Health trust penalised over hazmat exposure
Four employees were exposed to a potentially-deadly strain of drug-resistant tuberculosis.
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Hazmat equipment and clothing may have prevented an NHS Trust from being hit with a fine recently.
Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust was fined for safety failings after a smashed test vial in a specialist laboratory exposed employees to a potentially-deadly strain of bacteria.
The multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) bacteria were released at Royal Brompton Hospital on January 17th 2011 and a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation discovered that there had been a number of managerial and maintenance failings in the run-up to the event.
Critical control measures such as the laboratory sealability and air filters were not examined, monitored or tested regularly.
Frontline Safety offer a range of hazmat clothing and breathing apparatus suitable for handling hazardous materials, including facemasks and filters. These can be found at the Frontline Safety website.
Furthermore, there was no adequate risk assessment for working with the dangerous TB strain, as well as a lack of understanding as to what constituted a critical control measure.
Insufficient training and inappropriate emergency arrangements in the event of an incident were also cited as problems that contributed to the event.
It is believed that four employees were potentially exposed to the bacteria, but no one suffered any adverse effects.
However, the trust was fined £12,500 and ordered to pay £25,000 in costs by Westminster Magistrates' Court.
It admitted to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and HSE inspector Mara Ajder explained that it was fortunate that the incident did not have more serious consequences.
"Multi-drug resistant TB is a potentially deadly bacterium. There are well established practices for handling this agent safely, but in this case these practices simply weren't met and several members of staff were exposed to a real risk of infection.
"The consequences of that one smashed vial could have been very serious, and the incident highlighted some serious flaws with controls and ways of working within the containment laboratory - a facility where the highest possible standards are necessary at all times."
Meanwhile, another NHS Trust was fined after contractors working at a Sunderland hospital were exposed to potentially-deadly asbestos fibres.
Posted by Dawn Mitchell
