Safety form

A key aspect of our team's work is ensuring that every future doctor, researcher, and pharmacist learns the importance of paying close attention to both personal and environmental hygiene during complex research projects. A single poor decision in the lab or a momentary lapse in focus can easily lead to major complications. Additionally, in today's world, the significance of data safety cannot be emphasized enough. To successfully overcome these challenges, it is essential to go over each safety measure step by step, ensuring that we are fully protected in every aspect. Thorough preparation can be considered half the success in a long-term series of experiments.

1. Environmental safety

   • We collected all the chemicals' Safety Data Sheets in paper and digital form. These are available at the lab room and also are at hand of the adult staff in charge.
   • Bacteria that have an impact on the environment were neutralised using autoclave and bleech. The destroyed bacteria and all used liquids are sent to a local company who deals with dangerous luqied and solid wastes.
   

2. Personal safety

   Before the lab exercises, we attended fire and accident prevention training, where the following things were highlighted:

   • Frequent hand-washing
   • Frequent glove changing
   • Before leaving the lab:
     • remove PPE
     • hand washing
   • No touching if the gloves are still on
   • Identify the location of safety equipments
   • No eating, drinking in the lab
   • No working alone
   • Proper dressing: long pants, closed-toed shoes, tied back long hair, no jewellery, no personal belongings (bags, coats, etc.)
   • Personal protective equipments:
     • goggles/safety glasses, chemical resistance safety goggles, full face shield
     • lab coats (buttoned!) - chemical apron (if you’re working with splash hazards)
     • gloves – non-absorptive, thermal and puncture resistant gloves (handling hot or cold materials)
   • If a hazard was detected, we could turn to the lab supervisor, teacher Andrea Borbola, for help

   

3. Data safety

   • As part of our education project, we created a video game that was sent out to several schools. Players were asked to give no personal information, only the name of their school and their grade
   • In the photos taken during the lectures we gave as part of our educational project, we took special care to ensure that the student’s faces were not included in the photos, for reasons of privacy.
   • During the Human Exercises, we asked netizens in anonymous questionnaires about their experiences within their diseases. Only those over 18 years of age were allowed to complete the questionnaire; those under 18 years of age needed parental permission to complete the questionnaire.

The following chemicals have been used: