Safety and Health at Work Vol. 11 Issue 3 2020
Infection Risks Faced by Public Health Laboratory Services Teams When Handling Specimens Associated With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Short Communication)

Safety and Health at Work Vol. 11 Issue 3 2020
Infection Risks Faced by Public Health Laboratory Services Teams When Handling Specimens Associated With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Short Communication)

COVID-19, Hand hygiene, Laboratory workers, Occupational safety, Risk assessment

Infection risks of handling specimens associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by public health laboratory services teams were assessed to scrutinize the potential hazards arising from the work procedures. Through risk assessments of all work sequences, laboratory equipment, and workplace environments, no aerosol-generating procedures could be identified except the procedures (mixing and transfer steps) inside biological safety cabinets. Appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) such as surgical masks, protective gowns, face shields/safety goggles, and
disposable gloves, together with pertinent safety training, was provided for laboratory work. Proper
disinfection and good hand hygiene practices could minimize the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection at
work. All residual risk levels of the potential hazards identified were within the acceptable level.
Contamination by gloved hands was considered as a major exposure route for SARS-CoV-2 when compared with eye protection equipment. Competence in proper donning and doffing of PPE accompanied by hand washing techniques was of utmost importance for infection control.

Chun-Kwan Wong, Dominic N.-C. Tsang, Rickjason C.-W. Chan, Edman T.-K. Lam, Kwok-Kwan Jong

Elsevier Korea LLC

September 2020

Sri Wahyuni

PDF

English

Text

Safety and Health at Work Vol. 11 Issue 3 2020