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May/June 2023 issue

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Failings at UK labs exposed scientists to potentially lethal diseases

Open-access content Wednesday 14th February 2018
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigated more than 40 failings at specialist labs operated by hospitals, private companies and Public Health England (PHE) over the past two years, according to The Guardian.

In one instance, the HSE served an improvement notice on PHE after one of its scientists fell ill with shigella, a bacterial disease that is closely related to E. coli.

Other failings investigated by the HSE between June 2015 and July 2017 were of dengue virus being accidentally sent through the post and staff handling potentially lethal bacteria and fungi while not wearing adequate personal protective equipment.

On another occasion, students at the University of the West of England examined live meningitis-causing agents which they believed had been neutralised, the newspaper found.

It said one scientist was kept in hospital with salmonella poisoning contracted at private medical firm Pall Life Sciences, while another from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust was infected with paratyphoid fever.

Four workers at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust contracted shigella, and a biomedical scientist became sick with two strains of a gastrointestinal bug at London's Royal Free Hospital.

The HSE said in a statement: "The sector has a good health and safety record, with a high level of control of the most hazardous organisms. The role of maintaining this record is down to the diligence of the dutyholders themselves as well as our role as the regulator.

"There have been a limited number of instances over the past two years where biological agents have been received by UK labs from other labs within the UK that were unsolicited, mislabelled or unlabelled. However, these cases are in the minority and there was no significant threat to public health.

"We are satisfied that the action we took in each case was proportionate."

According to The Guardian, scientists at Bristol University unknowingly posted live dengue virus to Glasgow University's Centre for Virus Research in a package that did not meet safety standards for dangerous agents. The parcel did not leak and was destroyed by staff in Glasgow when it arrived.

One lab run by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency had to be evacuated after an egg containing the flu virus fell off a tray and smashed.

And at a laboratory owned by scientific organisation Viapath, staff posted hazardous bacteria that can cause pneumonia to PHE's infectious diseases unit in London. The package had not been labelled correctly and on arrival was wrongly handled by the PHE worker.

Duncan Selbie, chief executive of PHE, said: "Nothing is more important than the health and safety of the public and our staff.

"We are open and transparent when rare mistakes happen and are always improving our safety systems."

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Recycling print toner cartridges poses an explosion risk | Image credit: ©iStock/manaemedia

 Toner recycler’s ‘lax’ approach to fire safety left worker in induced coma

Thursday 1st March 2018
Toner cartridge recycling company Ereco EMEA has been fined £30,000 over the accident, which happened on 3 October 2011.Portsmouth Crown Court was told that dust residue inside a toner cartridge ignited while it was being pulverised at the Lingford facility. Toner dust comprises several combustible materials, including carbon and iron. Five people sustained serious injuries, including a 30-year-old employee who was put in an induced coma and remained in hospital for 15 weeks.
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 Oz ambulance service fined over paramedic’s fatal overdose

Monday 12th March 2018
Ambulance Victoria pleaded guilty to failing to provide a safe working environment and failing to ensure volunteer officers were not exposed to risks under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. The organisation was fined A$200,000 (£113,500) on each charge at Warrnambool Magistrates’ Court on 8 March.
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 Tideway: On the tools

Thursday 25th January 2018
The infrastructure provider behind the Thames Tideway scheme in London is racking up a first in occupational health (OH) provision. Tideway, the company appointed by Thames Water to build, maintain and operate the 25 km tunnel below the River Thames to relieve the capital of its sewage and rainwater, has mandated an OH service for the entire seven-year project – an arrangement unknown until now in large-scale infrastructure projects.
Open-access content

 House of hazards

Tuesday 23rd January 2018
“Relentless and largely unnoticed” is how Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) chief executive Errol Taylor recently characterised the rise in serious accidents at home and in leisure time. He went on to point out that this increase had happened in parallel with huge strides in road and workplace safety based on “scientific, evidence-based approaches to accident prevention”, and appealed for greater effort to address home and leisure risks.
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 *UPDATE* BAM Construction worker struck by scaffolding tubes

Tuesday 13th February 2018
The construction engineering firm was overseeing the construction of a multi-storey mixed-use building in London’s West End when the accident happened on 9 December 2015. A tower crane operator was lifting a load of about 50 1 m-long extendable transoms – horizontal poles that support scaffold boards – from a delivery lorry to a CantiDeck access platform on the third floor. A slinger signaller was guiding the load because the crane operator had a restricted view and could not see the lorry or the platform from his cab.
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 ECHA proposes seven toxic substances for REACH authorisation

Monday 12th February 2018
If the European Commission accepts the recommendation, the substances will be heavily restricted and it will be against the law to supply use them without individual authorisation in EU countries.The ECHA’s 5 February recommendation to the commission relates to two substances that are toxic for reproduction and five that have persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic and/or very persistent and very bioaccumulative properties.
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