Rules and safety measures in the laboratory
It is very important to follow the rules of a microbiological laboratory especially from a safety point of view if this important rules are not followed, a student, a teacher or a laboratory worker can face biological hazards, chemical hazards, as well ad physical hazards.
The safety rules are as follows;
1. Laboratory coat must be worn compulsorily, this is because dyes or stains and chemicals are used in the laboratory which could not only harm the skin, but also damage the cloth.
2. Instructions given by the instructor must be noted and followed carefully.
3. Eating and drinking is not allowed in the laboratory.
4. Do not put anything into your mouth such as pen, pencils, your fingers e.t.c.
5. Hair or artificial hair elongations must be packed with the hair cap to avoid the hair falling on the face.
6. Laboratory doors and windows should be kept closed when experiments are on going.
7. Extra materials such as bags, clothes, purses, books, should be kept in proper places like drawers, lockers, and shelves, the working area must be kept free from this extra materials.
8. Before and after starting your work on the work bench, the bench top should be disinfected using ethanol.
9. Your hands should be washed thoroughly before and after each task, this precaution lessen chances of infection or contamination from cultures.
10. Smoking is completely prohibited in the laboratory.
11. Microbial culture should be handled properly, and should not be taken out of the laboratory.
12. Mouth pippeting should be prohibited, mechanical pippeting device should be used.
13. All laboratory work should be carefully carried out, to avoid the formation of aerosols.
14. Talking, laughing, crying should be avoided, because it can result into contamination and thereby giving a misleading result.
15. All contaminated materials should be placed into a proper container, culture plate and tubes that have been used should be discarded into a provided basket.
16. All microbial cultures, should either be incubated or refrigerated.
17. Cultures should on no accounting be left lieing on the desk, cupboards or kept in drawers.
18. All pipette or glass rods should be properly disinfected or sterilized after each use.
19. Whirl loops should be sterilized before and after every use.
20. All laboratory instruments should be operated according to the standard operating procedure.
21. Burnsen burners are often used in the micro-biology laboratory and are very dangerous, and should therefore be handled with care and turned off when not in use.
22. All electrical appliances such as oven, the autoclave, the centrifuge, should be immediately turned off after every use.
23. All accidents, injuries, broken glass-ware should be immediately reported.
24. Alcohol should be kept away from the flame.
25. Waste paper, broken glassware, threads, used Ph slips should be discarded safely.
26. Only permitted experiment should be carried out in the laboratory.
27. Keep the laboratory clean, follow of the above instructions and you will be safe and get good result.
28. Put on safety boots.
Bio hazard in Microbiological lab.
Bio-hazard talks about hazards in the environment you are working (lab)............
Biological hazards are known as bio-hazards and it refers to biological substances that pose a threat to the health of living organisms especially humans.
Different levels to which bio-hazards are;
There are four main levels which are;
(1). Level 1: This is a laboratory setting, where personnels work with a low-risk micro-organisms that pose little or no threat of infection to humans. E.g. Bacillus subtilis, E.coli.
Work can be conducted on an open-bench top using standard microbial procedures, however, there are certain precautions that must be taken. e.g
i. Cleaning the work bench before and after experiment e.t.c.
An Autoclave is used to de-contaminate. Laboratory personnels should have specific (basic) trainings in laboratory procedures and a Microbiologist should be placed there as a supervisor.
(2). Level 2 Bio-hazard: In this level, peronnels deal with bacteria and viruses that causes mild diseases, or diseases that are difficult to contract via areosols. In these laboratory settings, safely regulations are stricter, and bacteria causing Hepatitis A, Sahmonella typhi (causes thyfoid fever) sahmonelosis and viruses causing mealses, mumps or HIV are grouped in this category. Laboratory personnels should have specific training in handling this pathogenic agents. During activities in the lab, access to laboratory should be limited to non laboratory personnels, care should be taken with contaminated sharp items, the use of biological cabinet are strongly required, in this bio-hazard laboratory.
3. Level three (3) bio-hazard: they deal with micro organisms that cause infections but for which there are available vaccines. For example, west Nile virus, yellow fever, sars virus, anthrax.
Lab personnels should have specific training in handling pathogenic and potentially leader (deadly) agents, use of biological safety cabinet is imperative e.g. laminal flow chamber. Protective clothing and equipment should be more.
4. Level four (4) bio-hazard: laps at this level are for research on viruses that cause severe to fatal diseases in human and for which there are no available vaccines or treatment. E.g. Corona virus, Ebola virus, suits and mandatory to be worn when working in the laboratories. Safety precautions include a vacuum room, ultraviolet room and detection system e.t.c. the air and water going out of this laboratory must undergo de-contamination to eliminate possibilities of accidental realease.....
Assignment: Read and write about vaccines...
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