To protect us from any spills. White is a colour where most spillages are visible depending solution colour

Professor Jones pulls a white lab coat from her bag and shows it to us.

You: ‘Professor, in my school we used to take off our lab coat when we finished our practical and left the lab… do we have to do it here too?’

Professor Jones: ‘That is a good point!’ 

She nods towards the coat hooks by the door, where students are expected to hang their lab coats.

Why do we need to take off our lab coats when we leave the lab?