CLB-521 LAB SAFETY: PRINCIPLES/PRACTICE
This course introduces the students to the principles and practices of laboratory safety in a rapidly changing health care environment. The course is designed to increase student awareness of the importance of safety in health care professions with an emphasis on the safety practices in handling infectious agents, laboratory safety, blood borne pathogens exposure prevention and OSHA guidelines, procedures and techniques that are specific to the research and clinical laboratory. The course gives a global perspective to the topic of biosafety that includes epidemiology. The course is divided into four sections. Section 1 provides students with an overview of pathogenic organisms in humans and hazard identification. Section 2 covers epidemiology as it relates to hazard assessment risk of transmission and methods of prevention and control. Section 3 presents the concept of hazard control as it relates to activities in the laboratory and the use of primary barriers. This section also covers bloodborne pathogens and Universal Precautions. Section 4 deals with administrative control, guidelines for handling biohazardous materials, safety program set-up, and institutional evaluation of safety programs.