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| Task or scenario | Hazard/s | Associated harm | Existing risk controls | Current risk rating | Additional risk controls? | Residual risk rating? |
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| Instrument operation | Electrocution | Contact with electricity can cause electric shock and burns | Routine instrument maintenance - to ensure instrument is in good condition and cabling is not damaged. Electrical equipment annual testing. Educate users to check for visible liquid leaks. Safety circuit breakers and fuses on instrument to prevent general electrocution due to instrument failure, especially in the presence of liquid. Emergency power off button located in laboratories to disconnects power to the red power points and not the blue uninterruptible power points. Routine maintenance - to ensure instrument is in good condition Bright LED - lit to notify of high voltage deflection plates - educate users about importance of ensuring high voltage is off before accessing plates and surrounding area Instrument covers - when sorting all covers are to be in place as physical access is restricted High resistance installed on HV plates - to limit current draw Circuit breakers and fuses on instrument - to prevent general electrocution due to instrument failure, especially in the presence of liquid | low | ||
| Contact/exposure with biohazardous materials | Exposure to biohazardous material can cause health issues | Electrostatic droplet cell sorter creates thousands of drops per second. Droplets can be small and readily enter airways. Therefore containment of aerosols is critical. This is achieved via having the cell sorter in a BSC, operating with covers, ensuring instrument aerosol management option is properly utilised and following emergency procedures in the case of sort stream failure. BSC - Instrument is inside a biosafety safety cabinet for increased protection. Software - Software controls to maintain a stable stream Filtration - Ensure samples are filtered prior to loading on the instrument, avoid blockage to minimise aerosol generation during sorting Visual check - Check sample for visible clumps that can cause nozzle clogs Signage - Emergency sort failure procedure in SWP and in room Signage - Signage on door during sorting to prevent unauthorised access during sort. Aerosol management option installed and in use as per SWP. PPE while emptying waste tank and adding bleach to waste tank (bleach decontamination of waste material). Engineering control - SIP sheath cover installed to minimise aerosol exposure from sample upon unexpected sample unload. Ensure users and support technicians are familiar with risk assessment and SWP for the material used. PPE – gloves, gown & enclosed shoes (P2 mask and safety glasses in sort failure). Users empty waste upon setting up of instrument with running water gently down the sink. 100ml of bleach is added to the instrument waste container after emptying the waste. Biological spill kit - Access to emergency biological spill kit and/or cleaning equipment. Bleach / decon / ethanol decontamination of sample lines. Project approval process. Handling samples (e.g. transferring, pipetting) in biological safety cabinet. Running the sample dry can introduce air bubbles resulting in unstable stream and rogue aerosol formation. SWP states to not run the sample dry. | low/medium | air bubble detector in sample line to prevent running sample dry. | low | |
Manual handling (i.e. lifting, transferring) heavy weight such as waste tank | Manual handling can result in injuries of the back, neck, shoulders, arms or other body parts | Providing information and training to workers on manual handling tasks and request for assistance options Maximum possible weight for tanks is <10kg Trolley/pallet jack - to transfer more than 1 box of saline/water – lifting only 1 box at a time Education - Providing information and training to workers on manual handling tasks Planning - Organising manual handling tasks in a safe way, with loads split into smaller ones, and proper rest periods provided | low | |||
| Failure to adhere to SWP | Exposure to laser | High power lasers used in instruments can cause skin/eye damage/burns | Use laser safety shielding at all times - to prevent avoid laser exposure. Do not disengage automatic shutters – electronically or mechanically activated when certain covers are open. Educate users not to circumvent shutters and to avoid looking into any exposed lasers or reflections as laser light can be invisible. Laser safety shielding - to prevent avoid laser exposure. Laser safety shielding - to prevent laser exposure Automatic shutters – pressure driven or mechanical when cover is open | low | ||
| Operating AriaIII – pinch hazard | Manual handling – pinch hazard while sample loading | Injury to hand | Education – Providing information, demonstrating and observing proper instrument use while loading samples on the ARIAIII during training to avoid pinching. Including closing of cover before loading of sample occurs. Instrument hardware monitoring for failed tube load. Physical cover - Cover to prevent accidental contact with the stage during sample load up Emergency stop button – easily accessible button to stop instrument in an emergency situation | low | ||
| Manual handling – pinch hazard while unscrewing/screwing tank | Injury to hand | Education – Providing information, demonstrating and observing proper instrument use while loading samples on the ARIAIII during training to avoid pinching. Including removing lid completely before filling tank and removing air supply line while depressurising lid for removal. | medium | Removal of air line until lid is being removed. | low | |
Handling hazardous chemicals including Bleach, Decon/Contrad, Ethanol, CST beads (Sodium Azide) | Hazardous substance exposure | Eye exposure causing eye damage Contact with skin can cause irritation or burn | Safety goggles are provided for researchers and recommended for use in the lab. Emergency showers & eye wash stations available in shared J.2.06 laboratory. Chemical spill kit available in shared lab J.2.06. PPE – gloves, gown & enclosed shoes are necessary for working in the laboratory. SDS available to users to ensure awareness of relevant chemical hazards and emergency procedures. Required to read and understand before using chemicals. | low | ||
Sample handling | Contact with bio-hazardous material | Exposure to bio-hazardous material | Handle samples in biosafety cabinet PPE – gloves, gown & enclosed shoes are necessary for working in the laboratory. Access to emergency biological spill kit and materials to clean up spills. | low | ||
High pressure gas | Physical injury caused by disconnected tube supplying high pressure air | Tubing connectors may degrade resulting in escape of air | Auto shutting off connections if disocnnected. Emergency shut off valves - Education of user to the location and operation of the emergency shut off valve. Venting ports - Education of users to depressurise any tank/fluidics line before accessing or opening the sheath tank and other components. | low | ||
| Exposure to sodium azide while performing CST | Exposure to toxic chemical | Acute toxicity | Introduce relevant hazards with SDS. Ensure PPE, i.e. Gloves are worn while handling the sample. Sodium azide is used for a minimal time during the quality control procedure. Ensure only minimum quantity (1 drop in 300uL) made each time quality control solution is made. Dual barrier protection (gloves, tube) & lid. | low | usage of nitrile gloves if possible - added protection | low |
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- Under no circumstances should there be any patient/person identiable data recorded on the instruments as the data is not privately held and is accessible to all researchers.
- User data is deleted after 7 days off the instrument computers, it is the responsibility of the user to have transferred data to a secure location.
- WRHFlow recommends exporting data from BD FacsDiva as FCS3.0 files in linear format to D:\BDExport\FCS. This folder is automatically synced to the WIMR Scientific Platforms Drive that all WIMR active directory users can access. For the sync to work properly your experiment must be in a folder with "FirstnameLastinitial" syntax. Please note this folder is accessible to all researchers.
- If you would like your data accessible from outside of WIMR, a user specific share can be setup. This works by creating a copy of a specified folder on university provisioned storage that is shared with the user. This requires an email to wrhflow@sydneywestmead.cytometry@sydney.edu.au and it is the users responsibility that all ethics approvals are complied with.
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- Spray the sort chamber and other appropriate internal chambers specific to the instrument with 1:100 TRIGENE and wipe clean. Spray again with 1:100 TRIGENE and allow a contact time of at least 10 minutes.
- Wipe the areas and follow with spraying and wiping clean with 70% ethanol.
- Spray the exposed appropriate external surfaces specific to the instrument with 1:100 TRIGENE and wipe clean. Spray again with 1:100 TRIGENE and allow a contact time of at least 10 minutes.
- Wipe the areas sprayed and follow with spraying and wiping clean with 70% ethanol.
- No further biological samples are to be run on the instrument until maintenance is carried out.
Emergency procedures
Emergency procedure folder can be found here in the sample prep lab:
You can also access all these information via WIMR intranet:
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