Intro to Lab Safety

• Infection


  When a microorganism invades the body, multiplies, and causes illness/disease, spreading bacterial, fungal or viral
• Pathogen


  A disease-causing microbe which could be classified as bacteria, fungi, protozoa, or virus
• Types of infection


  • Communicable infection (can spread from person-to-person)
  • Nosocomial infection (healthcare-associated infections usually caused by infected personnel, patients, visitors, drugs, or equipment)
• Components of chain of infection


  • Infectious (causative agent)
  • Reservoir (source of agent or place where microbe could grow, survive, and multiply)
  • Exit pathway (way infectious agent leaves reservoir host)
  • Means of transmission (airborne, direct contact, indirect contact, droplets, vector, vehicle)
  • Entry pathway (way infectious agent enters host)
  • Susceptible host (prone to infection)
• Infection control program


  • Protects patients, employees, and visitors from infection
  • Screens employees for infectious disease and requires immunization
  • Provides evaluation and treatment to health workers exposed to infections
  • Monitors employees and patients at risk of infection and collects exposure data
• Proper hand hygiene


  1. Routine hand washing (with plain soap and water)

  2. Hand antisepsis (with antimicrobial soap or alcohol-based sanitizer)
• Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)


  Includes gloves, gowns, lab coats, masks, face shields, goggles, and respirators
• Proper removal of gloves

  1. Grasp wrist of one glove with opposite hand

  2. Pull glove inside out and off hand

  3. Place recently removed glove in gloved hand

  4. Slip fingers under wrist of remaining glove and pull inside out

  5. Drop gloves in proper receptacle
• Donning PPE


  1. Put on gown first and fasten/tie belt

  2. Mask should cover nose and mouth

  3. Pull gloves over gown cuff
• Doffing PPE


  1. Remove gloves first, avoid touching contaminated areas

  2. Pull gown from shoulders towards hands to turn inside out

  3. Remove mask by touching only the strings
• Infection control in nursery and neonatal ICU

  • Proper hand washing before putting on PPE
  • Bring only necessary items for specimen collection
  • Leave collection tray outside nursery
  • Remove gloves, wash hands, use new gloves between patients
• Bloodborne pathogens (BBP)


  Microorganisms in human blood that are infectious and can cause diseases like hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV
• For surface decontamination, use 1:10 bleach solution or other disinfectants, wear gloves, use absorbent material, place contaminated non-reusable items in biohazard waste containers
• Biohazard


  Any material that could be harmful to one's health
• Biohazard exposure routes


  • Airborne (from splashes and aerosols during centrifuge and aliquot, patients with airborne diseases)
  • Preventive measures: Observe proper handling, wear PPE properly, use safety shields
• Non-reusable items contaminated by blood or other body fluids should be placed in biohazard waste containers for proper disposal
• Biosafety

  Preventing and protecting clinical laboratories from harmful incidents caused by laboratory specimens that are potential biohazards
• Biohazard exposure routes

  • Airborne
  • Ingestion
  • Non-intact skin
  • Percutaneous
  • Permucosal
• Airborne biohazard prevention


  1. Observe proper handling practices

  2. Wear PPE properly

  3. Use safety shields and guards
• Ingestion biohazard prevention


  1. Wash hands frequently

  2. Avoid hand-to-mouth activities

  3. Avoid placing items in the mouth
• Non-intact skin biohazard prevention

  Cover skin breaks or cuts with non-permeable bandages
• Electric shock response


  1. Remove the source of electricity

  2. Ask for medical assistance

  3. Start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if necessary

  4. Keep the victim warm
• Regular fire drills should be conducted so employees know what to do in case of fire
• Employees should be familiar with the location of emergency exits and evacuation plans or routes
• The location of fire extinguishers and heavy blankets should be posted, and the staff should know how to use them

  
• Radiation safety factors


  • Time
  • Distance
  • Protection or shielding
• A radiation symbol must be posted in areas where radioactive materials are used and kept
• Radiation hazard can be encountered by the phlebotomist when collecting specimens from patients who have been injected with radioactive dyes or from the nuclear medicine department or simply when delivering specimens to the radioimmunoassay sections of the laboratory
• Chemicals are used as cleaning reagents, in adding preservatives in urine containers (24-hour), or in delivering specimens to the laboratory
• Practices that should never be done

  • Storing chemicals above eye level
  • Adding water to acid
  • Mixing chemicals indiscriminately
  • Storing chemicals in unlabeled containers
  • Pouring chemicals into used or dirty containers
  • Using chemicals in ways other than their intended uses
• The healthcare worker should be informed where the safety showers and eyewash stations are located, in the event of chemical spill or splash in the eyes or body
• Response to chemical spill or splash

  1. Flush the affected part with water for at least 15 minutes

  2. Visit the emergency room (ER) for evaluation
• Shock

  A condition when there is not enough blood that circulates back to the heart, which results in inadequate supply of oxygen in the body
• Symptoms of shock


  • Pale, cold and clammy skin
  • Rapid and weak pulse
  • Increased and shallow breathing
  • Expressionless face with a blank stare
• Biosafety levels


  • BSL-1: Appropriate for agents that are not known to cause disease in normal healthy people
  • BSL-2: Moderate-risk agents that cause human disease (ingestion, percutaneous, mucous membrane exposure)
• Fire classes


  Class A: Ordinary combustible materials

  Class B: Flammable liquids and vapors

  Class C: Live electrical equipment

  Class D: Combustible and reactive metals

  Class K: Cooking oil, grease, or fats with high temperature

  
• Toxicology

  The study of the nature and action of poisons
• Examples of toxic substances

  • Pesticides
  • Carbon disulfide
  • Phenol
  • Tetrachloride
  • Mercury
  • Saline
• Common irritants (contact)


  • Ammonia
  • Alkaline dust & mist
  • HCL
  • HF
  • Halogens
  • Ozone
  • Phosgene
  • Nitrogen Dioxide
  • Phosphorus Fluoride
  • Arsenic Trichloride
• Common irritants (respiration)


  • Sulfur dioxide
  • Acetic acid
  • Formaldehyde
  • Formic acid
  • Sulfuric acid
  • Halogens