Checklist

Experiment Lab Safety & Access Checklist

Interactive operational checklist for physical and virtual experiment environments covering safety controls, access approvals, data protections, participant protections, rollback and backup plans, incident reporting, and periodic review.

Interactive Tool

Experiment Lab Safety & Access Checklist

Use this checklist before starting or approving an experiment in a physical lab, virtual environment, or mixed testbed. Answer each item, provide notes where relevant, and capture approvals. Save this record with the experiment artifacts so results, controls, and tacit learning remain discoverable and repeatable.

If an item is unanswered or marked No, stop and resolve the gap before proceeding.

A short descriptive name for the experiment.
If your team uses an ID or ticket, record it here.
Date of this checklist (YYYY-MM-DD suggested).
Choose the environment where the experiment will run.
Room number, cloud account, test network, or site identifier.
Person responsible for experiment design and outcomes.
Person responsible for safety and approvals for this environment.
PPE, equipment guards, chemical/hazard procedures, electrical safety, emergency exits confirmed.
Describe key controls, known hazards, and mitigations.
Formal approvals and any supervisor or facility sign-off are recorded.
Only authorized personnel and accounts have access; visitors / contractors covered.
All participants have required training (e.g., lab induction, bio safety, LOTO).
Network segmentation, VLANs, or sandboxing prevents accidental access to production systems.
Least-privilege access, encrypted channels, and credential management are in place.
Classify primary data used by the experiment.
Use of synthetic or masked data when production data is sensitive; data minimization enforced.
For human participants, data subjects, or user testing – consent templates and IRB/ethics approvals as required.
Reference or attach the consent template used.
There is a documented backup and rollback procedure specific to the experiment artifacts and environment.
When was the last successful rollback test? Note date in notes.
Describe backup location, frequency, and recovery point objectives.
Everyone knows who to contact and how to escalate if an incident occurs.
List names, roles, phone numbers, channels, and links to reporting forms.
A template exists to capture key facts, timeline, and containment steps.
Data protection, export controls, biosafety, or other regulations identified and addressed.
List permits (e.g., controlled substances, radio frequency approvals).
If applicable, LOTO procedures are scheduled and owners assigned.
How often the experiment safety controls will be reviewed.
Date of the most recent formal safety review.
Plans to record tacit learnings, controls, and settings so others can repeat the experiment.
Link to project wiki, experiment folder, or toolkit.
Risks that remain after controls are applied have been documented and accepted by owner.
Owner rates overall residual risk.
1.0 10.0
Select any mitigations that must be implemented before starting experiment.
Describe steps, owners, and dates for required mitigations.
Authorized person confirms all items are satisfied and approves the experiment to start.
Name of the person providing final approval.
Role or authority of the approver (e.g., Lab Manager, Security Officer).
Date approval was granted.
Any other important context, links, or constraints.
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