QUALITY SYSTEMS
BSOs Convene First Northeast Laboratory
Safety Symposium
By Jill Power, MS, M(ASCP), CMQ/OE(ASQ), biosafety officer/quality coordinator, New Hampshire Public Health Laboratories
The Northeast Environmental and Public
Health Laboratory Directors (NEEPHLD)
network convened a laboratory safety
symposium for clinical laboratories in
the region on June 19, 2018. Funded by a
$10,000 grant to regional networks from
APHL, the idea for the symposium arose
after outreach visits by biosafety officers
(BSOs) to sentinel and clinical laboratories
indicated limited training and knowledge
of biosafety and biosecurity practices.
Held at the Massachusetts Medical Society
in Waltham, MA, the meeting brought
together 107 attendees through the hard
work of NEEPHLD BSOs who served as
planners, presenters and demonstrators.
Attendees included biosafety officers,
laboratorians, vendors, Clinical Laboratory
Management Association (CLMA) and
APHL representatives and others.
The symposium gave NEEPHLD BSOs the
opportunity to meet with their clinical
laboratory partners to assist them in
improving their biosafety and biosecurity
practices. It also allowed smaller PHLs to
interact with some of the largest PHLs
in the country. This reinforced the value
of the smaller institutions in supporting
sentinel clinical laboratories. These
laboratories face the same safety issues
as larger hospitals and, in some cases,
without the guidance and resources that
larger institutions can provide.
Meeting highlights included four
interactive safety workstation exercises
and a workshop on how to perform and
write safety risk assessments using a
simulated laboratory process. Attendees
learned to identify hazards (and
activities) that could cause an exposure,
how to determine the likelihood and
consequence of the exposure and how to
choose mitigation controls to reduce or
eliminate the severity of the exposure.
Feedback from attendees was positive.
A pre-test and post-test showed a gain
in safety knowledge of 22%. Updating
laboratory safety practices seemed to be
the easiest win for attendees. Attendees
also plan to undertake safety training,
review safety protocols and manuals;
implement risk assessments and
continuity of operations plans (COOP). n
NEEPHLD is comprised of state public
health laboratories in Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and
the New York City Public Health Laboratory.
Special thanks to the NEEPHLD BSOs who
assisted with this meeting:
• Melissa D’Amico, MT(ASCP). New York
• Shoolah Escott, MS, MT(ASCP),
Massachusetts
• Robert Ireland, PhD, Rhode Island
• Anna Liddicoat, MPH, New York City
• Bobbie Macierowski, MS, M(ASCP)CM,
Connecticut (CT)
• Joyce Oetjen, PhD, Vermont
• Marcia Pindling-Watkins, DMH, MS, MT,
M(ASCP)CM ,New Jersey (NJ)
• Jill Power, MS, M(ASCP), CMQ/OE(ASQ),
New Hampshire
Participants listen to one of the sessions at the Northeast Laboratory Safety Symposium
16
LAB MATTERS Fall 2018
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