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Laboratory safety: Within and beyond our borders
Lab Safety Advisor, January 9, 2007
Q: Besides OSHA standards, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) General Checklist and HCPro products, what other sources can we can turn to for laboratory safety information?
A: Additional information about laboratory safety is available from the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI, formerly NCCLS) at www.clsi.org:
- GP5-A2: Clinical Laboratory Waste Management. Provides guidance on safe handling and disposal of chemical, infectious, radioactive, and multihazardous laboratory wastes.
- GP17-A2: Clinical Laboratory Safety. Contains guidelines for implementing a high-quality safety program adaptable to any size or scope of laboratory. ("The Safety Lady" was an advisor on this project and developed the safety audit form.)
- M29-A3: Protection of Laboratory Workers from Occupationally Acquired Infections. Provides guidance on the risk of transmission of and recommendations for the management of exposure to infectious agents in a laboratory setting and discusses specific precautions for preventing the transmission of microbial infections from laboratory instruments and materials.
- X3: Report on Implementing a Needlestick and Sharps Injury Prevention Program in the Clinical Laboratory. Presents a step-by-step approach for implementing safer medical devices that reduce or eliminate laboratory personnel sharps injuries and provide a safer working environment.
In addition to the primarily U.S.-based safety guidance and advice listed above, an international standard has also been published. ISO 15190: Medical laboratoriesâ?"Requirements for safety, was published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2003. This document sets the minimum standard for safety in medical laboratories of any size and scope anywhere in the world and was derived significantly from the information contained in the CAP General Checklist section on laboratory safety and also the CLSI guidelines mentioned above. ISO 15190 is presently under revision for 2008; the current version is available from CLSI.
Editor's note: Lucia M. Berte, an expert in quality and safety management in laboratories, is the guest columnist for this issue of Lab Safety Advisor. For questions and comments on this article, please contact: Lucia M. Berte, Quality Systems Consultant, at lmberte@comcast.net.
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