Safety tips
For labs dealing with infectious substances, a biosecurity plan is just as important as a strong safety program.
There are some emergencies that can’t wait five minutes for EMTs to arrive. Severe bleeding is one of these. A person can bleed to death in three to five minutes depending on the severity. Employees need to be available to deal effectively with this and other serious emergencies.
One of the characteristics of an effective safety program is the availability of reference and resource materials.
Fire extinguishers need to be appropriate to the type of fire. Type A fires form an ash. A water extinguisher is for fires involving burning wood or paper, and so on.
When most of us think about lab safety, the first things that likely come to mind are the dangers of chemicals and other hazardous substances, but even something as innocent as lifting equipment or supplies can cause a serious injury if not done correctly.
The establishment of a separate accounting line for environmental, health and safety related purchases is essential. This allows you to clearly track monies expended for this purpose.
No matter how prepared new researchers think they are for the hazards they’re going to encounter in the lab, it’s pretty likely they’re eventually going to have some type of mishap that reminds them that firsthand experience has no substitute.
