1) What are universal precautions? Provide at least two examples.
2) Determine what aIDitional data do you think is necessary for healthcare professionals and students to know? Do some aIDitional research on the subject of laboratory safety and share your findings with your classmates.
3)Search for and share case studies on organizations that did or did not effectively implement OSHA’s guidelines for safety. What were the medical and legal consequences of non-compliance?
These guidelines: 1. Upon entering the laboratory, locate exits, fire extinguisher, fire blanket, chemical shower, eye wash station, first aid kit, broken glass containers, and clean-up materials for spills.
2. Do not eat, drink, smoke, handle contact lenses, store food, or apply cosmetics or lip balm in the laboratory. Restrain long hair, loose clothing, and dangling jewelry.
3. Students who are pregnant, taking immunosuppressive drugs, or who have any other medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, immunological defect) that might necessitate special precautions in the laboratory must inform the instructor immediately.
4. Wearing contact lenses in the laboratory is inadvisable because they do not provide eye protection and may trap material on the surface of the eye. Soft contact lenses may absorb volatile chemicals. If possible, wear regular eyeglasses instead.
5. Use safety glasses in all experiments involving liquids, aerosols, vapors, and gases.
6. Decontaminate work surfaces at the beginning and end of every lab period, using a commercially prepared disinfectant or 10% bleach solution. After labs involving dissection of preserved material, use hot soapy water or disinfectant.
7. Keep all liquids away from the edge of the lab bench to avoid spills. Clean up spills of viable materials using disinfectant or 10% bleach solution.
8. Properly label glassware and slides.
9. Use mechanical pipetting devices; mouth pipetting is prohibited.
10. Wear disposable gloves when handling blood and other body fluids, mucous membranes, and nonintact skin, and/or when touching items or surfaces soiled with blood or other body fluids. Change gloves between procedures. Wash hands immediately after removing gloves. (Note: Cover open cuts or scrapes with a sterile bandage before donning gloves.)
11. Place glassware and plasticware contaminated by blood and other body fluids in a disposable autoclave bag for decontamination by autoclaving, or place them directly into a 10% bleach solution before reuse or disposal. Place disposable materials such as gloves, mouthpieces, swabs, and toothpicks that have come into contact with body fluids into a disposable autoclave bag, and decontaminate before disposal.
12. To help prevent contamination by needlestick injuries, use only disposable needles and lancets. Do not bend the needles and lancets. Needles and lancets should be placed promptly in a labeled puncture-resistant leakproof container and decontaminated, preferably by autoclaving.
13. Do not leave heat sources unattended.
14. Report all spills or accidents, no matter how minor, to the instructor.
15. Never work alone in the laboratory.
16. Wash hands and remove protective clothing before leaving the laboratory.
