Do you run a medical analysis laboratory?
In search of a health and safety risk assessment tailored to your activity?
Do you need a pre-filled assessment to save you hours of work?
Want to be in compliance with safety regulations?
 
Our Health and Safety Risk Assessment is designed to meet your needs with:
→ A professional risk assessment totally specific to biology laboratories.
→ Risk prevention proposals dedicated to laboratories.
→ Assessment of risks caused by coronavirus contamination (COVID-19).
 
All this in an easily editable Excel format, allowing you to make personalized updates on your own.
 
FEATURES OF THE HEALTH AND SAFETY RISK ASSESSMENT 
 
This 5-page Excel file includes:
A Cover Page
A Company Information page
A presentation of the Risk Assessment Methodology used.
An occupational risks assessment tailored to your sector of activity.
A risk prevention schedule with all the different safety measures.

It contains 37 occupational risk situations classified into 6 work units:
Contact with customers
Sampling and Analysis
Secretariat and Administration
Laboratory cleaning
Courier
Working environment
 
☑ Complies with the employer's obligation to assess risks
(Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulation 1999)
☑ Adheres to the General Principles of Prevention
(Schedule 1 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulation 1999)
☑ Takes into account good practice and pitfalls in risk assessment
(Report RR151 from the Health and Safety Executive)
 
EXCERPTS FROM THE HEALTH AND SAFETY RISK ASSESSMENT 
 
The danger of airborne contamination through contact with patients: Medical analysis laboratory staff are in close contact with customers, whether when they are being greeted or when they are being treated. Customers are likely to be carriers of airborne diseases, and to contaminate laboratory staff. This risk of airborne contamination is considerably heightened by the current SARS-CoV-2 epidemic. The risk of airborne contamination is present whenever laboratory staff find themselves in a room with a sick client. The probability of being contaminated is much greater if protective masks are not worn, if the air in the room is little or not renewed, if the distance between people is small (less than 1 meter) and if hygiene measures are not respected (notably hand washing). Airborne contamination can entail a variety of risks, depending on the bacteria/virus transmitted, and therefore on the illness the person develops: Bacterial meningitis, Varicella, Rhinopharyngitis, Covid-19, Influenza, Streptococcal angina, Tuberculosis, Measles, Rubella, Whooping cough...
 
Biological sample handling hazards: Medical analysis laboratory staff are responsible for taking various types of biological samples from customers, as well as handling them for the various laboratory tests and analyses. Samples taken and handled in the laboratory (blood, sputum, urine and stool) are likely to come into contact with laboratory staff through skin contact and contaminate them. The risk is present not only during the sampling phase, but also during sample transport and handling (e.g.: soiling the outside of the sampling tube), during laboratory testing and analysis (e.g.: spilling the sample on the bench with skin contact by the operator) and during sample disposal. Most of the contamination caused by the handling of biological samples comes from bacteria (mainly brucellosis, typhoid, tularemia and tuberculosis) and viruses (Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, SARS, SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, Vaccine). Other contaminations, such as those caused by fungi, are possible, but represent an extremely small proportion of laboratory contaminations.
 
The danger of needle contamination: Most samples taken from customers in the medical analysis laboratory are blood samples. To take these samples, laboratory staff use medical syringes fitted with needles. In the event of mishandling, laboratory staff can be pricked by a needle used on a patient. This can lead to a blood-borne infection (BBBI). This is likely to occur during needle handling, when staff are sampling patients, but also after sampling, when the sampling material is disposed of in the waste and needle collector. If a needle that has already been used to take blood samples from a patient penetrates the epidermis of the skin of the person in charge of taking the sample, this person runs the risk of a Blood-borne Transmissible Infection (BBTI). The main existing BBTIs are Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and Acquired Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV).
 
 
A GUARANTEE OF THE QUALITY OF OUR HEALTH AND SAFETY RISK ASSESSMENT 
_ We're registered as Professional Risk Prevention Consultants.
_ Our team comprises graduate safety engineers.
_ Our documents are routinely checked by safety inspectors.
_ We frequently update our Occupational Risk Assessments.
 
RESOURCES 
_ "Laboratories : Hazard Recognition and Solutions" by Occupational Safety and Health Administration