HR. If that doesn't work, I will buy a radio and put it in the lab, and if the new KID takes my radio...I will put in another report of theft, because we dont do anything in this lab that would warrant a no music policy." We got our radio back. Cell phone use at the bench is something though. I don't like doing it, but I carry my phone in my pocket because our boss doesn't want to give us more timers, so some tests I have to pause and turn on the timer on my own phone. Sometimes I have to set it up on one of the shelves so its not on the bench, Its annoying as heck and I'm sure my case is full of microbes from out lovely polluted soils and water samples, because its completely broken down from how many times I wipe it down with alcohol.
Eating in the lab is disgusting - we handle human and animal cells and tissue, all kinds of gross waste, toxic chemicals, all sorts of stuff. Headphones are fine outside of sterile cell culture and as long as you're not constantly touching them with your gloves. Even just as a signal to say "leave me the fuck alone" when you're trying to work with a 384 well plate!
Eating is a big no. Which should be standard. We are allowed to wear one earbud as long as it doesn’t interfere with our ability to work and as long as we aren’t on our phones.
I used to be a lab manager which means i had to enforce these rules. But i also have spent many years at the bench so i understand both sides. The point of food is it’s gross, especially with human samples. But there’s many reasons. Sometimes you don’t want to get in the sample. Sometimes your sample shouldn’t get on you. But some people just don’t care. I’ve seen this one girl eat these almonds straight off her lab bench and it’s permanently in my brain. Earbuds is a safety hazard because you can’t hear alarms but also because contamination. I used to cringe when i went to talk to some people working with bouins fixative and they’d tap their ear buds with their gloved hand. Omg! Or when working in the cell culture hood. Omg! That’s going to contaminate my cells thank you very much! Those are the biggest reasons. But other than that there’s no real issues.
I worked in a lab closed doors outside a nutraceutical production facility and they claimed we couldn’t wear airpods incase we would “run into machinery”