Basic Concepts in Clinical Biochemistry-A Practical Guide.7z

Common Clinical Laboratory Hazards

and Waste Disposal^1

It is very important to protect laboratory worker from hazards. The laboratory
hazards fall into three main categories: chemical hazards, biological hazards, and
physical hazards. The major chemical hazards in laboratories are the cleaning agents,
anesthetic gases, disinfectants, drugs, and solvents. The persons working in labora-
tory are exposed to chemical hazards during their usage or due to improper storage.
Biological hazards involve exposures to infectious samples, animal diseases trans-
missible to humans, and biological agents used during experimental procedures that
include viral vectors, etc. The exposure to physical hazards is associated with
research facilities. The laboratory personnel encounter the physical hazards due to
accidental spill of corrosive reagent, broken glassware, etc. (Fig.1.1).
The major precautions that can be followed while working in laboratory are:

1. Proper labelling of chemicals.


2. The worker should avoid mouth pipetting and should take care not to blow out
   pipettes containing potentially infectious material like serum.


3. The gloves, mask, protective eyewear, and gowns must be used while drawing
   blood from a patient.


4. Proper installation offire extinguishers, grounding of electrical wires, etc.


5. The reuse of the syringes should be avoided, and needles should be disposed off
   in the containers without touching.


6. Completely incinerate infectious tissues.


7. The discarded tube or infected material should not be kept unattended or
   unlabelled.


8. All sharp objects and infectious samples should be disposed off properly.


9. Immediately use laboratoryfirst aid in case of accidental exposure to any hazard
   (see Table1.1).


10. The laboratory workers must be trained for proper handling and disposal of
    biohazardous materials including the patient specimens. (Note the hazard warn-
    ing symbol on reagents.)

#Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018
V. Kumar, K. D. Gill,Basic Concepts in Clinical Biochemistry: A Practical Guide,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-8186-6_

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