[Histonet] Ergonomics Policy

[peptolab]

I recently underwent CAP inspection and had to write a lab safety ergonomics
policy- I think it was eventually used by all hopitals in our large
multihospital system, after tweaking for institutional varitions. Sorry
folks, but I'm not going to just post the finished product but here's how I
approached it:

I did a google search for "laboratory ergonomics". Numerous governmental,
industrial, and educational websites came up with a wide array of ergonomics
information broken down for for various lab tasks as well as general
approaches for monitoring and investigating complaints. I shamelessly cut
and pasted sections from all these websites (including the sites in the
references for the final policy) until I had covered precautions and
concerns for every activity in our lab. That was a lot of fun actually.
Then I asked the employee health nurse and lab management about the specific
steps to be followed by employees who want to evalutae a percieved problem
and included these in the policy. Voila.

Jeff Silverman HT HTL QIHC ASCP
Pathologists' Assistant-Lab Safety Officer
Southside Hospital
North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital System
Bay Shore New York USA