Question

Discuss the importance of biosafety in the clinical laboratory during pandemics (such as COVID-19 or H1N1 Swine)?

Answer 1

The Covid-19 pandemic came home to labs across the country. Suddenly US clinical labs were on the front lines of this battle, providing specimen collection, coordinating supplies, and even offering testing. So many questions have been asked by lab staff about how to remain safe when handling Covid-19 specimens, whether processing them to send to a reference lab, or testing in house. What PPE is needed? Can I work with the sample outside of a biological safety cabinet? Do I need extra gloves?

The heightened fear regarding Covid-19 is a result of many things. It’s a new pathogen with some unknown characteristics, and fear generation and misinformation is all over the news and social media. It is known that most healthy adults below a certain age and with no co-morbidity would easily survive an exposure to this virus. Given this hard science, it may not make sense for laboratorians to be more afraid of the coronavirus than of the HIV or Hepatitis that they handle every day. However, now is the time to use this heightened safety awareness to help sustain a stronger long-term lab safety culture. There are several ways to make this happen.

Often, laboratorians use unsafe practices because it is how they were trained, or it’s what they see lab leadership doing. If the manager walks through and meets with staff every day and conducts huddles in the lab while wearing sandals or holding a cup of coffee, the message the lab manager tells his/her staff about how they prioritize safety is a strongly negative one. It is extremely important to have leaders in the lab set the proper example, and to do it consistently. Setting the wrong example will cause damage to the safety culture that can be spread far and wide in the department.

Setting the right example-.Creating a culture in the lab where everyone can speak up about safety issues is vital, and working with lab leadership and physicians to make it happen is important. Educating staff about the potential outcomes of poor safety behaviors is an important aspect of an ongoing safety program.

Make daily safety inspections.

To improve safety in the environment, laboratorians should be trained in the use of their 'Safety Eyes'. It’s the ability to easily see an unsafe issue, and this super power improves with use. Once trained, a person can walk through the lab and quickly and easily recognize unsafe situations. The ability is honed by practice—simply take the time to walk through the lab and begin looking for specific safety items like PPE use, trip hazards, waste handling, or anything that can be seen while walking through the area. It can be valuable to learn to be able to spot unsafe behaviors and situations, and to always take immediate action on them. If staff are situationally aware more often, the overall safety culture is better and will be sustained.

Measuring the lab safety culture regularly can be a valuable tool to making long-term improvements. Create a safety culture survey or use safety audit results and safety meeting data to make an assessment. Ask staff and leadership how they feel about the current culture and discuss what could be improved. Keeping a pulse on the lab safety culture lets others know safety is a priority in the department as well.

When questions arise about lab safety when handling Covid-19 specimens, the first reaction might be to ask “why now?” Ultimately, it doesn’t matter. If there is something happening that raises awareness of lab safety issues, take advantage of it. Use the questions to provide solid answers, and apply those answers to all pathogens handled in the department. Take this opportunity to educate about important safety practices that prevent injuries and exposures every day in the department. This pandemic will pass, but the lessons learned and the opportunities to improve lab safety can continue for years to come.

Laboratory biosecurity is more than just the safeguarding of dangerous pathogens and toxins from individuals or organizations who would use them for harm. While protection of dangerous pathogens and toxins is obviously appropriate, the scientific, medical and pharmaceutical communities should also consider protecting materials with historical, medical, epidemiological, commercial or scientific value.

This Covid-19 pandemic will pass, but the lessons learned and the opportunities to improve lab safety can continue for years to come.