Lab Seismic Hazard Reduction

Earthquakes have occurred and will continue to occur in the Santa Barbara area. This is of particular concern in UCSB laboratories.

Campus policies:

All furnishings and equipment over 48 inches in height must be fastened to a wall or floor in a manner to prevent falling in an earthquake.

Storage of large, heavy items must be kept below head level
All compressed gas cylinders must be secured individually to a solid structural member with 3/16 inch welded chain or equivalent bracing. At least one chain must be used to secure each cylinder at a point two-thirds up the cylinder’s height. C-clamp bench attachments and fiber/web strap attachments will not be allowed.
Chemical storage shelving must have shelf lips or other restraining devices (e.g. lip, wire or bungee cord along edge) installed to prevent chemicals from falling
To prevent accidental mixing of chemicals, incompatible materials must be segregated properly. See Safe Chemical Storage.

Recommended practices:
While not a safety issue, there are often expensive pieces of lab equipment, e.g. electronics, that you may wish to seismically anchor. UCSB Central Stores carries products that work well for securing these items.
Based on earthquake experiences at Cal State Northridge, UCLA and UCSC it is recommended that researchers maintain extra copies of irreplaceable files such as research data in a separate location.