L2: LABORATORY SAFETY

• Fire a chemical reaction that involves the rapid oxidation of combustible material or fuel, with the subsequent liberation of heat and light
• OSHA PUBLIC LAW 91-596

  • Enhanced by the US Congress in 1970.
  • Authorized to conduct on-site Inspections.
  • Goal: To provide all employees (clinical laboratory personnel included) with a safe work environment.
• Universal Precautions: All human blood, tissue, and most fluids are known to be infectious.
• Hazard Communication Ensure that the hazards of all chemicals used in the workplace have been evaluated.
• Hazard Communication Defines hazardous substances and provides guidance for evaluating and communicating identified hazards.
• Fire Tetrahedron

  1. Fuel

  2. Heat or ignition source

  3. Oxygen (air)
• Chemical Fume Hoods Contains and expel noxious and hazardous fumes
• Chemical Fume Hoods as an added precaution, personal air monitoring should be conducted in accordance with the chemical hygiene plan of the facility.
• BSL-1 Not known to consistently cause disease in healthy adult humans, and of minimal potential hazard to laboratory personnel and the

  environment.
• BSL-1 Examples: Saccharomyces cerevisae, E. coli K-12, and non infectious

  bacteria.
• BSL-2 Moderate potential hazard to personnel and the environment.

  Includes bacterial and viruses that cause mild disease to humans, or

  are difficult to contract via aerosol in a lab setting.
• BSL-2 Examples: Hepatitis A virus, Streptococcus Pyogenes, Borrelia

  burgdorferi (Lyme disease), Salmonella species
• BSL-3 Microbes there can either indigenous or exotic, and they can cause

  serious or potentially lethal disease through respiratory transmission.
• BSL-3 Examples: Yersinia pestis (Plague), Myobacterium tuberculosis, SARS,

  Rabies virus, West Nile Virus, Hantaviruses
• BSL-4 Dangerous and exotic, posing a high risk of aerosol-transmitted

  infections. Infections caused by these microbes are frequently fatal

  and without treatment or vaccines.
• BSL-4 Examples: Ebola virus, smallpox virus
• Flammable: Flash point below 37.8 degrees Celsius
• Combustible: Flash point above 37.8 degrees Celsius
• CORROSIVE CHEMICALS Injurious to the skin or eyes by direct contact or to the tissue of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts if inhaled or ingested.
• Acids

  ➢ Acetic

  ➢ Sulfuric

  ➢ Nitric

  ➢ Hydrochloric acid
• Bases

  ➢ Ammonium hydroxide

  ➢ Potassium hydroxide

  ➢ Sodium hydroxide
• REACTIVE CHEMICALS Substances that under certain conditions, can spontaneously explode or ignite or that evolve heat or flammable or explosive gases.
• REACTIVE CHEMICALS Hydrogen is liberated if alkali metals (sodium or potassium) are mixed with water of acids and spontaneous combustion also may occur.
• REACTIVE CHEMICALS Mixture of oxidizing agents, such as peroxides, and reducing agents, such as hydrogen, generaties heat and may be explosive.
• Biosafety cabinets remove particles that may be harmful to the employee who is working with potentially infectious biologic specimens.
• CARCINOGENIC CHEMICALS Substances that have been determined to be cancer-causing agents
• CARCINOGENIC CHEMICALS Benzidine is a common example of a known carcinogen.
• BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS Expose an unprotected individual to bacteria, viruses, parasites, or other biological entities that can result in injury.
• BIOLOGICAL HAZARDS Exposure occurs from ingestion, inoculation, tactile contamination, or inhalation of infectious material from patients or their body fluids/tissues, supplies or materials they have been in contact with, or contaminated needles or by aerosol dispersion.
• Non-Ionizing Radiation A type of electromagnetic radiation that does not carry enough energy to ionize atoms.
• Ionizing Radiation It is generated through nuclear reactions, by very high temperature, via production of high energy particles or due to acceleration of charged particles by electromagnetic fields.
• CUMULATIVE TRAUMA DISORDERS Injuries involving the musculoskeletal and/or nervous system in response to long term repetitive twisting, bending lifting or assuming static postures for an extended period of time.
• CUMULATIVE TRAUMA DISORDERS Constant or excessive repetitive actions, mechanical pressure, vibrations, or

  compressive forces on the arms, hands, wrists, neck, or back.
• CUMULATIVE TRAUMA DISORDERS Human error by pushing beyond one’s limits or when productivity limits are set

  too high.
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Compression and entrapment of nerve from wrist to hand.
• Tendonitis Inflammation of the tendon.
• Tenosynovitis Inflammation or injury to synovial sheath that surrounds a tendon.
• Bursitis Inflammation of one of the bursa of synovial fluid.
• Primary Contributors for

  Repetitive Strain Disorders Position or posture, Applied force, Frequency of repetition
• WASTE MANAGEMENT Collection, transport, processing or disposal, managing and monitoring of waste materials.