A fire can double in size every 30 seconds, and in a laboratory crammed full of people, chemicals, biological materials, and expensive equipment, that exponential growth can quickly lead to disastrous results. The people in your lab need to know what to do if a fire breaks out just as much as...
Artificial intelligence is increasingly impacting healthcare safety and compliance, offering tools for improving patient care and operational efficiency. Troy Lair, PhD, principal consultant of Elite Accreditation Consultants, caught up with Medical Environment Update for a Q&A on how AI is...
One of my favorite comic book story arcs is a miniseries called The Watchmen. In the story, the superheroes get a bit out of control and a common phrase emerges from the people: “Who watches the Watchmen?” The idea makes me think about how safety issues in labs can sometimes occur...
When there isn’t an immediate consequence to an unsafe behavior, in the laboratory or elsewhere, people can easily mistake “nothing bad happened” with “nothing bad will ever happen.” This leads to normalized deviance, where laboratory safety policies and standard operating procedures (SOP) are...
Often when we think about safety in the laboratory, we think about the immediate: disposing of the sharp in our hand right away or getting someone who had chemicals splash in their eyes to the eyewash station right now. But being proactive about safety requires the lab worker and safety officer...
Hospitals and other healthcare facilities have been on OSHA’s “high-risk” workplace list for a few years. That means the regulatory agency has noticed an increased number of employee injuries there, and therefore OSHA inspections have increased in hospitals and labs as well. If an OSHA inspector...
The ongoing issue of drug shortages presents significant challenges to healthcare systems across the country, impacting patient care, operational efficiency, and overall trust in the healthcare system. William “Bill” Lord, BSPharm, a seasoned pharmacy consultant with Nash Consulting, caught up...
When conflicts arise in the lab, they can distract staff from their work or safety practices. Conflicts can break down crucial relationships, lower work quality, and even erupt into verbal or physical violence. To talk about how a lab can prevent conflicts from arising and steps to take when...
When conflicts arise in the lab, they can distract staff from their work or safety practices. To talk about how a lab can prevent conflicts from arising and steps to take when they do, we spoke with Dan Scungio, MT(ASCP), SLS, laboratory safety officer for multihospital system Sentara Healthcare...
OSHA has finalized a rule amending the Representatives of Employers and Employees regulation. This amendment clarifies that during OSHA inspections, employee representatives may include third-party individuals who are not employees of the employer. Such third-party representatives can accompany...
