Dangers of bloodborne pathagins in the lab

Bloodborne pathogens pose a very realistic and dangerous threat in the lab.  Bloodborne pathogens are described as pathogenic microorganisms that are present in human blood and can cause disease in humans.  Examples of bloodborne pathogens include HIV, Hepatitis B, and more.  Often times in the lab when working with blood (animal or human) samples may be contaminated with pathogens that can be contracted by humans.  This risk is amplified greatly in labs that have a focus on bloodborne pathogens.  A lab worker who comes in contact with contaminated blood may contract an illness that could prove fatal. Often times, the origin of the blood is unknown/undisclosed.  In many circumstances, the blood can come from someone who did not know they had a disease carried in the blood. We see this with HIV/AIDS infections as well as Hepatitis. 

A lab that does this very task exists at Ohio University.  Aside from the professor that directs this lab, most of the people working in the lab are students.  This increases the risk greatly.  It is known that some of the most dangerous labs are labs in education.   In this case we are talking about mainly college labs. The reason these labs are so dangerous is because students and teaching assistant are often not concerned with safety, or just unaware of the risks.  Many times, even the professor heading the lab or program is more concerned on the work being done, than the safety in the lab.  In our short tour of the bloodborne pathogens lab at Ohio University, several shortcomings of safety became apparent.  Many reasons for this were strictly economical.  The blood samples and blood components are stored in a regular everyday refrigerator at the lab.  Technically, the lab is to have a special lab refrigerator, but due to the expense of one, the lab has a normal everyday refrigerator. 

Because of the nature of the work done in the lab, it produces biological waste.  This waste is to be autoclaved and disposed.  Because the lab does not have an autoclave, the waste is taken care of by an outside company.  This is an expensive service, so most of the time; biological waste is not disposed of in the recommended amount of time.  Something I found surprising is that the lab is actually aloud to dump some waste down the drain.  The blood contaminated samples sit in a solution to sterilize them.  The solution is than mixed with bleach, diluted with water, and sent down the drain.  What I found most alarming was that a blood solution that was waiting to be disposed sat in Tropicana fruit drink containers on the counter.  In fact, there were several of these containers.  Not only was this mixture in a container that usually holds a drink meant for humans to consume, but it was also a appealing red color that you may expect a fruit juice to be.  This was so alarming to me because I can very easily see someone mistaking this for a drink for humans.  The bottle was labeled with a faded “skull and cross bones” draw with a permanent marker. The drawing was very small and hard to notice against the red color.  Also while students at this particular lab are told to put on a lab coat, it is not enforced.  The students are aware of the location of the lab coats, and told they are suppose to have them on but usually do not utilize them.  You can see there are some obvious safety shortcomings at the bloodborne pathogens lab.  Many of which are from lack of funding, but some of which are negligence.

Identifying Laboratory Hazards

Identifying hazards in the lab is a very crucial part of lab safety. The research laboratory world is always growing and expanding, making many new and great advances.   There are constantly new procedures being developed, and new equipment being used as well.  As exciting as this may be, all this innovation and learning also has a downside to it.  With the increasing amount of advances, it also brings with it a increasing amount of hazards.  

And unfortunately some of these hazards may not be discovered until a tragedy unveils the danger.  The first step to identifying hazards is recognizing where they are possible, in other words, defining the scope of work.  In most research laboratories, researchers and workers are required to wear standard personal protective equipment.  This equipment often includes a lab coat, goggles or safety glasses, and sometimes gloves.  The lab coat prevents direct contact with your cloths or skin in the event of a spill.  The eye protection protects your eyes from a splash of chemicals, or objects shooting threw the air.  And the gloves protect your hands from direct contact with whatever you may be working with.  While these are the bare essentials, and what everyone thinks about when they hear “lab safety” they are not always the full extant of lab safety.  This is where defining the scope of work being conducted in the laboratory becomes so crucial.  Some labs may be dealing with biological hazards, pathogens, virus, or bacteria.  In this case it is crucial to have barriers of various sorts in place to protect the employees from coming in contact.  Laboratories often deal with a great deal of these biological hazards, and it is not only important to contain them properly in the lab, but also once they need to leave the lab.  This means labeling them as biological waste and properly disposing of them.  In laboratories that deal with extreme dangers to humanity like the Ebola virus, recognizing possible hazards to the workers and outside world is crucial.  Nobody wants a deadly virus walking out of a lab on the bottom of someone’s shoe. 

Chemical hazards are another giant factor in recognizing potential hazards.  Research laboratories deal with a vast array of dangerous chemicals.  Sometimes they are developing chemicals they may not even know the properties of yet.  Chemicals may have dangerous properties such as off-gassing dangerous fumes, creating fire hazards, creating oxygen displacement hazards and so much more.  Also it is important that laboratories do not exceed the laboratory amount.  The laboratory amount sets a limit on the amount of hazardous chemicals a lab is aloud to work with.  The laboratory amount was exceeded in the UCLA incident causing a massive explosion and resulting in the loss of a life. 

There also physical hazards in labs.  This includes hazards that occur in every other work place as well.  For example, slips, trips, and falls.  Someone could knock over a container that breaks and lets a chemical react with oxygen and causes an explosion or fire.  The fact of the matter is it is nearly impossible to recognize all hazards in the lab.  The best thing we as safety professionals can do is try and identify as many possible hazards as we can, and take actions to prevent them from happening.

OSHA Regulations in Lab Safey

In the United States, more than 500,000 people are employed in various laboratories.  The OSHA standard for labs is called the Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories Standard or 29 CFR 1910.1450.  This standard only pertains to non-production laboratories.  The OSHA Laboratory Standard is meant to protect workers from chemical, biological, physical, and radioactive injuries or aliments.  There may be some hazards that are not covered by any listed category, OSHA still provides guidance on these matters.   There is also such thing as a performance standard.  This standard is in place because of the vast array of industry in the United States.  There are uncountable unique processes going on all across the country, many with specific and unique hazards.  There are so many different occupations that it is impossible to right a safety regulation for every single process.  This is where the Performance Standard comes into play.  The Performance Standard ensures that companies meet safety standards even if they are not directly listed in the OSHA rules. 

 Similarly to this, labs and other industries are also affected by the general OSHA clause.  This says that an employer must furnish and create a safe environmental for employees to work free from apparent dangers or hazards.  This standard does not only affect labs, but any businesses, corporations, or industries.  In fact most OSHA standards for other industries also apply to laboratories.  However when working with chemicals OSHA standards are different in the lab.   Chemicals must be dealt with in “laboratories amounts”.  This means using only smaller amounts of chemicals, not like a large amount used in a production processes.  When dealing with a larger amount of dangerous chemicals, the danger often increases.  There has been instances were the laboratory workers exceeded the amount of chemicals they are suppose to be using and it has ended in tragedy.   When working with materials that may explode or combust, it is very important to not exceed the allowed amount, as this can increase the danger greatly.  Chemicals can be one of the biggest dangers in a lab.  It is important to know the hazards of the chemicals that are in the lab.  This information should be available to workers via MSDS/SDS or a Chemical Hygiene Plan.  There are a lot of lab standards that most are familiar with, and that are relatively simple as well.  For example, the basic lab personal protective equipment.  This includes lab coats, safety goggles, and gloves. 

 There are also extremely complicated aspects of lab safety.  This includes the Biosafety levels one, two, three, and four.  One being the least dangerous, and four being the most dangerous.  In a Biosafety level four lab is were we see extremely dangerous diseases, viruses, etc. being worked with.  For example, Ebola would be researched and worked with in a Biosafety level four labs, because of the immense risk to the human population it poses.  In general, there are more OSHA regulations for labs than other occupational settings.  This is because labs still need to abide by the regular OSHA regulation for occupational settings, but also need to follow a unique list of regulations pertaining specifically to labs.