• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

In the News: Biosafety 3 lab in Boston evacuated

Emergency Management Alert, March 27, 2007

Just weeks after EMA reported that laboratorians said U.S. clinical labs are not prepared for handling chemical terrorism, an event occurred that had some questioning domestic preparedness for any type of lab incident.

This week in Boston, hazmat teams were called to the site of a Boston University Biosafety Level 3 lab to investigate a smoke condition. Turns out that it's likely related to an electrical problem. Outcry was quick and ready, as the lab is close to the construction site of a Level 4 lab. It's also right next to another BU lab where three workers were infected by tularemia bacteria in 2004.

The report, released February 1 by the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) polled thousands of medical lab directors, assistant medical lab directors, administrative lab directors, section heads, and managers between August 17 and November 14, 2005.

It revealed that only 35% of the laboratories had a written protocol for collection of specimens from patients suspected of exposure to chemical agents. It showed that a scant 1 in 5 labs were familiar with patients' test results correlating with exposure to chemical warfare agents and had quick chemical warfare reference guides available in the laboratory.

This story (link below) from the Boston Globe will tell you more. But the Globe doesn't mention that the labs are also close to a highway plagued with infrastructure problems that turned out to be fatal for at least one person as the result of faulty construction during the Big Dig public works project. Last year a woman was killed when a section of a highway tunnel-glued and not bolted-fell atop her car. The incident prompted examination of the below-ground stability of the area.

Bostonians will remember that public-works employees wanted to celebrate completion of that section with a party starring the Boston Pops, an idea nixed by then-Governor Mitt Romney.

Here's the link to the lab: http://www.ascp.org/AboutUs/NewsRoom/NewsArticle.aspx?PrimaryCode=CHEM

Here's the link to the Globe story:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/03/21/biomedical_lab_evacuated/

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive