Safety training shouldn’t be something that is performed once and put aside. Yet in far too many laboratories, that’s exactly what happens. Do you have a new employee? Train them. Have they been on staff for a few years? Maybe you should do a yearly fire drill and that’s it. However, just like...
To make things safer, your laboratory has banned cell phones as a distraction and infection control risk. However, if you have a machine or computer program that requires a two-factor authentication code sent to someone’s phone to work, what are lab staff supposed to do—break the no-phone rule...
Even as healthcare organizations improve their training and technology around drug diversion prevention, a 2025 report reveals that cracks remain—particularly in culture, coordination, and confidence.
This is Part 2 of our interview with Jason P. Nagy, PhD, MLS(ASCP), QLS, and Dan Scungio, MT(ASCP), SLS, on onboarding training and lab safety for new hires. Nagy is a laboratory safety support coordinator and Scungio is a laboratory safety officer for the multihospital system...
Hospitals may not top OSHA’s enforcement list compared to high-risk industrial sectors, but they are far from exempt—especially when it comes to workplace violence and serious injury reports.
There is a lot for an employee to learn when they start at a new laboratory. During their onboarding, they will learn the standard operating procedures for cleaning, using, and servicing lab equipment. They will learn about the proper handling and disposal of hazardous materials and waste. They...
In this guest column, Dan Scungio, MT(ASCP), SLS, laboratory safety officer for multihospital system Sentara Healthcare in Virginia, and otherwise known as “Dan, the Lab Safety Man,” discusses the important issues that affect your job every day. Today, he...
Plan, do, check, and act. When a problem emerges in the laboratory, it’s not enough to just respond and move on. You also need to find out what caused it and how to prevent it from happening again. Without closing the loop, the safety problem will linger in your lab until it’s noticed by...
In this guest column, Dan Scungio, MT(ASCP), SLS, laboratory safety officer for multihospital system Sentara Healthcare in Virginia, and otherwise known as “Dan, the Lab Safety Man,” discusses the important issues that affect your job every day. Today he discussed lab exposure.
Hospitals are constantly grappling with the dangers of drug diversion, as illustrated by a $2 million settlement between Cheshire Medical Center and federal authorities, among many other cases.
