This paper describes a straightforward technique designed to identify and assess the hazards of conducting a chemical synthesis in the research environment. The approach highlights potentially hazardous situations that could arise from the use and handling of chemicals employed during the synthesis. Thirty-three parameters, indicative of one or more hazard properties of molecules or operational conditions pertaining to the synthesis, are used to characterize the risk potential of the synthesis. Lab-HIRA assigns a hazard severity level to each of the reagents being used for the synthesis step, to the overall synthesis step, and to the reaction conditions. The risk-based judgments made by Lab-HIRA's weighting scheme tend to be conservative, offering a cautious view of the potential hazard. The objective of this analysis is to identify the hazards and risks of the proposed synthesis. Once they have recognized appropriate risk minimization or mitigation measures can be implemented by the researcher. After the hazard identification and assessment is completed, an additional hazard analysis for the synthesis reaction may be recommended. In that case, a more formal risk analysis, suitable to the research environment, and described in part II of this publication, would be undertaken. The type of analysis is driven by the complexity of the planned synthesis, and the nature and extent of the consequences of an upset.
