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...
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...
In this guest column, Dan Scungio, MT(ASCP), SLS,laboratory safety officer for multihospital system Sentara Healthcare in Virginia, and otherwise known as “Dan,...
On how to protect lab workers using ergonomics, MEU spoke with Dan Scungio, MT(ASCP), SLS, laboratory safety officer for Sentara Healthcare in Virginia, and Sean G. Kaufman, CEO and founding partner of the lab safety company Safer Behaviors.
Healthcare facilities aim to provide high-quality care to patients in an environment that is safe for workers. One of the ways facilities can ensure their staff’s safety is through a comprehensive sharps injury prevention program.
The manager walked into the lab to talk to Joan about the schedule. Joan was working with Mike, an older technologist who never seemed to follow the safety regulations of the laboratory. Joan was glad her manager was coming, because today Mike was wearing mesh sneakers, and he was chewing gum!...
