How to Establish a Thriving Laboratory Safety Program

Everyone deserves to work in a safe laboratory. But if you aren’t proactively keeping safety fresh on your team’s mind, it can be surprisingly easy to let inferior or even dangerous practices slip in and eventually turn into the norm.

How do you know if your laboratory’s current safety program is working? And if there isn’t a safety structure in place, what can you do to help establish one?  The task may feel daunting to laboratory directors, especially with so many regulations to follow.

“There are numerous regulations through OSHA, CLIA, and CAP, and it can be a very complex task to make sure you’re adhering to them. Having a safety program to fall back on can help you accomplish your goals much easier,” says Jason P. Nagy, PhD, MLS (ASCP), QLS, Laboratory Safety Support Coordinator for Sentara Health.

And every laboratory professional deserves to work in a laboratory where safety is upheld.

“Laboratory professionals deserve to be working in a place where they can go back home to their loved ones and rest easy,” says Dan Scungio, MLS (ASCP), SLS, CQA (ASQ), Laboratory Safety Officer at Sentara Health and Laboratory Safety Consultant and Owner of Dan the Lab Safety Man Incorporated. 

First, do a walk-through assessment

If you don’t have a safety program in place, or if you want to see if your current structure is working, take a walk through your laboratory.

“The first thing you need to do is a safety audit in your laboratory,” says Mr. Scungio. “You can tell a lot just by walking through.”

Observe the signage and employees’ behavior. Watch for how staff are handling anything high risk.

“Look at how people are throwing the trash out,” Mr. Scungio says. “There are four different waste streams they should be considering, each with its own regulations. If people aren’t doing that, that’s a sign right there.”

And review ongoing safety monitors for signs of a problem.

“There are some obvious monitors such as injuries, exposures, and spills that can be key indicators,” says Dr. Nagy. “But something like chemical inventories or inventory maintenance, you might not think about. If you’re slacking on routine things, that can be a sign of a weak safety culture.”

Check to see if you have the right stations in place for the type of exposure that different tasks can create.

“Do assessments of what OSHA requires,” Mr. Scungio says. “Are eyewashes or showers needed in this area? Do a risk assessment from the beginning of a process to the end. Is everything you need in place?” 

Guard against normalized deviance

Both Dr. Nagy and Mr. Scungio warn against a concept called normalized deviance that can creep into laboratories.

“Normalized deviance happens everywhere,” Mr. Scungio says. “We all go over the speed limit. That’s normalized deviance. We don’t drive 55. We think we can get away with 64. Over time, you lose the feeling that you’re doing something wrong. Your intentions aren’t bad, but disaster can still happen. And that’s where laboratories are bound if we let normalized deviance occur.”

An example is seeing cell phone use and not doing anything about it, thus allowing an infection control risk to become normal. Over time, you’re relying on luck, rather than procedures and processes to keep your laboratory safe.

The only good way to combat normalized deviance is by raising safety awareness regularly.

“Safety training is never just a one-and-done,” Mr. Scungio says. “It has to be ongoing.”

You’ll get a better response from your staff if you explain why a safety measure has to be taken. Dr. Nagy likes to compare safety to how drivers wear seatbelts, even if they haven’t been in a bad wreck.

“You’ve got to get that mentality with PPE,” Dr. Nagy says. “We should be anticipating, ‘This is HIV. This is Ebola.’ But laboratories sometimes get complacent and then accept that lower standard of performance as normal.”

Guarding against normalized deviance will ultimately lead to better patient care as well.

“If a laboratory is paying attention to their own safety, they’re also paying attention to patient safety, like patient IDs on specimens, not making mistakes in the blood bank,” says Mr. Scungio. “But if you’re accepting normalized deviance, you’re accepting a lower reputation and lower quality of care overall.”

Hold frequent safety meetings

Hosting frequent safety meetings is one of the best practices you can establish.

Mr. Scungio’s organization is composed of 12 hospitals and more than 20 laboratories, with more than 40 safety representatives. Mr. Scungio and Dr. Nagy host monthly online safety meetings that are the most well-attended in the organization.

“People love coming,” Mr. Scungio says. “They’re engaged.”

The meetings start with fun interactive activities, like trivia or quizzes. Then they focus on a different safety issue each month. They show pictures and ask participants to identify what the safety issues are in the photos, so they can use those skills in their own laboratories.

They also review the injuries and exposures from the last month, talking about incidents and how to prevent them without naming locations.

Individual laboratories, meanwhile, should host safety meetings more frequently, perhaps even daily during team huddles or shift changes.

“When I was interim manager at one of our hospitals, I met with each shift handover and discussed safety,” Dr. Nagy says. “We asked open-ended questions. ‘I’m not seeing a lot of safety goggles, guys. Why do you think it’s important? Over at this hospital, two people got splashed last year.’”

Frequent meetings keep safety practices fresh.

“Once you forget about it, it goes out of your mind,” Dr. Nagy says, “And then you get complacent.”

What if leadership isn’t supporting your safety goals?

While leadership support can make a huge difference, you can still take steps to improve safety even if leadership isn’t backing you up.

“You have to be a safety model,” Mr. Scungio says. “Dress properly every day, wear PPE. The person who’s talking about safety is going to be the first person the laboratory points to when they do something wrong.”

And stay consistent.

“I might have no authority in a laboratory, but if I see Jason not buttoning up his lab coat, I’ll say something to him every day,” Mr. Scungio says. “That’s one way to make a difference, and you can do that in a professional way without being  belligerent .”

Try to build relationships with your colleagues so they’ll want to take your advice. And let them know you’re not trying to boss them around; you’re trying to protect everyone and reduce accidents.

“Relationships are the most important part,” Mr. Scungio says. “Put money in that relationship bank, and people will be more likely to do what you want with safety.”

Mr. Scungio and Dr. Nagy both suggest the book “Crucial Accountability” as a great place to start.

Don’t get discouraged

If you don’t see change right away, or if an approach you tried doesn’t work, don’t take it too hard. Change takes time.

“Transparency is the key,” Mr. Scungio says. “When you get to a point where your laboratory staff are reporting near misses rather than just safety events, that’s the gold standard culture. But if your laboratory isn’t there yet, don’t be discouraged. Culture change takes a long time. Not everything you try is going to work. Every laboratory is different.”