Lab safety, Pipettes

UNIVERSAL PRECAUTIONS

• Human blood, tissue, and most fluids are handled as if known to be infectious 

• Provides fairly detailed directions for decontamination and the safe handling of potentially infectious laboratory supplies and equipment

Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 or PUBLIC LAW 91-596

• To provide all clinical laboratory personnel with a safe work environment.

• Authorized to conduct on site inspections to determine whether an employer is complying with the mandatory standards.

UNIVERSAL PRECAUTIONS

• Human blood, tissue, and most fluids are handled as if known to be infectious 

• Provides fairly detailed directions for decontamination and the safe handling of potentially infectious laboratory supplies and equipment

Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 or PUBLIC LAW 91-596

• To provide all clinical laboratory personnel with a safe work environment.

• Authorized to conduct on site inspections to determine whether an employer is complying with the mandatory standards.

STANDARD PRECAUTION

• Approach to infection control in which all human blood, tissue, and most fluids are handled as if known to be infectious for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other blood borne pathogens

• Provides detailed directions for decontaminating and the safe handling of potentially infectious laboratory supplies, equipment, and infectious waste

Elimination

• Most effective hierarchy of controls

• Physically remove the hazard

Substitution

• 2nd most effective

• Hierarchy of controls that replace the hazard

Engineering controls

• Hierarchy of controls that isolate people from the hazard

Administrative controls

• Hierarchy of control that change the way people work

Personal Protective Equipment

• least effective hierarchy of controls

• protects the worker with equipment

True

True or false: protocol for spills

1. Alert others in area of the spill 

2. Wear appropriate protective equipment

3. Use mechanical devices to pick up broken glass or other sharp objects

4. Absorb the spill with paper towels, gauze pads, or tissue

5. Clean the spill using a common aqueous detergent

6. Disinfect the spill site using approved disinfectant or 10% bleach, using appropriate contact time

7. Rinse the spill site with water

8. Dispose of all materials in appropriate biohazard containers.

10% bleach

disinfectant to be used in case of spills

Black

Under waste segregation:

• General waste 

• Uncontaminated waste

Green

Under waste segregation:

• Wet waste

• Organic/ Food waste

Yellow

• Infectious waste

• Contaminated materials

YELLOW BAG WITH BLACK BAND

• Chemical/ Pharmaceutical waste

ORANGE

• Radioactive waste

SHARPS

• Puncture resistant bag

JOINT COMMISSION

• An independent body that certifies and accredits health-care organizations in the United States

• Requires all health-care facilities post evacuation routes and detailed plans to follow in the event of a fire.

Rescue, Alarm, Contain, Evacuate/Extinguish

4 essential steps in case of fire

Class A Fire

• most common type of fires

• Solid combustibles such as wood, plastic, paper

• Fire extinguisher to be used: powder, foam, water

• DO NOT USE CO2 & Wet Chemical

Class B Fire

• Flammable liquids/gasses & combustible petroleum products

• Fire extinguisher: Multi-purpose dry chemical and Carbon dioxide

• DO NOT use: water & wet chemical

Class C Fire

• energized electrical equipment: appliances & wiring

• Fire extinguisher: Multi-purpose dry chemical and Carbon dioxide & Halogenated hydrocarbon extinguishers

Class D fire

• fire from Combustible/reactive metals such as magnesium, sodium, potassium

• just isolate the burning metal

• Fire extinguisher: Metal X

Pull pin
Aim the nozzle at the base of the fire

Squeeze the trigger

Sweep the nozzle side to side

Steps to follow when extinguishing a fire

Pipettes or Pipets

• Type of laboratory equipment used to transfer liquids

• They may be reusable used for volumes of 20mL or less

• Larger volumes are usually transferred or dispensed using automated pipetting devices.

Blowout pipette

Continuous etched ring or two small, close rings located near top of the pipette

Micropipette

• pipette with a total holding volume of less than 1 mL; it may be designed as either a Mohr or a serologic pipette

Self-draining pipette

Allows contents of the pipette to drain by gravity

Mohr pipette

• No graduations, self-draining

• Does NOT have graduations at the tip

Serologic pipette

• Has graduations, blowout 

• over 1mL volume

Multi-channel Pipette

• often used in research can transfer multiple volume at the same time in batches

Blue

Color for biological/health hazard

Red

Color for fire hazard

White

Color for specific hazard

Yellow

Color for instability

To contain, To deliver

2 Design classification/calibration of pipettes

use NO WATER

Oxidizer

Simple Asphyxiant

Akali

Corrosive

Radiation hazard

Material Safety Data Sheet

MSDS meaning

Volumetric pipette

• For accuracy and precision

• To dispense or transfer aqueous solution

Oswald-Folin pipette

• Used for biologic viscous fluids

• Blowout

Automatic pipette

Most used pipette in clinical chemistry

Pasteur pipette

• Has no calibration

• Disposable pipette

Transfers solution or biologic fluids without consideration of a specific volume

Solute

Substance dissolved in liquid

Solvent

Liquid which solute is dissolved

Solution

A homogenous mixture of one or more substances dispersed molecularly in a sufficient quantity of dissolving medium

Biologic fluids

Extracted liquid from people/animals in which analytes are dissolved

Percent solution

Expressed as the amount of solute per 100 total units of solution