Lab safety

• Physical hazards include dry chemicals and physical hazards are addressed by standard precautions such as avoiding running in rooms and hallways, watching for wet floors, bending the knees when lifting heavy objects, keeping long hair pulled back, avoiding dangling jewelry, and maintaining a clean and organized work area.
• NFPA Hazard Diamond and MSDS are topics related to laboratory safety.
• Thoroughly clean between fingers and rings, and up to the wrist, for at least 15 seconds.
• Apply antimicrobial soap.
• Rinse in a downward position.
• Dry with a paper towel.
• Wet hands with warm water.
• Rub to form a lather, create friction, and loosen debris.
• Safety standards and governing agencies include OSHA, CLSI, CDC, CAP, and TJC.
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards and providing training, outreach, education, and assistance.
• Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) is a nonprofit, educational organization created for the development, promotion, and use of national and international laboratory standards.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is responsible for controlling the introduction and spread of infectious diseases, and provides consultation and assistance to other nations and international agencies to assist in improving their disease prevention and control, environmental health, and health promotion activities.
• College of American Pathologists (CAP) Laboratory Accreditation Program is an internationally recognized program and the only one of its kind that utilizes teams of practicing laboratory professionals as inspectors.
• Designed to go well beyond regulatory compliance, the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program helps laboratories achieve the highest standards of excellence to positively impact patient care.
• The Joint Commission (TJC) accredits 3467, or 23% of laboratories, and has been evaluating and accrediting hospital laboratory services since 1979 and freestanding laboratories since 1995.
• Biological hazards include infectious agents such as bacterial, fungal, viral, or parasitic infections.
• Fire/explosive hazards include Bunsen burners, organic chemicals, burns or dismemberment.
• OSHA standard requires all employees to practice standard precaution and provides lab coats, gowns, face and respiratory protection, and gloves to employees and laundry facilities for non-disposable protective clothing.
• Universal precautions state that all patients are considered to be possible carriers of blood-borne pathogens.
• The mission of the TJC is to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value.
• Standard precautions include handwashing, gloves, mask, eye protection and face shield, gown, patient care equipment, environmental control, linen, patient placement, and occupational health and blood-borne pathogens.
• OSHA standard requires labeling all biohazardous material and containers, providing free immunization for HBV, establishing a daily disinfection protocol for work surfaces, and using an appropriate disinfectant for blood-borne pathogens.
• Standard precaution includes providing medical follow-up for employees who have been accidentally exposed to blood-borne pathogens and documenting regular training in safety standards for employees.
• Radioactive hazards include equipment and radioisotopes, radiation exposure.
• Electrical hazards include ungrounded or wet equipment, frayed cords, burns or shock.
• Physical hazards include wet floors, heavy boxes, patients falls, sprains, or strains.
• Chemical hazards include preservatives and reagents, exposure to toxic, carcinogenic, or caustic agents.
• Standard precaution prohibits eating, drinking, smoking and applying cosmetics, lip balm, and contact lenses in the work area.
• Sharps hazards include needles, lancets, broken glass, cuts, punctures, or blood-borne pathogen exposures.
• Chemical hazards can be prevented by knowing the location and proper use of emergency showers and eye wash stations, not attempting to neutralize chemicals that come in contact with the skin, and using chemicals as specified.
• Electrical hazards are standard precautions and include equipment that should not be operated with wet hands, turning off the circuit breaker, unplugging the equipment, or moving it using nonconductive glass or wood objects.
• Turn off faucets with a clean paper towel to prevent recontamination.
• Do not recap needles directing the point towards any part of the body.
• Physical and chemical characteristics, fire and explosion material, reactivity potential, health hazards, and emergency first aid procedures are included in material safety data sheets (MSDS).
• Fire/explosive hazards include R-A-C-E (fire), which stands for rescue, activate the institutional alarm system, contain all doors to potentially affected areas, and extinguish the fire, if possible, exit the area.
• Types of fire extinguishers include Class A, which extinguishes fires involving wood, paper, and cloth, Class B, which extinguishes fires involving flammable organic chemicals, Class C, which extinguishes electrical fires, and Class D, which extinguishes combustible metals.
• Chemical hazards include chemicals that come in contact with the skin, chemicals that are added in the wrong order, chemicals that are added to water, and chemicals that are pipetted by mouth.
• Sharp hazards are standard precautions.
• Use puncture-resistant containers for sharp hazards.
• Radioactive hazards are encountered when using radioisotopes and are related to the amount of exposure.