Lab-specific Precautions
To ensure the lab is safe for everyone, staff should exercise extra precautions to minimize the risk of person-to-person infection and surface contamination.
- Follow the guidelines established by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration about readying workplaces for the coronavirus.
- Limit close contact. Be aware of where others are in the lab, and keep as much distance as possible. Limit movements throughout the lab to essential trips. This guidance from Rochester University might help.
- Institute remote working policies and stagger shifts when possible to minimize the number people in the lab at one time.
- Promote proper hand hygiene. Provide hand-washing stations throughout the lab and ensure that hand sanitizer is well stocked and readily available.
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as equipment and cabinet handles, with products that meet the Environmental Protection Agency's criteria for use against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Wear personal protective equipment (PPE) while cleaning. Wipe down reusable PPE afterward.
- If someone working in the lab contracts COVID-19, follow the protocols established by the CDC. Close off and decontaminate any areas used by the sick person with an EPA-recommended disinfectant. Engage a professional decontamination service, if necessary.
Ensure that every member of the lab knows and understands the latest protocols and policies. Use a checklist, such as this one from the Association of Public Health Laboratories, to assess potential safety hazards. If ever there were a time to reassess your lab's safety policies, it's now. If your lab's protocols need to be updated, whether to deal with the novel coronavirus or just because it's time, update them.
Be diligent and thorough. Inaction could have grave consequences for you or someone around you. As a lab professional, you're on the frontlines of the fight to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Corning Life Sciences is fully committed to serving our customers across the life sciences industry, particularly at a time when the work being done by many researchers is critical to the management of the COVID-19 pandemic.
