In my profession, I have been in laboratories that are Biosafety level 1, 2 or 3. A BSL2 lab poses a moderate risk to personnel who enter the lab. The type of bacteria or viruses used in this lab are potentially harmful and require adequate amount of risk management to be observed.
I work for a company that deals with radiation seeds. Radiation is considered a physical hazard. If we do not utilize personal protective equipment as well as thick shields while handling these seeds we can expose ourselves to radiation. Not following protocols increases the possibility of harm to our bodies and can cause sickness.
I worked in a Microbiology Lab. There were many potential hazardous situations. It was very important for us to clean the lab with bleach and alcohol solutions. A hazard would be Listeria monocytogenes contamination and the harm would be a lab acquired infection. This hazard would result in medium risk to lab personnel.
A patient is fitted for their first back brace following a scoliosis diagnosis. However during that fitting, the prosthetist/orthotist had incorrectly written the waist measurement to be significantly smaller than the patient’s true waist size. The back brace now poses a mechanical hazard to the patient as the brace is not truly representative of the patient's true body shape. The patient would be in a hazardous situation if they were to wear the brace over a long period of time. Long-term wear of an ill-fitting brace could lead to harm to the patient, specifically bruises.
I currently work in an in vivo lab and can think of several hazards in a hazardous situation with a specific harm. We often have certain test subjects that undergo doses of radiation and other test articles. The main hazards are being exposed to said radiation or being bit by a subject that has been exposed to the radiation. Fortunately there are several protocols that must be followed that help manage these hazards.
In a hypothetical situation at Cyberdyne Systems, a biotechnology firm, they encounter a critical issue in their biosecurity laboratory. The lab, which focuses on gene therapy research, houses various infectious agents, including a specially engineered influenza strain. During a routine maintenance session, a lab technician inadvertently damages a containment unit, leading to an unnoticed leak of the influenza virus. This breach escalates into a hazardous situation when, a couple of days later, several employees start showing flu-like symptoms. It becomes evident that they have contracted the modified, highly contagious influenza strain. This results in a minor outbreak within the company, affecting other staff and their family members, thereby underscoring the crucial importance of robust safety measures and emergency protocols in such high-risk research environments.
An example I can think of is similar to yours, with a biohazard. I know in New Jersey, when an animal has bit a person and is to be put down in the following 10 days, it is routine (as horrible as this sounds) to remove the head of the pet after euthanasia as the risk of rabies is a possibility. Removal of the head allows for a quick way to test a piece of brain tissue to see if rabies is present, if it is not, the pet can be cremated or buried, if it is positive, it must be reported and special orders will be made. I will attach the document here if anyone is interested.
I think I can tell one situation from my personal experience. It was during COVID time and my undergraduate research work involves with studying the virus. The vaccine was not vastly applied at such time so the live virus is definitely a hazard for anyone working with it. The situation is that one of my lab mate got exposed to the virus, and obviously the harm was that he got COVID after that. He survived though, but it was very serious as the vaccine was not around at that time (that was early stage).
Since i mainly have worked in many lab setting there are a lot of hazards we come into in the biological sense, where at times we need to work with harsh chemical like paraformaldehyde or even other cases where we work with cancer cells. We were trained to use these chemicals in an appropriate manner and similarly, when working with cancer cells or other potentially hazardous biological materials, we have to follow strict biosafety guidelines, such as using biosafety cabinets to prevent contamination and properly disposing of waste to avoid accidental exposure.
I completely agree that proper training is critical to avoid mistakes with biohazard protocols.
For example, take the case of a newcomer in a biology lab who is assigned to sterilize re-useable pipettes that have been used for non-pathogenetic but biologically based materials, say yeast cultures. They may not be aware that while yeast is non-pathogenetic, it still falls under the category of biohazard and had better be disposed of first in the specially marked biohazard waste bin. Instead, the trainee washes the pipette directly under the sink without realizing that this can introduce biohazardous residue into the common washing area. This kind of mistake might seem minor, but it highlights how gaps in training can lead to bad habits that compromise lab hygiene and safety. Ensuring trainees understand the protocol for all materials.
As part of my job, I am required to attend various safety training sessions to use different equipment. As part of Radiation Safety Training, I heard the importance of covering any radioactive material that you are working with, once you are done with any experiments, and washing your hands after you cover the radioactive material. A guy was working in a radiation lab at Rutgers-Newark, and he had a conference to attend on the same day this incident occurred. He did not close the radioactive material he was working with, and did not wash his hands before going to the conference. He contaminated the classroom he was in, the lab, and his own home with high radiation levels.
A real example of this happened during the 2014 Ebola outbreak, when healthcare workers in West Africa faced serious exposure risks. The hazard was the Ebola virus present in infected patients’ blood and bodily fluids. The hazardous situation occurred when medical staff were treating patients without fully sealed protective suits or when their gloves or masks were accidentally torn during treatment. The harm was severe, many healthcare workers became infected with Ebola, and some lost their lives. This situation clearly shows how direct contact with a biological hazard in a healthcare environment can quickly lead to serious harm if proper protective measures aren’t followed or equipment fails.
At my previous internship, I learned how easily hazards can turn into serious situations if not managed properly. For example, imagine working at a company called MedTech Labs that develops diagnostic equipment. During testing, a technician accidentally spills a sample containing a biohazardous material, like blood infected with hepatitis B. The hazard here is the contaminated biological sample, the hazardous situation is the technician’s exposure due to improper handling or lack of protective gear, and the specific harm would be the technician contracting hepatitis B. This scenario highlights why strict safety protocols and proper training are so critical in environments that handle biological materials.
As an example of a hazard in would be electrical hazard in a hospital can occur when a patient monitoring device has a faulty power cable. the hazard is the damage cable itself . The hazardous situation happens when the nurse plugs in the device while the cable insulation is broken. The harm it could be electrical shock to the nurse or the patient, potentially leading to burns or cardiac arrest.
A laboratory setting provides a vivid illustration of a hazard in a hazardous condition. Let's say GenBio Labs, a biotech business, is developing vaccines using bacterial cultures. The existence of a pathogenic strain of E. coli is one of the risks in this situation. When a lab technician unintentionally spills a culture while preparing samples, they run the risk of exposing themselves or others to the bacteria. A major E. coli infection, which can lead to severe gastrointestinal disease and, in certain situations, more catastrophic problems like kidney failure, is the specific harm that could arise from this exposure. The company is able to apply risk mitigation techniques, such as appropriate usage of personal protective equipment (PPE), biosafety cabinets, and spill response protocols, because both the hazard (pathogenic bacteria) and the hazardous situation (accidental spill) are clearly identified in this scenario. This situation emphasizes how crucial it is to recognize and manage risks in order to avoid injury. It brings up a number of crucial issues for debate: How can GenBio Labs enhance safety protocols and training to lower the risk of unintentional exposure? Are there any technical solutions that could further reduce risk, like automated cultural handling? How can the business sustain production while making sure that stringent safety procedures are always followed?
