I recently completed a seven-month stint as an interim laboratory manager. One of my leaders asked me if the time in that role had altered my perspective about lab safety. Would I now treat other lab managers differently when I’m back to my Lab Safety Officer role? Would I be less strict about safety violations I notice? Would I be “nicer” to other lab managers when I audit now that I understand their plight better? Ok, to be fair, he only asked me the first question – the rest I made up in my head. But it was a good conversation because I had been a manager for eleven years in the past, but i ..read more

Margie had worked in the histology department for years. She never used the chemical fume hood when pouring formaldehyde, but lately she had been coughing quite a bit, so she decided it was time to use the hoods. Soon she would be diagnosed with lung cancer. Jasper was a cytotechnologist working in the radiology department for a fine needle aspirate procedure. The radiologist was in a hurry, and when he handed the uncapped sample needle to Jasper, the needle pierced the skin in Jasper’s hand. The patient had Hepatitis C. Marie had finished her long day of assisting with frozen sections and had ..read more

Living in Virginia, hurricane season usually has me thinking about lab disaster plans and the risk of a real natural disaster. In the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, the highest hurricane risk occurs between September and November. So far this year, a few storms have pointed in this direction, but luckily, they have all turned away. That luck won’t hold forever, the risk still exists. OSHA’s Bloodborne and Airborne pathogens standards require assessing the risk of employees’ exposure to particular lab hazards. Risk assessments can be used to determine whether or not to add an emergen ..read more

The lab technologist approached the Lab Safety Officer to ask what should be done with a collection of liquid wastes that were collected from the chemistry analyzers. The LSO had worked with multiple labs for years helping to determine how to dispose of their liquid chemical wastes according to the regulations. He thought he was pretty well aware of the hazardous chemical wastes coming from the labs, but he had no idea this chemistry analyzer waste existed. He dug a bit deeper. As he called around to the different labs in the system, he learned not all sites were handling the waste the same wa ..read more

A multitude of employee injuries over a six-month period did nothing to get the attention of the laboratory leadership. The Employee Health nurse was nearing retirement, and she didn’t pay attention to the fact that these injuries all came from the same area- the autopsy suite- and that many had a common cause. The pathologist knew that the employees were getting hurt because of bad conditions in the morgue area. The autopsy table was old and had rusted sharp edges that frequently caused cuts on the hands of those handling it. The body storage refrigerator was small, and staff members from the ..read more

Pete began his shift in the hematology department. He liked to use the counter-mounted safety shield when opening specimens because he did not like to wear goggles over his eyeglasses. When it was time to read differential slides, he knew he could not look into the microscope with his glasses on, so he reached up with his gloved hands, grabbed his frames and set them on the dirty hematology workbench next to the scope. OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens Standard was promulgated (put into effect as law) in 1991. Its purpose was to prevent employee exposures to infectious organisms that may be present ..read more

I love to ride roller coasters. I enjoy the twists and turns, the steep hills, the loops, and even the sudden stops. I even prefer launched coasters that take off right from the start at high speeds. Wooden roller coasters are good too, because they add the elements of shaking and feeling like you might fly out of your seat. If you’ve ever ridden a roller coaster, you have some idea about what specimens go through when being transported via a pneumatic tube system (PTS). They, too, experience twists and turns on the journey, shaking, vibrations, there may be breakdowns, stuck tube carriers, an ..read more

Laboratorians work with vendor or field service representatives on a regular basis, and it is important to develop a good working relationship with each of them to ensure continued smooth operations in the department. They provide analyzers, products, equipment, and services. However, lab managers and employees need to pay special attention to the actions a representative will take in the department or to some of the information they may provide. These representatives should be experts about their products and processes, but they may not always be well-versed in your lab-specific process and t ..read more

In 2016, because of a number of incidents in several national high-containment laboratories, a “Safety Stand Down” was recommended. That term gets use often, but not everyone understands how a safety stand down works. Has your department been in a similar situation? Have you encountered a series of like safety events that created the need for everyone to stop and review? OSHA’s definition of a safety stand down is “an event for employers to talk directly to employees about safety.” Because of the danger to employees, a more specific definition means that all work stops until the issue is corre ..read more

I am a pretty simple person, and the extravagant things of life do not generally entice me. I recently had the unusual opportunity to fly while sitting in the first-class section of the airplane, and it sort of made me feel like a fish out of water. It was nice not to have to pay extra for luggage, and the room in the seat was amazing. They offered “free” alcoholic beverages, and asked if I wanted dinner. What? A meal on a plane? I already ate! Then they came with warm towels and a dish of heated mixed nuts. I was not certain what I should take and sometimes when I took what was offered, I did ..read more