DEPARTMENT OF PATHOLOGY SAFETY COMMITTEE 5/03/2009, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. MED SCI I, 4234 Minutes

CHAIR: Brenda Schroeder, Administrative Coordinator, Pathology Administration*

MEMBERS * indicates member absent Beatty,Shelly Jones, Theo Schroeder, Jonathan Bell, Elaine * Lobato, Judith Thomas, Linda * Campbell, Shellie Martin, Kristina Vezina, Jennifer Chandler, Kathleen* Naik, Kalyani * Warren, Jeff * Coppernoll, Daasha Naylor, Binita* Fredenburg, Heidi Noeyack Jr, Bernard French, Diana * Possley, Michelle Guant, Christine* Reeder, Travis Harro, Dave Rigney, Christine * Huffman, Raquel* Schroeder, Brenda

Greeting/Minutes Review Meeting opened 10:05 Minutes reviewed and accepted.

Injury Reports Dart rate: hand out provided with current DART rates for pathology, broken down into 3 sections: 1. Path Administration (SP, In/Out Patient Phlebotomy, Administration) 2. Clinical Pathology 3. Anatomical Pathology Institutional goal is 3.0, currently 3.06 (# injuries/100 FTE) Pathology is currently above the institutional goal at all 3 levels. The safety committee, safety officer, and supervisors will work together to identify the type of injuries within the department as well as root causes for these injuries to minimize reoccurrence. One type of injury has already been identified (push/pull); Pathology will work with Safety Management on the identified issues. Space was identified as an issue in many areas.

Concerns/Issues Incident/Disaster Plan - Incident/disaster plans- in-house labs need to develop plans. A template/example was distributed for an off site location. We are looking for plans in circumstances such as utility failure, biohazard attack, chemical attack, weather emergency. Determine if generators are sufficient, and what to do if they are not, check refrigerator outlets for backup on generator power, determine what to do with irreplaceable specimens and expensive reagents if needed.

Fire blankets: Fire blankets are not required by CAP however it is unclear if they are required through other regulatory agencies. Brenda is checking on requirement, concern of expiration/dry rot, investigation will convene after the CAP inspection has occurred. Concern was raised about having only one exit for fire and if blankets are required in this situation…Brenda will check with NFPA and Michigan fire codes.

Health and Safety Manual- problems with broken links. Manual is current, modifications will start soon, reviewed by date has been added. All manuals will be in electronic format eventually, won’t need log sheets—just review information on line. M-learning may not be the best option for recording this information. Information to follow. CE logging was brought up as a suggestion for logging the reading of manuals, it was determined that many pathology staff don’t use or don’t know how to use the CE log site.

Open Projects:

Cart pushing/pulling: 10-15 second delay door stops have been installed on 2 doors for SP, it was mentioned that many staff are not opening the door all the way which activates the mechanism, therefore it is of limited help. Histology has a push pull issue to address, but was not present at this meeting.

Door signage- project will resume when time allows. Cytogenetics to provide updated list of hazards for door signs to Brenda . New signs will be standardized, but list each labs unique list. Each group will be emailed with the list to be printed on the sign before it is made to approve/check against their current list.

Cytogenetics has issues with service reps/visitors wearing fragrance products. It was suggested that they speak individually with the visitor to ask them not to wear the product when visiting the lab, and explain the issue involved. If staff are affected by an air quality issue they may leave the area for 15-20 minutes till the air has a chance to clear, and or the person has left the area.

PPE-transport of specimen issue: Brenda and representatives from individual areas that have this issue will meet with SMS to perform a job hazard analysis/determine if there is an alternative to wearing PPE into public corridors.

Glass containers: It has been determined that the large glass containers of specimen are coming from various locations, not just one department. Pathology administration is working on finding an alternative to glass-for safety issues and for the protection of the specimen involved.

Safety Gear Snapshots: Each lab must have the PPE photos placed by the next meeting of the safety committee (June 2009). This program is mandatory, no exceptions. The pictures may be any size, but must be placed for each job/work station requiring PPE. If all work stations require the same PPE, one snapshot may be placed on a tack board in the room where the work stations are located. The background of pictures was mentioned to be a problem because of use of a lot of ink- Brenda will work on changing the background color in the master, you may change the template background to fit the laboratory needs. If PPE is not a needed for a task, a snapshot is not required to be posted. Lab coats are only required when directly handling specimens/chemicals, not required if you are in the same room with specimens unless handling them.

Fire drill evacuation routes: Raquel will be back to this issue after the H1N1 pandemic has resolved (time issue). The issue of bottlenecking in event of a evacuation on level 2 UH—Raquel and Les Misher will collaborate the different labs evacuation routes to determine if this is an issue. Fire cards should initially be approved by Les, then only need to be redone if changes are made. An annual review can be performed by the individual lab internally.

Liquid Nitrogen: Air quality issues, displacement of oxygen in the air especially in confined areas. Pathology Administration is looking for different alarms, current ones are extremely loud. If you need an alarm for this purpose contact Brenda.

Meeting adjourned at 11:02am