Laboratory Quality Stepwise Implementation tool

Title

Train staff to recognize symptoms of laboratory associated infections and facilitate access to diagnostic and medical services for when such cases occur

Why

The laboratory is a potentially dangerous place to work. The risk of infection is always present. When staff members are aware of symptoms of the most common laboratory infections, they will be able to react faster and more appropriately in the event that they are potentially infected with a pathogen. To facilitate a rapid and appropriate response, laboratory staff must have quick and easy access to diagnostic services, preferably free of charge.

What

Make staff aware of the symptoms of laboratory associated infections
Create easy access to diagnostic and medical services. If possible, make these services free of charge so that not the staff member but the laboratory (or insurance if possible) will cover the costs. This further decreases the barrier to find help should a staff member not have sufficient money to visit the services
The privacy of the staff member needing medical services should always be maintained
Arrange pre-exposure prophylaxis (vaccination against Hepatitis B and regular TB checks)

How & who

Biosafety Officer:

Identify the pathogens most frequently worked with in the laboratory.
Identify the symptoms of diseases caused by these pathogens.
Present and discuss the symptoms of the diseases caused by these pathogens with all staff. Explain to the staff members what they should do when they have these symptoms.
If possible, have all the staff members working with human materials vaccinated against Hepatitis B (this is obligatory in many countries) and organize regular checks for TB where opportune. Coordinate this in cooperation with the Laboratory Manager.
Make sure that laboratory staff have access to appropriate post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), diagnostic and medical services (including financial assistance when needed). Do this also in cooperation with the Laboratory Manager. PEP is a prophylactic that can be administered directly after a potential infection with a pathogen. Examples of diseases for which PEP must be available: Rabies, HIV, Tetanus and Hepatitis A, B and C. For more information the World Health Organization (WHO)/International Labour Organization (ILO) developed a guide for HIV PEP. The WHO also has a webpage on Rabies PEP.
Write the procedure on what to do when staff members (potentially) have become infected in the laboratory, including the administration of PEP and visiting of medical services. Later in this phase the Laboratory Biosafety Manual needs to be written. This procedure will become part of this manual. Therefore, try to closely follow the outline of the template of the Biosafety Manual chapter as provided in the right-hand column of this webpage. An example of a Biosafety Manual chapter is also provided to give an indication of the level of detail used for the Biosafety Manual.

Laboratory manager: