title: Survey of safety practices among hospital laboratories in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Unsafe working practices, working environments, disposable waste products, and chemicals in clinical laboratories contribute to infectious and non-infectious hazards. Staffs, the community, and patients are less safe. Furthermore, such practices compromise the quality of laboratory services. We conducted a study to describe safety practices in public hospital laboratories of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomly selected ten public hospital laboratories in Oromia Regional State were studied from Oct 2011- Feb 2012. Self-administered structured questionnaire and observation checklists were used for data collection. The respondents were heads of the laboratories, senior technicians, and safety officers. The questionnaire addressed biosafety label, microbial hazards, chemical hazards, physical/mechanical hazards, personal protective equipment, first aid kits and waste disposal system. The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis with SPSS version16 statistical software.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All of the respondents reported none of the hospital laboratories were labeled with the appropriate safety label and safety symbols. These respondents also reported they may contain organisms grouped under risk group IV in the absence of microbiological safety cabinets. Overall, the respondents reported that there were poor safety regulations or standards in their laboratories. There were higher risks of microbial, chemical and physical/mechanical hazards.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Laboratory safety in public hospitals of Oromia Regional State is below the standard. The laboratory workers are at high risk of combined physical, chemical and microbial hazards. Prompt recognition of the problem and immediate action is mandatory to ensure safe working environment in health laboratories.
authors.affiliation: Depertement of Microbiology, Jimma University, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Tsegaye
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sewunet
authors.affiliation: Depertement of Microbiology, Jimma University, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Wakjira
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kebede
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences and Pathology, Jimma University, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Beyene
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wondafrash
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Technology, Arbaminch College of Health Sciences, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Bereket
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Workalemau
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences and Pathology, Jimma University, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Gemeda
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Abebe
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection; D005002:Ethiopia; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D017056:Medical Laboratory Personnel; D011361:Professional Competence; D012449:Safety; D017751:Safety Management / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Oromia Region; district hospital; laboratory safety