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Roche Ireland Pharma Ltd Clare - New Client Training Programme

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in Projects

Chemical Safety Awareness Course

23/04/2015

Lab Safety Ireland are delighted to be working with Roche Ireland in Clare on their lab safety training programme. We completed lab chemical safety awareness training over 2 days with Roche last week for 41 laboratory and EHS personnel on site. The course included lots of relevant accident and occupational illness case studies and video reports on lab incidents and included specific lab related updates on chemical safety topics. See a selection of comments below on our course content from Roche personnel.

"Clear and direct communications."

"The Case studies were really good."

"A very comprehensive course."

"Great course and very relevant."

"Videos were graphic and got to the point."

"All very interesting with good examples given."

"Good visual examples and plenty of real life examples."

"Well structured, relevant contents and up to date."

National Children's Research Centre Course Feedback

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in Projects

Chemical Safety Training

18/12/2014

"Materials very relevant to us."

"Interactive, interesting, understandable."

"Excellent slides and relevant examples."

Biological Safety Training

18/12/2014

"Good information. Well presented."

"The group exercises got us thinking which was good."

"It relates to our work here specifically."

"Lots of examples and case studies. Excellent slides."

CDC installing cameras in labs in agency-wide safety push

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

29/01/2015

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has introduced camera monitoring of workers in its highest-level biosafety laboratories as it seeks to restore public faith in its procedures after a series of mishaps, agency officials tell Reuters.
One lab worker inadvertently risked contracting Ebola last month when they worked with the live virus that was supposed to have been inactivated, or killed. Since last June, the Atlanta-based agency has disclosed several incidents, one in which scientists unknowingly sent potentially live anthrax to a lower-security laboratory and another in which a deadly form of bird flu was sent to an external agency's lab.
The mishaps have raised major questions over safety practices at more than 1,000 laboratory and support facilities that make up the CDC, whose role is to monitor and prevent outbreaks of disease.
The move to monitor workers will allow lab directors and senior scientists to ensure they have followed safety protocols exactly, Leslie Dauphin, interim director of laboratory safety, told Reuters in an interview.
"You cannot deviate," she said. "That is what the camera system helps with."

Lab Bloopers

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

22/04/2015

Accidents happen. As any scientist knows, plenty can go wrong when working with potentially dangerous microbes, chemicals, or equipment. Last week (April 17), Reddit user mmm_whatcha_say opened a thread asking scientists to share “the worst thing that has happened in their lab.” The thread has attracted nearly 2,800 comments. Among the top 500:

Food-related flubs

AnthraxCat: “We had a grad student working with a relatively benign strain of Vibrio cholerae who didn’t wear gloves, or wash her hands before eating lunch. She got cholera. The doctors were baffled.”

Jfmorrison: “Postdoc ordered a pizza and ate part. Put the rest in the -80 C freezer. Next night, wants a snack, puts in microwave on defrost for a couple minutes. Cheese looks melted so he takes a bite. The center is still frozen solid and he gets ice burns on his tongue, mouth, and lips.”

Lab Bloopers Galore

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

24/04/2015

After scientists shared memorable accidents, mistakes, and errors from their laboratory experiences on Reddit last week, The Scientistasked readers to share a #labblooper or two. Here are some reader responses from Twitter andFacebook:

Agar disasters

Tina Loane Peterson: “Automated agar plate dispenser mishap. The gasket was not correctly aligned in the reassembled machine. I set up to make a batch of plates and went to lunch. Returned to a room looking like Slimer attacked it. I had to clean agar off of the ceiling!”

Charli Evans: “As an undergrad I once lifted a Petri dish in excitement, the lid fell off, and the agar fell onto my face . . . complete with unidentified bacterial snot.”

Lab accident involving acid evacuates Kingsway

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

26/01/2015

WOOLWICH — A lab mishap involving lauric acid sent a dozen Gloucester County high schoolers to the hospital and forced a snowy school-wide evacuation early Monday.

Heavy smoke was reported at Kingsway Regional High School near 7:40 a.m.

Woolwich Township Police and the Gloucester County HAZMAT team responded to potentially toxic chemical fumes, according to Superintendent James Lavender.

Trinity College acid spill: Fire fighters in hazmat suits called to science lab at Dublin university

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

17/04/2015

Fire fighters in protective suits were called to an acid spill in Trinity College yesterday.A number of units from Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) attended the scene at the university after the incident in a zoology science lab.The fire crews wore special hazmat suits as they dealt with the toxic spill.

Australian Catholic University campus evacuated after chemical spill in laboratory

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

17/02/2015

Hundreds of students have been evacuated from the Australian Catholic University campus after a chemical spill in a laboratory this morning. Roads around the university in Edward St, North Sydney, were closed as fire crews rushed to the scene.

The spill is understood to have involved a acid-based chemical of an explosive nature. Superintendent Ian Krimmer from NSW Fire and Rescue said firefighters were in the process of assessing the nature of the spill. “Someone noticed the leak and did the right thing,” Supt Krimmer said. The entire campus has been evacuated and three fire crews are at the university with further experts on the way. About 200 students had to leave the university and there were some classes in session at the time.

Kaiser employee treated after chemical spill

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

05/03/2015

A male employee at Kaiser Permanente Irvine Medical Center was treated at the hospital's emergency Thursday evening after accidentally spilling a chemical onto the floor and himself, authorities said.

The Orange County Fire Authority received a call at 6:30 p.m. about the spillage in the pathology lab where the employee worked, Capt. Steve Concialdi said.

The employee spilled the liquid chemical, Formalin, on himself and immediately showered and sought treatment in the emergency room. The chemical is a formaldehyde solution that contains a small amount of methanol. It's used for preservation of specimens in a lab setting. Contact with it can cause skin burns and blistering.

Ebola lapses show lab safety protocols should factor in human error

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

02/01/2015

Christmas Eve brought the unwelcome news that a lab worker at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may have been exposed to the Ebola virus. It was the latest in a series of similar lapses. Citing such problems, the Obama administration in October suspended some government-funded research projects involving genetic modification of viruses that have the potential to set off a worldwide epidemic. The lapses reported so far have not involved serious injuries or fatalities. But is the lack of serious harm evidence that current safety measures are effective, or are the lapses early warning signs of systemic problems?

The recent Ebola exposure at the CDC occurred just four days after a symposium on lab safety at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington. A broad cross section of experts, including me, assembled to ponder such questions, to debate the risks and benefits of the suspended research and to begin to discuss how to implement and enforce risk assessments of laboratory processes.

4 people injured in explosion in Texas Tech Chemistry Building

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

02/02/ 2015

Four people were taken to a hospital with minor injuries Monday after an explosion in the Texas Tech Chemistry Building.

Officials believe the explosion was caused by a chemical waste product, said Chris Cook, university spokesman. Cook could not say what type of chemical caused the accident.

Those injured suffered cuts and abrasions, Cook said. It was unclear if the building sustained any structural damage, but crews were working to clean up inside.

According to a release from the Lubbock Fire Department, the Tech Fire Marshal’s office is investigating the exact cause of the explosion.

“It will be investigated, and they will start that immediately,” Cook said.

Chemical Spill Prompts Investigation At MSU’S F-RIB Facility

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

24/02/2015

EAST LANSING, MI (WLNS) – Employees were working with a chemical they’ve used before inside a building that is part of MSU’s F-RIB facility.

“It’s standard procedure within the operation of the facility, so nothing special that they did or didn’t try out,” said Georg Bollen, Experimental Systems Divisions, director, F-RIB.

F-RIB’s experimental systems director says something went wrong when employees tried to neutralize or throw away a chemical. A strong odor soon emerged.

“I don’t think we really know what happened.”

What did happen though soon after the odor developed, was an alarm went off, alerting the 10 employees inside to quickly exit the building.

University of Liverpool chemistry lab explosion sees researcher injured

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

04/03/2015

A researcher was injured after an explosion in a chemistry laboratory at the University of Liverpool.

Paramedics and fire crews, including the specialist HazMat team, were called to the chemistry building on Oxford Street at around 8.50am following the incident on the fourth floor.

Eyewitnesses reported several windows were blown out in the blast, which involved a chemical at the site, and the area outside was cordoned off.

The man who was injured, a post-graduate researcher, was given first aid at the scene by paramedics.

He is believed to have suffered burns to his hands and face, while two other people thought to have been in the laboratory at the time of the explosion were uninjured.

Safety survey reveals lab risks

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

02/01/13

Scientists may have a false sense of security about the safety of their laboratories, according to early results from the first international survey of researchers’ workplace attitudes and practices.

Some 86% of the roughly 2,400 scientists who responded said that they believe their labs are safe places to work. Yet just under half had experienced injuries ranging from animal bites to chemical inhalation, and large fractions noted frequent lone working, unreported injuries and insufficient safety training on specific hazards.

Fatal explosion in Cork ‘one of worst’ industry accidents

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

27/04/2012

An explosion that killed one employee and seriously injured another at a chemical plant was described as one of the worst in the history of the pharmaceutical industry in Ireland.

Cork Circuit Court heard an ambulance that carried a body from the scene was so “chemically contaminated”, it was decommissioned afterwards.

The sentencing hearing against Corden Pharma Ltd, trading as Corden Pharmachem, will continue before Judge Patrick J Moran today.

Michael Boylan, an inspector with the Health and Safety Authority, said the accident happened at 1.20am on Apr 28, 2008, at the company’s plant at Little Island, Co Cork.

At the time, 150 people worked there but, that night, five employees and a security contractor were present. The company now employs nine people in research and development and non-manufacturing activities at a different location.

Liam Nodwell was killed in the explosion and Jimmy O’Sullivan was injured. Mr Boylan described it as one of the worst accidents since the pharmaceutical industry started. Debris from the accident was found 150 metres away.

Eight hospitalised following chemical leak at pharmaceuticals plant in Dublin

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

15/01/2015

Eight people were hospitalised this morning following a chemical leak at a pharmaceuticals plant in north county Dublin. The incident occurred at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) factory in Swords at approximately 3.30am this morning.

According to a spokesperson for the plant, which is known locally as Swords Laboratories, the incident involved "a small localised chemical leak from a manufacturing vessel".

Bomb disposal experts called to Manchester University

Posted by David Butler on Thursday, 26 March 2015 in News

9/3/2015

Bomb disposal experts were called to a university campus after a student's experiment went wrong, creating a chemical that is 'highly volatile' and at risk of causing a huge explosion.

Students had to be evacuated and emergency services called after concerns were raised about a sample of a acetone peroxide - a highly dangerous chemical often used in improvised attacks by terrorists - being accidentally turned into an explosive form at a Manchester University laboratory.

The incident came just hours after a student was injured after a chemical explosion at a Liverpool University lab, which was so forceful it blew off the doors and broke windows.

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