Equipment Care, Safety and Workplace Practice
This section covers Equipment Care, Safety and Workplace Practice: preventive maintenance, chemical and electrical safety, darkroom ventilation, spill response and professional studio housekeeping.
Core rules
- Lenses: use a blower first, then a soft brush, then a microfibre cloth. Apply lens fluid sparingly to the cloth, never pour it on glass. Avoid dry tissue on grit.
- Cameras: keep silica gel in cases, avoid condensation when moving from cold to warm by letting sealed gear reach room temperature, store batteries at partial charge, and format cards in camera after offloading.
- Tripods: check locks, spread legs, sandbag in wind and keep the centre column low. Never leave a camera unattended on a tripod.
- Darkroom chemicals: developers are alkaline; stop bath and some bleaches are acidic; fixer contains thiosulfate. Read labels and safety data sheets, wear gloves and goggles, ventilate, never eat or drink, label containers and keep chemicals away from food.
- Never mix acid and hypochlorite bleach; chlorine gas can be released. Dispose of chemicals according to local rules, not down the sink.
- Electrical: dry hands, use earth-leakage protection, avoid daisy-chained extension leads, use cable ramps and keep liquids away from enlargers and power strips.
- Workplace: risk assessment, clear walkways, fire extinguisher, eyewash, first-aid kit, spill kit, secure stands and cable management.
Worked example
A fixer bottle spills in the darkroom. Reasoning: stop work, ventilate, put on gloves and goggles, contain the spill with absorbent material, wipe, place waste in a labelled container and dispose through the approved chemical-waste route. Do not use paper towels and then rinse down the sink; thiosulfate and silver-bearing waste are regulated. Check the safety data sheet for first aid and report the incident.
Traps
- Cleaning a lens with dry tissue or breathing on it and wiping grit.
- Storing cameras in a damp bag with no desiccant.
- Mixing bleach and acid stop bath or developer.
- Using a domestic extension lead in a wet darkroom.
- Returning chemicals to stock bottles after use, risking contamination.