No one wants to risk bringing a disease home from work, but for laboratory employees working with biological hazards like viruses, bacteria, select agents, and toxins, as well as blood, bodily fluids, and human tissues, that risk is a reality. Working with lab animals can also pose the threat of contamination. Fortunately, with the proper training and precautions, you can protect yourself and coworkers from these risks.
This course focuses on biosafety and provides the safe work practices laboratory workers must follow to reduce the health-related risks associated with working around biological materials.
Working with or around chemicals in a laboratory setting may present serious hazards to your physical safety and health. However, these hazards can be reduced and controlled by following a few simple steps. Safety procedures for the facility where you work are outlined in a document called the chemical hygiene plan, or CHP, which is required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA. In this training session, we will discuss the provisions of this plan, including the information and procedures that will protect you and others while working in the laboratory.
Compressed gases are commonly used in laboratory operations. However, these gases present real hazards. They can lead to fires and explosions, toxic contaminations that adversely affect the health of workers, and even widespread public health emergencies that may lead to an evacuation if not handled, used, or stored properly.
Laboratory employees are responsible for using these gases safely. This means not only understanding the qualities and hazards of the gases themselves, but also learning the proper procedures for handling, using, and storing the cylinders containing these gases.
This training session focuses on working safely with compressed gases and cylinders in the laboratory.
This training course covers the principal elements of the regulatory requirements for how workers who generate hazardous waste in laboratories must manage that waste in the lab. The course describes the different types of hazardous waste and how they must be identified, stored, inspected, and documented, as well as the actions lab personnel should take to protect themselves and the workplace from the dangers of hazardous waste.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires laboratories to maintain records of workplace injuries and illnesses; safety data sheets (SDSs); chemical inventories; employee exposure and monitoring related to occupational chemical exposures; and personal protective equipment (PPE) certification. It’s important to properly maintain these records in the event of an OSHA inspection.
This training course is for laboratory supervisors to assist them in complying with OSHA’s recordkeeping regulations related to laboratory safety. This course also covers non-required recordkeeping guidelines for laboratories.
This course is directed at general laboratory operations. Specialized laboratories and states may have additional recordkeeping requirements.
Security is an important issue for laboratories because they often have hazardous materials, valuable equipment, and confidential information that could be appropriated by individuals with criminal and violent intentions.
This training course is for laboratory workers to help them identify the ways to keep the laboratory secure to protect themselves, their co-workers, and the public from harm such as theft, willful damage, or violence. This course applies to laboratories with a security plan in place.
Compliance:
The following employees must be provided with site specific security information to supplement this training:
• Laboratory employees who work with select agents or toxins regulated by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) as listed under 42 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 73.3 and 73.4. The additional training requirements are specified in 42 CFR 73.15.
• Laboratory employees working at a facility that possesses or uses Category 1 or Category 2 quantities of radioactive material regulated by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and have duties that require unescorted access to those radioactive materials or devices/materials containing them or are part of the group implementing the security program. The additional training requirements are specified in 10 CFR 37.
In the laboratory, lasers are commonly used in instruments like spectrometers, microscopes, and alignment or measurement tools. Although these and other instruments are essential for lab work, the exposure to radiation from the laser is a hazard that can cause eye and skin damage to employees, as well as property damage at the facility if proper precautions and procedures aren’t followed. This training course is for laboratory workers who use instruments containing lasers to help them prevent exposure to laser radiation.
Additional training is required for workers who service and maintain lasers.
Compliance:
In addition to this course, employees who operate higher power Class 3B and Class 4 lasers must be provided with site-specific training based on a hazard assessment conducted at the facility by a laser safety officer. The training must include the guidelines in the American National Standards Institute Laser Safety Standard Z136.1 for Safe Use of Lasers (ANSI Z136.1).
Although we are exposed to small amounts of natural and manmade radiation each day, laboratory workers who work around radioactive materials, specifically ionizing radiation, have a higher chance of developing health issues from accidental acute and chronic exposure to high amounts of radiation. This course is for laboratory workers who work around radioactive materials to help them prevent, manage, and decrease the risk of radiation exposure.
