Animal Users Training

Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)

Of Personnel and Others

Animal Users Training• Occupational Safety and

Health (OSH)• Purpose of this training• OSH and ACC• Hazard Identification• Who is affected?• What are the hazards?

• Biological• Chemical• Physical

• Control of Hazards• Mindsets about Hazards• Strategies to Control Hazards

• Hazard Avoidance• Engineering / Practices• Personal Protective Equip.• Programs to control hazards

• How the ACC provides oversight

• ACC protocol asks for hazard information.

• Addressing OSH issues• Safety protocols

• Other hurdles• IBC, RSC, CT DPH, DEA…

• Specific Issues• CH2O perfusions• Anesthetic vapors• Lab Animal Allergies• Hazardous Chem Waste• Non-human Primates• Select Agents• Biosafety Disk Tour.

• ORS Staff

Purpose of this training

• It is not meant to make you sit through another safety training.

• It is meant to present an overview of safety with relation to the ACC so that you can see what safety issues will be considered and how they will be considered.

• The hoped for result is you will be able to write and follow protocols taking safety issues into account.

• Your ACC protocols will be processed more efficiently, with fewer safety bottlenecks.

OSH and the ACC

• The ACC is required to consider the welfare of the researchers, animal care staff (ACTs) and others as well as the animals.

• The ACC has a member whose job it is to identify hazards to people during experiments with animals.

Identification of Hazard

• This is done by performing a risk assessment, which consists of:• Looking at the routes of exposure and

acute and/or chronic toxicology, and• Analyzing how exposures to materials

might occur in each step of the experimental process, from receipt, through handling, storage and use, to disposal and transport of waste materials.

Who may be affected by incorrectly controlled laboratory hazards?

• Transport personnel• Researchers• ACTs• Building Occupants• Waste handlers• Transport personnel• The General Population

What kinds of materials or processes pose hazards?

• RG-2 Infectious Biological Agents• Bacteria• Viruses• Parasites• Fungi• Unknown potential (like Bloodborne

pathogens)• Human Blood, Tissues, Body Fluids• Non-human Primate Tissues

What kinds of materials or processes pose hazards? (2)

• Hazardous Chemicals• Unknown toxicology• Tumorigens or

Carcinogens• Mutagens• Teratogens• Corrosives• Toxics

• Flammables• Reactives• Sensitizers• Irritants• Waste Anesthetic

Gasses

What kinds of materials or processes pose hazards? (3)

• Hazardous Radiation• Ionizing radiation

• X-rays from instruments• Gamma rays, alpha and beta particles from

radioactive materials

• Non-ionizing radiation• Lasers• Ultraviolet light• Macro and microwaves

What kinds of materials or processes pose hazards? (4)

• Other Physical Hazards• Repetitive motion and ergonomic issues• Temperature extremes• Cuts and sticks from sharps• Animal bites• High sound levels

What kinds of materials or processes pose hazards? (5)

• Animal Handling: exposure to• Dander, hair, fur, saliva, urine, feces…• Significant risk of developing allergies

leading to • hives from contact, • allergic conjunctivitis, • allergic rhinitis, • asthma (sometimes permanent), and/or• anaphylaxis

Hazard Control• Mindset: It is not a foregone conclusion

that exposure to hazards is inevitable.• Hurdles:

• Getting past the mindsets that allow us to accept exposures to hazards.

• Figuring out how to physically control exposures to hazards:

• Hazard avoidance• Engineering controls and prudent practices.• Programs to assure that hazards are

addressed and controlled.

Mindsets About Risky Behavior

• Disclaimer and Invitation

• Aside: Acute vs. Chronic exposures.• You might not know you’re being

exposed or accumulating damage.

• “Familiarity breeds contempt”- or at

least, lack of respect.

Mindsets About Risky Behavior (2)

• Making it through the yellow stoplight reinforces continuing to try to make it through the yellow stoplight.• Gee, that wasn’t so bad…• Sets up an acute risk.

• Science Mythology (or Tradition?) • Scientists may have to be exposed to unknowns or

even test their theories on themselves...• Madame Curie• The Mad Scientist in the Collective Consciousness

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - R.L. Stevenson• Dr. Frankenstein - M. Shelley

Hazard avoidance• Movie about weighing hazardous or unknown

chemicals. Typically chronic, possibly acute.

• What could be done to avoid this hazard?

Avoiding weighing hazards• Order unknown toxicology and known

hazardous chemicals accurately pre-weighed; or,

• Pre-weigh a vial of chemical. Dissolve the chemical inside the chemical fume hood, using several rinses. Rinse the vial with acetone or ethanol and drain well. Reweigh the vial; or,

• In the chemical fume hood, remove some powdered chemical from the stock container into a tared closable container. Reweigh the closed container with the chemical. Calculate how much solvent to add based on desired concentration and weight of the chemical.

Hazard avoidance (2)• Certain workers must avoid any potential

exposure to particular hazards, due to health conditions, for example:

• Potentially pregnant and pregnant workers must avoid:• Working with teratogens - chemicals that

cause reproductive effects such as birth defects

• Working with Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that causes stillbirths and various serious birth defects.

• Immunocompromised individuals must avoid many typically innocuous microorganisms.

Engineering Controls• Chemical Fume hood (CFH)

• Good for protecting the worker against • Inhalation of airborne liquid and dry particles

including animal products like dander• Inhalation of vapors and gasses• Splashes ( parts of the body behind sash)

• No good for protecting sterility of what you’re working on.

• Works by taking room air across the project and expelling any contaminants out a stack on the roof of the building.

Engineering Controls (2)

• Class II Biological Safety Cabinets (BSCs) a.k.a “tissue culture hoods”• Good for protecting the worker against

• Inhalation of airborne liquid and dry particles including animal products, like dander.

• Splashes ( parts of the body behind sash)

• Good for protecting sterility of what you’re working on.

• No good for vapors and gasses (exhausts them into the room).

Engineering Controls (3)

• Class II BSCs continued…• Airflow in the BSC is filtered

Engineering Controls (4)

• Dilution or General Ventilation• Lab air is not re-circulated like in most

office buildings.• Incoming air is 100% filtered outdoor air.• Exhaust air is 100% exhausted outside.

• A high number of room air exchanges keep contaminants diluted to keep exposures low.

• It does not eliminate inhalation exposures.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• Engineering controls are always preferable over PPE when feasible.

• Examples of PPE include:• Gloves with long gauntlets or other wrist

protection.• Eye / Face protection.• Lab coat, long pants, closed-toe shoes.• Respirator

• What routes of exposure do each of these protect?• Dermal? Inhalation? Ingestion?

Prudent Practices• The foundations of safety in the lab are

prudent practices. These include:• Making use of engineering controls and personal

protective equipment.• Finding out what hazards are involved in

procedures before an exposure occurs.• Think through potential problems, develop

emergency procedures and have them in place.• Basic laboratory safety and security:

• Leaving the lab, wash hands before touching anything you will ingest or public items. Lock up the lab.

• No mouth pipetting.• No food or drink in the lab.• Etc.

Emergencies• Fire, out of control chemical or biological spill, or

medical emergencies, call x7777.• Controlled spills, injuries and potential exposures

to hazardous chemicals or infectious agents, notify the PI and CLAC Director, go to EHS (x2893) or during off-hours go to the hospital ED (x2588).• people exposed to bloodborne pathogens and

other infectious agents should receive treatment within 1 hour of exposure.

• For assistance with controlled spills, or potential emergencies call the Office of Research Safety (x2723).

• Receive WC207 form from HR (x2204) and fill out Employee Accident/Incident Report.

Control of Hazards Through Programs

• OSH Programs exist from the Federal through the Institutional levels.

• As mentioned, the ACC is federally required to provide OSH oversight of PIs for the Institution.

• According to the laws and guidelines that address various classes of hazards, the PI or Laboratory Director is ultimately responsible for OSH in their laboratories.

How ACC provides OSH oversight

• Each PI who wishes to use animals submits an ACC protocol to the ACC.

• The ACC protocol contains questions about hazards to humans; and the protocol is previewed by the biological safety officer (BSO) who makes any OSH issues known to the Committee at the meeting.

• ACC protocol approval is contingent on the OSH issues being addressed by the PI.

How ACC provides OSH oversight (2): Tips for expediting Safety Review.

• Cooperation is the key: The longer it takes me to figure out if what you are doing is hazardous, the longer your protocol will be held up by the ACC because it can’t be approved until all OSH issues are addressed.• You can help expedite by declaring hazards on the questionnaire

up front, with a lot of detail:• Chemical Hazards: If it’s an experimental compound and the

toxicology at at least the animal level is unknown, it has to be treated as hazardous. Check ‘yes’ and list. When listing, don’t abbreviate; supply the whole chemical name, the generic drug name, if possible the CAS# and an MSDS. Only scientific evidence about toxicology is valid for safety determinations.

• Biological Hazards: Any information you can provide about routes of an infection’s spread between animals or to humans is useful in a hazard analysis. The limit for use of biohazardous agents at the UCHC is BSL-2 or BL2. Procedures that aerosolize infectious agents are most hazardous.

How ACC provides OSH oversight: Tips for expediting Safety Review (2).

• Recombinant DNA: This is usually less a safety issue than a regulatory issue. And we have to comply. Most experiments here are exempt, but those in which rDNA enters animals nearly always need registration with the IBC. Declare ‘yes’ for transgenics, knock-outs and knock-ins, for adoptive transfer of cells containing rDNA and for gene transfer with viral vectors.

• In vitro experiments in the lab with hazardous chemicals, hazardous biologicals, rDNA, radioactivity, etc., do not fall under the auspices of the ACC OSH program. However, chances are 100% that they are regulated by OSHA, NIH/CDC, EPA, NRC, DOT, or Institutional Safety Policy. Further, your ACC protocol will not be held up for safety issues not involving animals unless products of animals are hazardous ex vivo (e.g., tissues harvested from radioactive or infectious animals). Therefore, you are invited to declare issues from animal associated in vitro experiments in your ACC protocol to increase compliance in your lab “without penalty.”

How ACC provides OSH oversight (3)

• ACC protocol OSH issues may be addressed by the following actions:• If the hazards are relatively benign they may be

dealt with by incorporating safety procedures into the revised ACC protocol.

• If the hazards are serious, then a safety protocol is written in collaboration between the PI, the BSO, the Director and/or Assistant Director of CLAC. Once all parties approve, the safety protocol is sent to the ACC coordinator, who, in turn, sends out the approval letter if the file is otherwise complete.

How ACC provides OSH oversight (4)

• The safety protocol asks for procedural details and information that the PI knows about the hazard to allow for a risk assessment. It also gives specific and general policy instructions for the PI’s staff and ACT’s that will be providing husbandry to the animals.

Other hurdles• Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC)

Registration for non-exempt rDNA experiments (like transgenic animals) or particularly risky experiments.

• Radiation Safety Committee approval for experiments involving ionizing radiation.

• CT DPH Lab Registration• DEA• What else??

Specific Issues• Perfusion with paraformaldehyde.

Formaldehyde vapors must be controlled in a chemical fume hood or other.

• Anesthesia with isoflurane. Unless this is done with an anesthesia scavenger, procedures with isoflurane must be controlled in a chemical fume hood.

• Both of these may be incorporated into the ACC protocol, and no separate safety protocol written.

Specific Issues (2)

• Allergic individuals who work with animals should take precautions to protect against animal:• dander• hair, fur, scales• saliva• body wastes

• Protection should be both dermal and respiratory. Hand washing prevents ingestion exposure.

Specific Issues (3): Allergic Reactions to Lab Animal (L.A.) Allergens

DISORDER SYMPTOMS SIGNS

Contact uticaria (hives)

Redness, welts

itchiness of skin,

Raised, circum-scribed red lesions

Allergic conjunctivitis

Sneezing, itchiness, clear nasal drainage, nasal congestion

vascular engorge-ment of conjunctiva,

clear discharge

Allergic

rhinitis

Sneezing, itchiness, clear nasal drainage, nasal congestion

clear rhinorrhea, pale

/edematous nasal mucosa

Asthma Cough, wheezing, chest

tightness, short breath

airway hyperresponsive,

decreased breath sounds, …

Anaphylaxis Generalized itching, throat tightness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarhea, abd. cramps, all of above

Flushing, uticaria, angioedema, stridor, wheezing, hypotension

Specific Issues (4): Risk of Developing Allergy to Lab Animals (L.A.)

Risk Group History

Risk of

Rxn to L.A Comments

Normal No evidence of allergies

~10% Despite repeat exposure, 90% never symp.

Atopic Pre-existing allergies

Up to 73% Once L.A. protein sensitized, workers will dev. Symp.

Asympt-

omatic

IgE Ab to L.A. proteins

Up to 100% with repeated

exposure

High risk to dev. symp.of hives, asthma, rhinitis

Sympt-

omatic

Symptoms w/ exposure to L.A. proteins

100%

33% chest symp

10% occ. asthma

perm impairment

Specific Issues (5): Protecting Against Developing Allergy to Lab Animals (L.A.)

• Engineering controls?

• Personal Protective Equipment?

• Personal Practices?

(see handout)

• At the first sign of allergy go to EHS.

• Periodic Surveillance Screenings by EHS are highly recommended for all* who have contact with animals or animal tissues. (x2893) *req’d for CLAC staff.

Specific Issues (6): Protecting Against Developing Allergy to Lab Animals (L.A.)

• Respiratory Protection for anyone working with Lab Animals is highly recommended by EHS. To get set up with respiratory protection:• Contact ORS (x2723) for an OSHA Respirator

Questionnaire form and the UCHC Respirator User form that get returned after completion to EHS (Dr. Trapé).

• When cleared, employees will be contacted by the ORS for training and fit testing.

• Wear only the exact type of respirator (brand, model and size) you were evaluated for and fit tested with.

• Disposable N95 respirators of the assigned model and size will be provided in CLAC.

Specific Issues (7): The times you should be seen by Employee Health Services (EHS).

• When you are first hired or become a student;• After a potential exposure or accident;• If you are being evaluated for work involving

hazards and required by a safety protocol.• Annual surveillance for work with animals;• If you see signs of allergy to animals.• If you are immunosuppressed.• If you are pregnant, potentially pregnant or

considering becoming pregnant.• If you have medical questions about how your

work impacts your health.

Specific Issues (8): Hazardous Chemical Waste and labeling

• Prediction: This will be the biggest source of fines from EPA at the UCHC.

• EPA fines are big.• Post this poster near

your hazardous waste storage.

• If you have questions, call the EHSO at x2723.

Specific Issues (9):

• Non-Human primate associated exposures.• Cercopithecine herpes virus 1 (B virus) infection of

macaques is not obvious.• May be fatal to humans.• Our macaques are tested and examined but

results are not 100%• Wear PPE to protect against mucocutaneous

exposures.• On exposure immediate first aid.• Report to Director of CLAC and EHS.

Specific Issues (10):

• Select Agents

• Biosafety Manual (on disk)

Office of Research Safety (ORS) Staff• Radiation Safety x2250

• Ken Price, CHP, MPH, Director of ORS and RSO,• Alexis Makowski, Admin Prgm Asst• Andres Sinisterra, Asst. RSO• Jim Fomenko, Asst. RSO• Dave Bourret, Rsch Saf Spec• Bob Lawson, Rsch Saf Spec• Rob Speers, Rsch Saf Spec• Ryan Cauley, Rad Saf Tech

• Environmental Health and Safety Office (EHSO) x2723

• Steve Jacobs, Asst. Director, ORS• Liz Pokorski, Admin Prgm Coord• Patti Wawzyniecki,; IH and Ergonomist• Ron Wallace, PhD, CIH; BSO, IBC coordinator and IH