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Fume Hood Design for the 21st Century Workshop Report

At the beginning of the 21st Century, laboratory design practices have emerged that place new demands on laboratory ventilation systems and more specifically, on fume hood design. Evolving laboratory chemistries and technologies (such as nanoscale work, genetic engineering, and 3-D printers), open plan laboratories, automated ventilation control technologies, and concerns about facility energy costs have all impacted fume hood design and operation. These changes mean that institutions that host laboratories are reevaluating their expectations for design, performance, testing and usability criteria for their fume hoods. These expectations are often expressed as institutional design standards. The goal of these standards are to assure that a prudent balance of 1) protecting worker safety and health and 2) providing and operating a flexible and sustainable facility is achieved in new and renovated  laboratories.

To support institutions in identifying elements that should be included in the these design standards, a one-day workshop was held on October 29, 2014 to discuss emerging fume hood design issues and consider what details should be considered as institutional design standards are updated to  reflect these changes. The focus of the workshop was to  describe key questions that an institution should consider in developing fume hood design standard and performance testing requirements as well as to identify potential answers to these questions. The information collected from the discussions is collected in this report to help a design team identify what issues need to be addressed in programming, planning, designing and commissioning a lab project that includes fume hoods.

Workshop Background

The Workshop was co-sponsored by 5 organizations:

DCHAS
Safety Stratus
Kewaunee Scientific Corporation
Lab Crafters, Inc.
New England Lab

In attendance were 32 people from 28 institutions, companies or government agencies, with a diverse mix of Environmental Health and Safety staff, laboratory designers, architects, engineers, hood certification experts, and hood manufacturers attending. The institutions and organizations participating in the workshop were a mix of large, medium and small entities. This diversity of perspectives made for robust discussions during the workshop.

Information Resources

During the preparation for this workshop, key public resources about the issues to be discussed were identified. These are listed below.

Non-Commercial Sources

• USA EPA
  • EPA Performance Requirements for Lab Fume Hoods
• National Institutes of Health
  • A Review of Published Quantitative Experimental Studies on Factors Affecting Laboratory Fume Hood Performance
  • NIH Design Requirements Manual
• Public Works and Government Services Canada
  • Laboratory Fume Hoods: Guidelines for Building Owners, Design Professionals, and Maintenance Personnel; April 2013
• UC Center for Laboratory Safety
  • Chemical Fume Hood and Laboratory Ventilation: Operation, Design and Performance Testing, 2013

Commercial Guidelines

• TSI Laboratory Design Handbook
• Siemens Laboratory Solutions
• A Guide to Fume Hood Codes and Standards

Questions about this report can be addressed to Ralph Stuart at secretary@dchas.org or to the moderators of the discussion sections identified on each report page.