Working safely in a lab requires efforts from multiple sides

A lab, in which chemical and biological substances are used, can pose risks. The law therefore requires employers to provide their employees with sufficient personal protective measures. But who exactly is (ultimately) responsible for the correct use of these protective measures?

By: Dimitri Reijerman

During Lab Safety, on May 21 in the Reehorst in Ede, says Gijsbert van Willigen, Biorisk Management Professional at LUMC, on this topic. He asks the question out loud: “who is responsible for working safely in the lab?”

With his years of lab experience, Van Willigen continues to emphasize the subject of safe working: “My message is that an employer should offer all kinds of resources to employees to work safely, but that it is the employees themselves who sometimes make a mess of it. That is why a good awareness campaign should be running continuously, so that people also use these resources in a good way.”

According to the biorisk expert, underestimating the dangers among lab workers is a constant threat: “Sometimes they don’t seem to ‘want’ to see the risk. The risk is underestimated. Proper supervision of the use of personal protective equipment is also an important point. And thirdly, managers, a lab manager for example, must operate within the same field. If people have to wear a white coat, then the lab manager himself must also do so when he enters the lab.”

Culture of accountability

In terms of supervision, Van Willigen says: “As long as it is emphasized enough and there is good accountability for wearing personal protective equipment, then you see that the compliance percentage becomes much higher. At a company like Shell, you are simply kicked out if you do not follow the procedures. You also see at other types of companies that the accountability can be so high that employees also address the director in the event of dangerous behavior in the laboratory.”

Yet he sees a different attitude in the Netherlands with regard to social control. “In the Netherlands, that is often not the case. We are sometimes quite egocentric, the attitude 'if he wants to do that to himself, so be it.' There is still a world to be won in that area, by creating a working culture of addressing people.”

Creating awareness, for example by paying attention to it during work meetings, will pay off, provided that this is done structurally. Van Willigen mentions a practical example: “In the hospital, nurses were addressed about hand hygiene after they had been with a patient. Colleagues then address each other, and that is how you still arrive at 90 to 95 percent compliance. However, if you no longer pay attention to it, compliance drops again. Paying attention to the aspect of safety is therefore very important, but you also have to continually show why you are doing this for the people.”

In his daily practice he uses the same approach: “I give a course on lab work myself. The first student who comes in without gloves is allowed to go outside again and then come back the right way. That is a bit lame, but you do make them understand that they are doing something wrong. The same if they walk outside with two gloves. A bit academic, but that way you hope that it will stick. Still, it is not a 100 percent guarantee.”

Other dangers

But there are more potential hazard settings in a laboratory. Van Willigen takes picric acid as an example, a dried dye that has been in some cabinets for twenty years: “These can pose an explosion hazard under pressure. If lab technicians clean out the cabinets regularly, a lot can be removed.”

Another aspect is the increasing automation in laboratory environments. However, these complex devices can also break down. The safety expert explains: “What happens if the device breaks down? Who is going to take action and how is he going to do that? You see that question in laboratory streets, for example: you put the tube in at the front and you get the result at the back, but what if something gets stuck in the middle? Because of the automation, you can no longer see the risk exactly, only a mechanic or the machine manufacturer often knows how to repair such a machine without putting yourself in danger.”

Despite the risks that still exist, Van Willigen concludes by emphasizing that working in a lab has improved enormously since the 1980s, when personal protective measures were made mandatory. “There are no more deaths in labs in the Netherlands. But there is still room for improvement.”

Would you like to attend his presentation or visit the LabSafety Event? Register at https://fhi.nl/labsafety/