SPDX

• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is a division of the U.S Department of Labor that sets levels of safety and health for all workers in the United States.
• Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) is a nonprofit educational organization that sets voluntary consensus standards for all areas of clinical laboratories.
• Infectious Sharps should be disposed in OSHA-approved containers.
• Glass Beads help eliminate bumping/boil over when liquids are heated.
• Safety locks on equipment should never be rendered inoperable.
• Never open the lid until the rotor has come to a complete stop.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is a federal agency that carries out mandated public health laws and reporting requirements.
• College of American Pathologists (CAP) is a professional association that sets standards for clinical laboratories.
• The Joint Commission (TJC) is a nonprofit organization that sets standards for all clinical laboratories.
• Exposure control plan is a crucial part of safety in clinical laboratories.
• Two primary causes of accidents in clinical laboratories are unsafe acts and unsafe environmental conditions.
• Safety equipment is a crucial part of safety in clinical laboratories.
• Types of safety hazards include biological, chemical, radioactive, electrical, and physical hazards.
• Biological hazards in clinical laboratories include infectious agents such as bacterial, fungal, viral, or parasitic organisms.
• Sharps hazards in clinical laboratories include needles, lancets, broken glass, and other sharp objects.
• Laboratory personnel should be familiar with fire evacuation routes and detailed plans to follow in the event of a fire.
• Reactive chemicals include HCl, and ammonium hydroxide, which can spontaneously explode or ignite, or evolve heat or flammable or explosive gases.
• Electrical hazards include ungrounded or wet equipment, frayed cords, lock-out or tag malfunctioning electrical or mechanical equipment, and knowing how to knock a shocked person loose using a non-conductive material.
• Radiation hazards include contact with radioactivity when obtaining blood from patients in radiology department, or from patients receiving radioactive treatments, or when procedures using radioisotopes are performed.
• Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) provide information about hazardous ingredients, permissible exposure limit (PEL), physical and chemical data, health hazard data and carcinogenic potential, primary routes of entry, fire and explosion hazards, reactivity data, spill and disposal procedures, personal protective equipment (PPE) recommendations, handling, emergency and first aid procedures, storage and transportation precautions, and chemical manufacturer’s name, address, and telephone number.
• The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has developed the Standard System for providing codes and standard information about the chemicals/solutions.
• Carcinogenic chemicals include chromic acid, which may affect the kidneys due to prolonged exposure, and chloroform, which affects the liver.
• Mechanical hazards include centrifuge, which must be balanced to distribute the load equally.
• Cuts, punctures, or blood-borne pathogen exposure are potential injuries from sharp hazards in clinical laboratories.
• Chemical hazards in clinical laboratories include preservatives and reagents, which can expose workers to toxic, carcinogenic, or caustic agents.
• Radioactive hazards in clinical laboratories include equipment and radioisotopes, which can expose workers to radiation.
• Electrical hazards in clinical laboratories include ungrounded or wet equipment, frayed cords, and burns or shock.
• Fire/explosives hazards in clinical laboratories include Bunsen burners and organic chemicals, which can cause burns, dismemberment, or fires.
• Physical hazards in clinical laboratories include wet floors, heavy boxes, patients, and falls, sprains, or strains.
• Biological hazards in clinical laboratories are frequently present in the specimens received.
• CDC instituted the Universal Precautions in 1987, which recommend wearing gloves when collecting or handling blood and other body fluids contaminated with blood and wearing face shields when there is danger of blood splashing on mucous membranes.
• A major disadvantage of BSI guidelines is that they do not recommend handwashing following removal of gloves unless visual contamination is present.
• A reservoir is a place in the environment where the pathogen lives.
• Chemical hygiene plan is a requirement of OSHA and all facilities that use hazardous chemical must have a written chemical hygiene plan (CHP) available to employees.
• BSI Guidelines (Body Substance Isolation Guidelines) are not limited to blood borne pathogens and personnel should always wear gloves at all times when encountering moist body substances.
• Chemical handling involves chemicals should never be mixed together unless specific instructions are followed, and they must be added in the order specified.
• Black Non-infectious dry waste, Green Non-infectious wet waste, Yellow Infectious waste, Red (puncture proof) Sharps, Orange Radioactive waste.
• A portal of entry is the way the infectious agent can enter a new host through broken skin, respiratory tract, mucous membrane, even catheters and tubes.
• Corrosive Chemicals are injurious to the skin or eyes by direct contact or to the tissue of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts if inhaled or ingested.
• All biological waste (except Urine) should be placed in appropriate containers labeled with biohazard symbol.