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Common sense rules safety in the lab

Lab Safety Advisor, June 13, 2006

Common sense rules safety in the lab

John and Jill were working the midnight shift. One night when it was quite slow, they decided to play a game of darts-using the antifatigue mat for a target. They drew a bull's-eye in the center of the mat and stood across from each other at the mat's edge. Each was armed with a pair of scissors. The object of the game was to throw the scissors closest to the bull's-eye. John went first and threw his pair of scissors, spearing Jill's foot and sending her straight to the emergency room for three stitches. As part of their corrective action, John and Jill had to prepare and present a safety in-service to the rest of the staff. It was the best in-service the staff had attended because it was based on a real-life situation.

Why not use your own accidents and near misses to make your in-services come alive?

June is National Safety Month and a perfect time to present information on those important safety topics that just don't fit into any other category. Post laboratory safety statistics for the past year on the safety bulletin board. If you don't have an area dedicated to lab safety, how about holding a lab safety poster design contest either by section (hematology, chemistry, etc.) or by team? Ask members of the environmental health and safety department to be the judges. The winning team gets a pizza party or other special prize. If you want to focus on specific topics, review your OSHA 300 logs to spot trends. For example, this year, TB, C. difficile, and needlestick issues have prompted much discussion-why not review infection control?

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