[JohnB]

in reply to: Soft embalming #799

As a recently retired safety officer I agree with every word that Sue has said! Glutareldahyde is VERY nasty and does have significant H&S implications and should be used only with great care in fume extraction cabinets. The HSE has even restricted its use in hospitals for decontaminating endoscopy equipment. :shock:

[JohnB]

in reply to: Soft embalming #792

Hello Martin

About a year of two ago Alistair Hunter at King’s College spent a lot of time to track down a technique he had seen overseas that gave fantastic soft embalming.
If nobody comes up with an answer for you I suggest you contact Alistair directly by email through the IAS members page. He is listed as [user=5]AlistairH[/user]

Hope that helps
John B

[JohnB]

in reply to: Test of Council Forum #791

Good Morning oh Webmaster

Rain in Nottingham but as you can see I received your message last night :D
John

[JohnB]

in reply to: Test of Council Forum #786

Yep, raining hard here too! Over and out
J

[JohnB]

in reply to: Test of Council Forum #783

Contact with the ‘beyond’ has been made!

[JohnB]

in reply to: Test of Council Forum #781

This is a reply from the Vice Chairman, message received and understood ;) Supernatural

[JohnB]

in reply to: Formaldyhyde mointoring #770

Hello Rachel

Although I am unfamiliar with the oldham MX42A formaldehyde monitor and the sensors CTX300, before my retirement I was responsible for Health and Safety in my pathology department, which included monitoring the levels of formaldehyde vapour with the use of a Lion Formaldemeter. I discovered that the presence of Industrial Methylated Spirits (IMS) would give a false high reading. This was due to the accumulation of the metabolites in the IMS, which include formaldehyde and formic acid.
I know that IMS is also used in embalming fluids so I suggest this could be in part responsible for the high readings and should be considered. When we in pathology received an embalmed body from abroad, usually a holidaymaker who had died in another country, we always got a very high ‘false’ formaldehyde reading when opening the body bag and during performing the autopsy.

I hope this is of some help to you.
John Ben
:?

[JohnB]

in reply to: Pregnancy and working with formaldehyde #762

Hello Sue

Your question of pregnant women working in Anatomy DR and using formaldehyde is clearly defined in national Health and Safety laws and for at least five years the procedures that MUST be followed by all departments has been laid down by law!

I’m afraid this is going to be a long answer but I am sure the information will be unfamiliar to a number of our members. Sadly in my experience the majority of Universities are not themselves aware of their legal responsibilities. The NHS is generally much more aware of Health and Safely issues as they are dealing with the public and more likely to face litigation.
Before I retired from the NHS I had responsibility for the health and safety of 250+ staff working in Cellular Pathology (Histopathology) over two sites and obviously this included a large number of female staff, so I performed a large number of these ‘Risk Assessments for Pregnant Staff’. I was also on the hospitals safety committee that was responsible for the safety of 12,000+ staff and tens of thousands of visitors and patients.

The legal procedure is that in the first instance it is the responsibility of the member of staff to notify her manager that she is pregnant OR is intending to start a family.
Once notified the Manager/Safety Officer on behalf of the department/employer MUST carry out a.s.a.p. a risk assessment that looks at the woman’s ENTIRE job, because if there is an unacceptably high risk to the woman OR her unborn child the Department MUST find her alternative employment within the department! If no such alternative job can be found she IS TO BE SIGNED OFF FOR FULL PAID MATERNITY LEAVE UNTIL THE CHILD IS BORN when normal maternity leave starts. As you can see this can total almost 2 years paid leave, so its obviously in the departments interest to make sure she has a safe working environment or is found alternative duties!
The risk assessment, when completed and agreed must be signed by the manager and the woman, and reviewed at various times throughout the pregnancy. When she returns to work the risk assessment must again be reviewed, especially if she is breast feeding her child.

The risk assessment has to look at everything she does including manual handling, the ergonomics as laid down in the Display Screen regulations, psychological well being at work act etc. But your question refers to chemical dangers, which come under CONTROL OF SUBSTANCES HAZARDOUS TO HEALTH (COSHH) REGULATIONS.
ALL chemical substances MUST be risk assessed BEFORE their use can be sanctioned within the department – and that includes chemicals that have been used freely for years! It may surprise some that this has been the case for many years – COSHH has been in force in the UK for the last 21 years!

Each chemical substance should come with a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) which is laid out in sixteen sections and covers everything from handling requirements and accidental spillage procedures to disposal and EU regulations classification of hazard e.g. Toxic (T), Corrosive (C) , Danger to the Environment (N) etc. Be aware that the hazards associated with chemicals are frequently changing in the light of new information!
Towards the end of the MSDS in Section 11 (if my memory serves me), they list the hazards associated with that chemical, Carcinogenic, etc, but they also state if it is a known or suspected Teratogen or Mutagen. Some chemical MSDSs carry the bold statement ‘Pregnant Women Must Not Work With This Substance’.

For my Department, as part of the COSHH record that must by law be kept, I listed all chemicals in a simple traffic light system of RED, AMBER and GREEN.
RED listed substances were KNOWN to be a risk, and I did not allow my pregnant staff to be exposed to them.
AMBER substances were SUSPECTED to be a risk, and after much thought and discussion within the hospital I did not allow my staff to be exposed to them.
GREEN listed substances were associated with NO KNOWN RISK to the unborn child.

So in answer to your original question, Formaldehyde is a GREEN listed substance! However, as part of the ‘Psychological Welfare at Work Act’ if a woman was VERY worried about using formaldehyde while pregnant I would use my discretion and in a few cases I took her off those duties rather than cause her distress.

Finally, just to throw a spanner into the works – if my memory is right, PHENOL is potentially hazardous to the unborn child!

If you (or any member) want further information about any of this and details of the various Acts, please email me. I will contact the person who was my assistant at QMC and get her to send me the relevant papers. Alternatively I will put you in touch with a friend of mine who is a senior H&S advisor to the NHS.
Its worth remembering that for many years now Health and Safety has come under the CRIMINAL law, and should anything go disastrously wrong the University could have huge fines running into millions of pounds and imprisonment for those with responsibilities – down to the level of Head of Department!

Kind regards
John

[JohnB]

in reply to: Course materials #704

If only I was still in post – but then a drink could tempt me out of retirment!

This is just to let you know the website IS being looked at.

Best wishes
John

[Author]

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