Confessions of a Laboratory Safety Officer

Course Author:
Daniel Haun, MT(ASCP)
Instructor, Delgado Community College New Orleans, LA
eLearning Consultant LSUHSC, Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences New Orleans, LA

MOC^[?]: MK
Intended Audience: Pathologists, Residents, Pathologist Assistants, Medical Technologists, Medical Laboratory Technicians, Students

Despite vigilant compliance, extensive training and numerous safety regulations, bad things can still happen to laboratorians. This eCourse presents a first-person view of case studies where small details drastically influenced safety outcomes. With such a long list of safety regulations, the expert regulators, surely, must have of thought of everything. That your laboratory complies with them all, keeps a good MSDS file and attends safety training does not ensure that accidents and injuries will not happen. A lab safety officer in a large urban hospital for nearly twenty years, the author of this eCourse shares stories of successes and failures that are instructive for operating a safe laboratory including four planning details that benefited hospital patients and employees in the days following Hurricane Katrina.

These stories can be classified into four major themes: sharps safety, chemical spills, hazardous materials transport and disaster preparedness. Through them, you’ll receive an in-depth understating of assessing readiness and improving preparedness for chemical spills in the healthcare setting and the weaknesses of the standard laboratory safety shower.

The ASCP designates these educational activities for a maximum of 2 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activities.

These activities meet MOC Part II Lifelong Learning requirements. These activities meet MOC Part II Self-Assessment Module requirements.

ASCP designates these activities for a maximum of 2 CMLE credits. These activities meet CMP and state licensure requirements for laboratory personnel.