LABORATORY SAFETY AND REGULATIONS

Occupational safety and health act (OSHA)

Public law 91-596 is better known as what?

Public law 91-596

Occupational safety and health act is also known as what?

Occupational safety and health act

Provide all employees with a safe work environment and is authorized to conduct on-site inspections to determine whether an employer is complying with the mandatory standards

Bloodborne pathogen standard

Formaldehyde standard

Laboratory standard

Hazard communication standard

Respiratory protection standard

Air contaminants standard

Personal protective equipment standard

OSHA standards that regulate safety in the laboratory include what?

Bloodborne pathogen standard

Standard that applies to exposure to all blood or other potentially infectious materials in any occupational setting

Exposure control plan

Plan that must cover specific preventative measures including exposure evaluation, engineering controls, work practice controls and administrative oversight of the program

Standard precautions

An approach to infection control in which all human blood, tissue, and most fluids are handled as if known to be infectious for the HIV, HBC and other bloodborned pathogens

Hepatitis B virus

What causes the most infections in laboratory worked among all bloodborne pathogens?

10 days

There is a requirement for HBV vaccination or dormal declination within how many days of assuming duties that present exposure?

Hazard communication standard

Subpart to OSHA’s toxic and hazardous substaces regulations is intended to ensure that the hazards of all chemicals used in the workplace have been evaluated and that the hazard information is successfully transmited to employers and their employees who use the susbtances

HazCom standard

Hazard communication standard is informally known as what?

Proper labelling

Safety data sheet (SDS)

Employee education

Primary means of hazard communication

Occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals in laboratories

Second subpart to OSHA’s toxic and hazardous substances regulations

OSHA lab standard

Occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals in laboratories is also known as what?

OSHA lab standard

Intended to address the short-comings of the hazard communication standard regarding its application peculiar to the handling of hazardous chemicals in laboratories, whose multiple small-scale manipulations differ from the industrial volumes and processes targeted by the original HazCom Standard

Chemical hygiene officer

Lab standard requires the appointment of what officer?

Chemical hygiene plan

Plan is required to describe the laboratory’s method of identifying and controlling physical and health hazards presented by chemical manipulations, containment, and storage

Clinical and laboratory standards institute

Provides excellent general laboratory safety and infection control guidelines in their documents GP17-A3 (Clinical Laboratory Safety; Approved Guideline, Second Edition) and M29-A4 (Protection of Laboratory Workers from Occupationally Acquired Infections; Approved Guideline, Third Edition).

The joint commission

Publishes a yearly accreditation manual for hospitals and the Accreditation Manual for Pathology and Clinical Laboratory Services, which includes a detailed section on safety requirements

College of american pathologists

Publishes an extensive inspection checklist (Laboratory General Checklist) as part of their Laboratory Accreditation Program, which includes a section dedicated to laboratory safety.

Employer

Has the ultimate responsibility for safety and delegates authority for safe operations to laboratory managers and supervisors

Employee conduct

Vital factor in the achievement of a workplace without accidents or injuries

National fire protection association (NFPA)

Developed a standard hazard identification system

Health hazards

Blue quadrant

Blue

Color of health hazards

Flammable hazards

Red quandrant

Red quadrant

Color of flammable hazards

Reactivity/stability hazards

Yellow quadrant

Yellow

Color of reactivity/stability hazards

White quadrant

Color of other special information hazards

0

What is the lowest grade in the NFPA system?

4

What is the highest grade in the NFPA system?

Globally harmonized system of classification and labeling of hazardous chemicals (GHS)

System incorporates universal definitions and symbols to clearly communicate specific hazards in a single concise label format

Health hazard

Carcinogen

Mutagenicity

Reproductive toxicity

Respiratory sensitizer

Target organ toxicity

Aspiration toxicity

Flame

Flammables

Pyrophorics

Self heating

Emits flammable gas

Self-reactives

Organic peroxides

Exclamation mark

Irritant

Skin sensitizer

Acute toxicity

Narcotic effect

Respiratory tract irritant

Hazardous to ozone layer

Exploding bomb

Explosives

Self-reactives

Organic peroxides

Corrosion

Skin corrosion/burns

Eye damage

Corrove to metals

Gas cylinder

Gases under pressure

Flame over circle

Oxidizers

Environment

Aquatic toxicity

Skull and bones

Acute toxicity

30 to 50 gallons

How much gallons of water must safety showers have per minute?

Fume hoods

Contain and expel noxious and hazardous fumes from chemical reagents

100 to 120 ft per minute

Velocity at the face of the hood

Smoke testing

Recommended to locate no-flow or tubulent areas in the working space

Biological safety cabinets

Remove particles that may be harmful to the employee who is working with potentially infectious biologic specimens

Safety carriers

Used to transport glass bottles of acids, alkalis, or organic solvents in volumes larger than 500 mL

safety cans

Used for storing, dispensing or disposing of flammables in volumes greater than 1 quart

Steel safety cabinets with self-closing doors

Required for the storage of flammable liquids

High efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters

Respirators with what filter must be worn when engineering controls are not feasible, such as when working directly with patients with tuberculosis or when performing procedures that may aerosolize specimens of patients with as suspected or confirmed case of TB?

Exposure control plan

To minimize employee exposure to bloodborne pathogens, each employer must have a written what?

Infectious substances

Known or suspected infectious specimens are labeled what if the pathogen can be readily transmitted to humans or animals?

Diagnostic specimens

Those tested as roughly screening or for intial diagnosis

The right to know law

Developed for employees who may be exposed to hazardous chemicals in the workplace

Safety data sheet

Major source of safety information of employees who may use hazardous materials in their occupations

Chemical hygiene plan

OSHA standard requires each laboratory that uses hazardous chemicals to have a written what?

Chemical hygiene plan

Plan provides procedures and work practices for regulating and reducing exposure of laboratory personnel to hazardous chemicals

Hazardous chemicals

Those that pose a physical or health hazard from acut or chronic exposure

Teratogens

Substances that effect cellular development in a fetus or embryo

Toxic substances

Potential of producing deleterious effect by direct chemical action or interference with the function of body systems

Flammable solids

Flammable liquids should be stored separately from what?

Organic acids

Mineral acids should be stored separately from what?

Caustics

Oxidizers should be stored separately from what?

Water-reactive substances

Perchloric acid should be stored separately from what?

Flammable and combustible liquids

Among the most hazardous materials in the clinical chemistry laboratory because of possible fire or explosion

Flash point

Flammable/combustible liquids are classified according to what?

Flash point

Temperature at which sufficient vapor is given off to form an ignitable mixture with air

Below 37.8 C (100 F)

Flammable liquid has a flash point of what?

At or above 37.8 C (100 F)

Combustible liquid has a flash point of what?

Corrosive chemicals

Injurious to the skin or eyes by direct contact or to the tissue of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts if inhaled or ingested

Reactive chemicals

Substances that, under certain conditions, can spontaneously explode or ignite or that evolve heat or flammable or explosive gases

Carcinogens

Substances that have been determined to be cancer-causing agents

Benzidine

Example of carcinogen (1)

Radioactive materials

Used or stored must be posted with caution signs, and traffic in these areas should be restricted to essential personnel only

Nuclear regulatory commission

Required if the amount of radioactive material exceeds a certain level

Nonionizing radiation

Equipment often emits a variety of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation that staff must be protected against through engineereed shielding or use of PPE

Fire

Chemical reaction that involves the rapid oxidation of a combustible material or fuel, with the subsequent liberation of heat and light

Fire

Caused by the breakdown and recombination of the molecules from the material burning with the oxygen in the atmosphere

Fire tetrahedron

Fire triangle has been modified into a three dimensional pyramid known as what?

Class a

Ordinary combustible solid materials, such as

paper, wood, plastic, and fabric

Class b

Flammable liquids/gases

Combustible petroleum products

Class c

Energized electrical equipment

Class d

Combustible/reactive metals, such as magnesium, sodium, and potassium

Pressurized water extinguishers

Foam and multipurpose dry chemical extinguisher

Extinguishers used for Class a fires

Multipurpose dry chemical extinguishers

Carbon dioxide extinguishers

Extinguishers used for Class b and c fires

Halogenated hydrocarbon extinguishers

Extinguishers used for computer equipment fires

Rescue

Activate

Confine

Extinguish

RACE means:

Compressed gases

Serve a number of functions in the laboratory, present a unique combination of hazards in the clinical laboratory: danger of fire, explosion, asphyxiation, or mechanical injuries

Liquid nitrogen

One of the most widely used cryogenic fluids in the laboratory

Mechanical hazard

Hazards presented by equipment such as centrifuges, autoclaves, and homogenizers

Ergonomic hazards

Physical conditon or workplace factor that harms your muscoskeletal system

Cryogenic hazard

Hazard that may lead to extreme cold risks, including skin damage, oxygen loss and rapid pressure buildup

Foul-smelling chemicals

What chemical should not be disposed of down the drain?

Radiation safety officer

When disposing of radioactive waste, who should you consult first?

The medical waste trackin act of 1988

Purpose was to charge the environmental protection agency with the responsibility to establish a program to track medical waste from generation to disposal, define medical waste, establish acceptable techniques for treatment and disposable, and establish a department with jurisdiction to enforce the new laws

Medical waste

Defined as special waste from health care facilities and is further defined as solid waste that, if improperly treated or handles, may transmit infectious diseases

8 hours

Serious injuries and illnesses, including those resulting in hospitalization, disability, or death, must be reported to OSHA or the state-administered program within how many hours?

Environmetal (unsafe conditions) or personal (unsafe acts)

Most accidents can be traced to one of two underlying causes: