Property | Value |
Name | Laboratory Work Practices and Occupational Hazards among Laboratory Health Care Workers: A Health and Safety Survey |
Description | Health and Safety Survey:- *Javed Akhter, PhD, Sameera Al Johani, MD, Loulwah Hammad, BSc, Khalid Al Zahrani, MSc.
*Director, Quality Management and Laboratory Safety,Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mail Code 1122,P.O. Box 22490,King Abdulaziz Medical City,Riyadh 11426,Saudi Arabia.
Abstract:- A Health and Safety survey was conducted among Laboratory workers in the Pathology Laboratory at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Analysis of 154 completed questionnaires showed that the majority of respondents were female (61%) with most participants under the age of 30 years (49%). 88% of respondents regularly worked with blood and blood products. It was found that 14% had suffered a needle stick injury and 8% had received splashes to the eyes or mouth; 2% had not reported these exposures. Full compliance of wearing gloves at all times when working with blood and blood products was 92%. Only 61% of respondents washed their hands after removing gloves. There was also a low compliance of using goggles/face shields when handling body fluids outside of a biological safety cabinet (17%). Reasons given were lack of availability (30%), not thought necessary (18%) and interfered with job (8%). Total compliance for safe disposal of sharps in a sharps container was 92%. This first report in Saudi Arabia identified several deficiencies and strategies for improvement. These results are essential in formulating effective health and safety measures and provide relevant and focused education to reduce occupational related hazards and injuries.
Keywords:- Occupational hazards, laboratory workers, laboratory hazards. |
Filename | Akhter Javed et.al..pdf |
Filesize | 191.82 kB |
Filetype | pdf (Mime Type: application/pdf) |
Creator | admin |
Created On: | 08/16/2011 00:00 |
Viewers | Everybody |
Maintained by | Editor |
Hits | 5275 Hits |
Last updated on | 09/04/2011 17:31 |
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