BBP

            BBPs or Blood borne Pathogens and disease spreading microorganisms that are present in human blood. These pathogenic microorganisms have the ability to cause diseases in humans that include Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus. During the semester, our class had the opportunity to tour a lab on campus that does blood work. The lab was located in Grover Center and the professor, Dr. Kushnick was gracious enough to give us the tour of his lab. Once everyone from our class was in the lab, Dr. Kushnick gave us a quick rundown of the work that the students did in his lab and the work they do for OU’s Exercise Physiology Program.

            While going through the lab, Kushnick pointed out various safety checks that he had in place throughout the lab. One of the first ones he pointed out was the cover that was installed on the centrifuge to prevent aerosolizaiton of any blood samples that may have broken in the centrifuge. The next feature he pointed out was the absorbent material that is placed over the main table in the lab. This absorbent material has an absorbent top layer and a plastic layer underneath to trap any liquid that has been spilled on it so the material is easily replaced.

            When looking around the rest of the lab, many things caught my attention, both good and bad. For the bad things, was the fridge that was located in the lab. The fridge itself was just a standard commercial fridge that you could buy at Lowe’s or Best Buy, not the kind required to hold the material that was being stored in it. The next thing was the lack of a proper storage cabinet for chemicals in the lab, but as Kushnick described it, there wasn’t enough money in the budget for one and how he had his chemicals stored in the lab worked for his needs, so he didn’t get into to trouble for it. Probably one of the biggest ‘bad’ things that caught my attention were the old lemonade and juice containers being used as liquid waste storage containers. These jugs had a skull and crossbones on them, but the symbol was small and incredibly faded to the point to where you couldn’t see it.

            When it came to the students in the lab, it is important to note that they will still fall under OSHA protection as an employee. Hence, it is required that they be trained in how to handle blood and working in this lab gave those students the opportunity to improve those skills. All unknown infectious materials when working in a blood lab need to be treated as though they are contaminated with HIV, HBV, or other blood borne pathogens. A good place to start with that is to have engineering controls in place such as sharps containers throughout the lab and fluid resistant barriers used efficiently in the lab. Work place habits such as hand washing are heavily enforced in the lab as there are signs and postings all over the lab and near sinks.

https://www.ohio.edu/riskandsafety/docs/bbp_prog2010.pdf

https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10051