A Plan for Your Life
I read a written Laboratory Emergency Management Plan, and at the end of the document there was a short section called “Planning for Home and Family Safety.” The procedure mentioned making emergency plans with family [...]
Doing What We’ve Always Done
The reference Cytology lab has always had limited storage space for supplies and specimens. They use tall wire racks to store the many liquid-based cytology specimen vials. The vials contain small amounts of flammable chemicals, [...]
Wasteful Questions
Understanding the proper separation and disposal of the various waste types generated in the lab setting is an important piece of managing the overall laboratory safety program. Educating staff about trash segregation, storage and packaging [...]
Fighting Fire…Again
Every October I try to write about fire safety in accordance with National Fire Protection Month. This year the saga continues into November since there is so much fire safety information to discuss! The basics [...]
Fighting Fire With Fire
In 1939 the first issue of Marvel Comics introduced the original Human Torch, an android named Jim Hammond who would burst into flames when exposed to oxygen. Fourteen years before that, President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed [...]
The Safety Interpretation
When hospitals were placed on OSHA’s list of “high-risk” work places, no one had to ask why. OSHA adjusts that list based on the number of injuries that occur on the job each year in [...]
The Laboratory Safety Manual
Laboratory leadership should be committed to providing a safe working environment, and they should believe their employees have a right to know about health hazards associated with their work in the department. In order for [...]
Ergonomics in the Laboratory Setting
Sometimes when I am talking about lab safety and the topic turns to ergonomics, I get an unusual reaction from the audience- laughter. It surprises me because while a great many lab leaders a have [...]
When the Cat’s Away…
Two lab technologists were bored while working on a slow night shift in the lab. They decided to take the leftover dry ice and put it in the sink to make a fog in the [...]
The Path to Pathogens
In December of 1991, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) put forth a regulation that was designed to minimize healthcare workers’ exposure to blood and other potentially infectious material (OPIM). The regulation came about [...]