Chemical Laboratory Technician

This Seneca program has been validated by the Credential Validation Service as an Ontario College Credential as required by the Ministry of Colleges and Universities.

As a graduate, you will be prepared to reliably demonstrate the ability to:

• Perform routine tasks and assigned procedures to support the purification, analysis and synthesis of chemical compounds and samples.
• Use prescribed laboratory procedures to conduct basic manual and instrumental quantitative analysis and report results.
• Operate and troubleshoot* chemical analysis instruments and equipment to assure accurate results.
• Perform quality assurance and quality control procedures, including basic statistical analyses, in accordance with international and industry standards and government regulations.
• Complete chemical laboratory tasks and projects using computer and information technologies.
• Implement health and safety practices to ensure a safe laboratory environment for oneself and others.
• Contribute to the efficient and ethical use and promotion of chemical laboratory resources through established sustainability* practices.
• Interpret and produce technical documents to communicate chemical laboratory data and results.
• Collaborate with others to contribute to effective working relationships and teamwork in chemical laboratory environments.
• Develop strategies for ongoing professional development to enhance competence as a chemical laboratory technician.

Calibrate (calibration) — To use a device to measure a sample, or samples, with precisely known properties or "standard(s)" and then to use the measurements produced by the device and the known values of the property together, to either a) create a relationship between the measurements produced by the device and the true values of the property being measured, or b) to adjust the device to obtain a direct reading of the true value of the property.

Life Cycle Analysis — Analysis of the environmental impact of a product during the entirety of its life-cycle, from resource extraction to post-consumer waste disposal. It is a comprehensive approach to examining the environmental impacts of a product.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) — A set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to direct the completion of routine and/or hazardous operations. The goals of SOPs are to achieve efficiency, quality and safe output and uniformity of performance while reducing miscommunication, risks and\or failure to comply with industry regulations.

Sustainable (Sustainability) — Sustainability encompasses the ethical ideal that calls for optimizing the long-term carrying capacity and vitality of three interdependent systems – environmental, social and economic. In a chemical laboratory environment, sustainability aims to improve the quality of human life, while protecting nature, by engaging in chemical processes that are non-polluting, conserve energy and resources and protect ecosystems, that benefit employees, consumers and communities and that strengthen enterprises that foster economic growth and prosperity.

Troubleshoot (troubleshooting) — To diagnose laboratory equipment and process problems and to propose solutions.

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