HAZARD IN MEDICAL LABORATORY

Dr. Almurdi, DMM, MKes

 MEDICAL LAB

• Haematology
• Clin. Chemistry
• Med Microbiology
• Histopathology
 VITAL ROLE OF LAB

• Confirming provisional diagnosis of

the clinician
• Ruling out a diagnosis
• Detecting disease
• Regulating theraphy
 SAFETY IN THE LAB

• Hazards and accidents

• Risk of acquiring transmissible
disease
–Contact with patients
–Handling specimens
 HAZARD IN THE LAB
• INFECTION
– Inhalation of pathogen in air-borne
droplets
• Sentrifugation
• Opening of specimen containers
– Ingestion of pathogens by mouth-
pipetting
 cont…
–Ingestion of pathogen from
contaminated food or fingers
–Pathogen finding their way into
the body through needle pricks,
cut, skin lesions
 HAZARD…

• BURNS
– Inflammable substances catching fire
– Fire from bunsen, overloaded electric
circuits
– Swallowing of corrosive substances
during pipetting or spilling
 Hazard …

• Cut and Pricks

– Edges of broken glasswares
– Edges of knife
– Accidental pricking with needle or any
other sharp instrument
– Walking in glass chippings
 Hazard …

• Hazard of toxic chemicals

– Inhalation of furners of toxic
chemicals
– Swallowing or ingestion toxic chemical
during mouth pipetting
– Skin contact with toxic chemicals
 Hazard …

• Electric shocks
–Faulty electrical circuits
–Incorrect installation of
equipment
–Touching exposed live wire
 SAFETY AGAINST INFECTION
• Should wear protective clothing
• All specimens and infected materials
should be handled with care
• Should avoid eating, drinking in the
laboratory
• Nothing should be pipetted with the
mouth
 cont…
• Protective gloves should be worn
when collecting blood sample for
AIDS, hepatitis
• All infected materials should be
disinfected before disposal
 Safety …
• Process specimens or cultures
containing highly infectious pathogens
in safety cabinet
• In case of any spillage, disinfectant
solution should be poured to cover the
spilled material and left for 15 minutes
before cleaning up
 cont…
• Before leaving the lab for any
length of time hands should be
washed with soap and water
throughly
 BIOSAFETY LEVEL
• BSL 1 : for lab in which work is done
with well define and characterised
organisms not known to cause
disease in healthy adult humans eg:
E coli, Bacillus subtilis
 cont…
• BSL 2 : for lab with moderate risk
agents present in community and
associated with human disease of
varying severity. Eg : HBV,
Salmonella, Toxoplasma (use gloves,
safety cabinet class I or II)
 BSL …
• BSL 3 : is necessary in the laboratories in
which work is done with agents that are
associated with risk of serious or fatal
aerosol infection (Mycobacterium,
Brucella, HIV). Properly maintained
biological safety cabinets Class II and III
should be used
 BSL …

• BSL 4 : are applicable to work with

dangerous and exotic agents which
pose a high risk of life threatening
disease to individuals ( in referen- ce
and research laboratories) eg : virus
Ebola, virus Lassa
TERIMA
KASIH