Fume Hood Safety & Efficiency Digital Conference
Tuesday, September 8, 2026
Starting at 11:00am ET
Join Lab Design and our experts for this free digital conference, where industry leaders will explore how to select, place, and manage fume hoods to create safe, efficient, and fully compliant laboratory environments.
Safety is central to every lab project, and few pieces of equipment are as important to protecting researchers as the fume hood. From mitigating chemical exposure to supporting proper airflow and containment, these systems must be carefully planned, installed, and maintained to ensure both safety and efficiency. A comprehensive approach to fume hood placement and selection is essential for integrating them successfully into new construction and renovation projects.
On September 8, 2026, Lab Design will host a virtual event on Fume Hoods, part of the Lab Design Digital Conference series. This program will help project teams understand how to evaluate placement, specifications, and airflow management strategies to ensure compliance and optimal performance from the start. Lab managers, researchers, and end users will learn how to select fume hood systems that align with their work practices, are straightforward to operate, and can be effectively maintained over time. Vendors and manufacturers will gain valuable insight into the priorities, questions, and challenges that design teams and lab users bring to the decision-making process, offering a clearer picture of what today’s projects require.
Speakers will cover critical considerations including compliance with standards and regulations, chemical use and containment needs, energy efficiency and sustainability goals, safety protocols, and common pitfalls to avoid. Each session will give attendees the opportunity to engage directly with experts and gather practical guidance for applying these strategies in their own lab projects. Registration is free—join live or access on demand.
The webinars in the Lab Design Digital Conference series are free to attend live and/or on demand. Select sessions will be available for AIA/HSW continuing education credit.
Register for free
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Agenda
11:00am-12:00pm ET
Ask the Experts: Did We Actually Deliver a Safe Fume Hood?
A safe fume hood is not something a project team simply purchases—it is something the entire team creates and then proves. In this Ask the Experts session, three industry professionals connect system understanding, design and specification, and field verification to answer one essential question: Did we create a laboratory ventilation system that actually contains?
Chip Albright, Glen Berry, FAIA, and Alex Albright will guide attendees through a continuous Understand—Specify—Verify framework. The experts will show why face velocity alone is not a containment verdict, how hood placement and room airflow shape performance, how measurable requirements define success before construction, and how ASHRAE 110 field testing closes the gap between design intent and real-world operation.
Learning objectives:
Explain why a fume hood must be evaluated as part of a dynamic laboratory ventilation system, and why face velocity alone cannot demonstrate containment.
Identify design and coordination decisions that influence containment, including hood placement, doors, circulation paths, supply diffusers, room pressure, exhaust stability, and controls.
Describe how performance-based specifications can define containment expectations, acceptance testing conditions, documentation, revalidation, and training before construction begins.
Differentiate the roles of face velocity measurement, airflow visualization, and tracer gas testing in verifying performance, diagnosing failures, and establishing a lasting baseline.
Speakers
Chip Albright
Founder & President
Fume Hood Certified, LLC
Glen Berry, FAIA-NCARB
Lab Design Consultant
Design for Science, LLC
Alex Albright
General Manager
Fume Hood Certified, LLC
12:30-1:30pm ET
Fume Hood Safety, Performance, and Energy Efficiency
Selecting and managing fume hoods involves more than meeting code requirements—it is a critical part of creating a safe, efficient, and well-performing laboratory. This session will provide practical guidance for lab managers, researchers, facility professionals, lab planners, architects, and project teams involved in designing new laboratories or renovating existing ones. Attendees will explore how fume hood design, placement, ventilation, and building systems can affect laboratory performance, while also learning how day-to-day operating practices influence safety and energy use.
The presentation will focus on practical strategies for improving fume hood performance throughout the life of the lab, from planning and setup through ongoing operation. It will also introduce the upcoming International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) International Fume Hood Challenge as one example of how organizations can encourage safer hood use, improve sash management, and reduce energy consumption through collaboration among researchers, EH&S, and facilities teams. Participants will leave with practical strategies they can apply when evaluating, replacing, setting up, and managing fume hood systems.
Learning objectives:
Identify key design and building-system considerations that influence fume hood safety, performance, and energy use.
Explain how ventilation strategies, sash management, and user behavior affect laboratory safety and energy consumption.
Identify practical strategies for improving fume hood performance through collaboration among lab users, facilities, and EH&S teams.
Recognize opportunities to reduce energy use while maintaining safe, compliant, and effective fume hood operations, including participation in initiatives such as the I2SL International Fume Hood Challenge.
Speaker
Alison Farmer, PhD
President
I2SL
2:00-3:00pm ET
Balancing Safety, Cost, and Flexibility: A Fume Hood Integration Case Study
As laboratory demands grow, ensuring proper ventilation and air quality becomes a critical challenge. At Butler University, increasing lab usage revealed the limitations of their aging HVAC system, which struggled to provide adequate air changes and containment for hazardous emissions. Faced with the costly prospect of a major HVAC upgrade, the university sought an alternative solution—integrating filtered fume hoods.
In this insightful webinar, Stacy O’Reilly, PhD, professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Butler University, shares her firsthand experience implementing filtered fume hoods. She discusses the challenges her department faced, the key questions they asked when evaluating ventilation solutions, and how these fume hoods provided a cost-effective, flexible, and energy-efficient alternative for her laboratory.
Learning objectives:
Evaluate different ventilation options for lab safety.
Examine key considerations for implementing fume hoods such as chemical compatibility, filter validation, regulatory compliance, and maintenance requirements.
Discover strategies for future-proofing laboratory design.
Identify critical questions to ask when selecting ventilation solutions for lab renovations.
This course is approved by AIA CES for 1 LU/HSW credit
Speaker
Stacy O’Reilly, PhD
Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Butler University