
CURRENT ISSUE | VOLUME 8 - ISSUE 5 | June 2013
COVER STORY
Calculating Workplace Tragedy
What recent industrial disasters can teach lab managers about the cost/benefits of safety
Editor's Buzz

We’ve all done it. Either in a rush, under pressure, or trying to save money, we’ve gambled with our safety. Opting not to wear the bike helmet for a quick ride around town; skipping the sunscreen since it’s really not that sunny; not flossing, despite the dental hygienist’s threats and pleas. While these examples are fairly trivial and affect only oneself, other safety gambles have much more serious consequences.
Lab Health and Safety

The first part of our series on blood-borne pathogens covered the basics, ending by touching on Universal Precautions and minimum personal protective equipment or PPE. Part two picks up where we left off and delves into the OSHA BBP standard a little further by examining the elements of an Exposure Control Plan more closely
Surveys
Business Management
Leadership and Staffing

YOU REMEMBER! A worldwide web of viewers watched 33 miners being pulled to the surface following a 600,000-ton cave-in that happened nearly one-half mile below the ground on a barren plain in southern Chile. Besides showcasing the tenacity of rescuers and the miracle of technology, the miners themselves offered dramatic lessons in resiliency that can teach everyone.
Laboratory Technology
Ask the Expert

Gary W. Procop, MD, MS, chair of the Department of Molecular Pathology, section head of molecular microbiology, and director of mycology and parasitology at the Cleveland Clinic, talks to contributing editor Tanuja Koppal, PhD, about the clinic’s $75 million state-of-the-art medical testing laboratory that opened in 2012. The building houses microbiology, molecular pathology, cytogenetics, and immunopathology as well as administrative offices. He talks about the thinking that went into designing the building and its labs and shares some insights on what people need to consider when embarking on such initiatives, however small or large. He emphasizes that both people and laboratories should always be open to change, making way for new advancements in science and technology.
Lab Health and Safety Tips

There’s a tendency to think that if someone is appointed safety coordinator, they have to do all the work for the rest of us. False! A coordinator is just that. He or she is not a “parent.” Each person needs to be responsible for safety in general and for a specific part of the program in particular. Here’s a list of a number of different specific assignments:
Product Focus
INSIGHTS
Research-Specific Labs
Time to Upgrade?
How it Works

Problem: While laboratory instruments have become faster and more automated to increase productivity, sample preparation has continued to remain a bottleneck and source of variability for most labs. The complexity and variety of samples that typically pass through labs makes this area one of the most difficult to automate.

Problem: Users in EM facilities with several current generation tools including FE SEM and dual beam FIB/SEM will, despite taking precautions to insert only clean specimens, sometimes get contamination introduced into their microscopes. This manifests itself as a dark rectangle on areas which have been exposed to the incident beam. How can this be prevented? Can it be removed from the previously exposed samples?