Guest Lecture on 20.01.2024

Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Title of the event:       Guest Lecture on “Safety issues with use of Hazardous chemicals and microorganisms: Good Laboratory Practices to mitigate their harmful effects”    

Type of Event:           Guest Lecture           

Date(s):                       20 January 2024                                             

Venue:                        A.V. Hall                               

Name of Resource person (if any) with designation, address, email address & contact no.:

No. of Participants/Beneficiaries:    43

Name of the activity Coordinator: Prof. Sreemoyee Chatterjee                 

Objective of the activity:

• To raise awareness in the faculty and students about safety issues while working with chemicals and microbes in laboratories.
• To understand the importance of Good Laboratory Practices so that accidents related to them can be prevented.

Summary:

Dr. Janmejay Pandey, delivered a guest lecture on "Safety issues with use of Hazardous chemicals and microorganisms: Good Laboratory Practices to mitigate their harmful effects”. The lecture started with the warm welcome followed by an engaging and participative session. It was attended by students, faculty members, and research scholars that work in all fields of science that include laboratory work.

Key Highlights:

Dr. Janmejay Pandey in the beginning discussed about different incidences reported all over the world including India which led to various fatal casualties and accidentsdue to lack of awareness and careless attitude of the personals working in the laboratory. He also presented the data about the most frequently reported infections amongstresearch laboratory workers during the last 10 years. He emphasised that carelessness, negligence, and unawareness can lead to different types of accidents from minor (cuts and bruises) to major (3rd degree burns or death) to the individual person working on the laboratory and/or their co-workers.

Dr. Pandey also commented that laboratories are the source of threatening biological, chemical and physical hazards and explained various safety measures that should be implemented at all levels to minimize the occurrence of these incidences. He described the different biosafety levels of microorganism and precautions to be taken while working with them. He discussed the importance of wearing protective gears like lab coat, eye glasses, gloves, etc.while working in the lab. MSDS provided with the chemicals should be thoroughly read before working with the chemicals. The major focus should be on the potential hazards that can be caused by working with the chemicals. He said that the inhalation, absorption, injection and ingestion are the common routes of exposure and any exposure should be reported at the earliest to the concerned authority. He emphasized that the proper training of the instruments and equipment’s should be given to each and every person working in the laboratory. The laboratory space should be well organized before and after working in the laboratory. In addition, he also discussed the about methods to dispose microbial waste and chemical waste generated during or after experiments.

Outcome of the activity:

• The guest lecture made the participants aware of safety issues while working in the laboratory.
• It provided guidelines about good lab practices and different steps to be followed for ensuring safety like Understand, Organize, Ensure containment, Protect, and Be prepared.
• The understanding developed in this regard will ensure safety during carrying out experiments and will in turn help them to minimize the accidents.

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