It is common practice to store toxic volatile chemicals in a laboratory fume hood. While this provides safe storage, the fume hood must be operated continuously, resulting in a constant loss of conditioned air in the building. Typically, bottles containing highly toxic chemicals are small in number.

The fume hood restricts harmful airborne materials by diluting harmful substances in the air with a large amount of air, sucking them into the exhaust system, and then exhausting the air from the vents located on the roof of the building 18. The correct use of fume hood window frames can also shield workers from uncontrolled reactions.