Team:Tec-Chihuahua/Safety
]
Safety Courses
Before starting any of the lab work, we completed courses provided by the Public Health Agency of Canada web page. In these courses, the whole team learned about the proper way to work in a Physical Containment Laboratory Level 2. All of the courses certified below were comprehended by the team to avoid any mistakes made inside the lab, preventing at the same time, accidents that could endanger someone.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
When being inside the lab, we have to follow certain rules, these to diminish the dangers that working inside a lab might represent. The rules go as follows:
We always wear lab coats, nitrile gloves and masks avoiding contact with dropplets, aerosols and other contaminants resulting from experiments.
Our personal belongings stay away from the lab when handling infectious materials.
The PPE should never leave the lab, unless it's appropriately packed.
We should always disinfect our hands with 70% ethanol, applying it before and after we've put on the gloves, as well as washing our hands when entering the lab and after leaving it.
Biological Safety Cabinets (BSC)
We have 3 BSC, they protect us from the microorganisms we work with, as well as protecting the samples from the contamination we or other external agents might cause. We have even named them, one of them is Anne, the second one is Marcel, and the third one is called Emma, inspired by the Notre Dame Bells. As a common protocol, every single time we are about to use one of these cabinets, we should turn on the UV light for 15 minutes minimum, clean our hands and the materials we will introduce with 70% ethanol. As a final step, when done using it, we should clean it and let the UV light sterilize it for another 15 minutes.
Emma
Anne
Marcel
Sterile halo: Using burners to create sterile zones
We count with two types of burners, nevertheless, they are used when working in an open bench. Having a burner in the working area is excellent to create a sterile zone, this to prevent cross-contamination among the samples we are working with.
Meker-fisher burner
Bunsen burner
Lab Access and Waste Management
The labs we work in are categorized as Containment Level 2 Laboratories. They count with lockable doors. These labs are for Biotechnology alumni and teachers exclusive use.
Usually we have to dispose of four types of wastes. They should be appropriately disposed in order to avoid every possible accident a confusion might cause. Sharp objects go in a thick red plastic bottle, biological wastes, such as fluids and organic tissues go in a yellow hermetic bottle. The solid wastes should be disposed in a yellow bag and all of the other materials that were in contact with bacteria or infectious agents, in general, go in a red bag.
Red bottle for sharp objects
Yellow bottle for non-solid biological wastes
Yellow bag for solid biological wastes
Red bag for infected materials
Paenibacillus larvae & Melissococcus plutonius
Follow us on
social media:
We thank our
sponsors:
