The Laboratory Coat.

A white coat or laboratory coat is a knee-length overcoat worn by professionals in the medical field or by those involved in laboratory work. The coat protects their everyday clothes and also serves as a simple uniform. The garment is made from white or light-coloured cotton,  or cotton polyester blend, allowing it to be washed at high temperature and make it easy to see if it is clean.
 
When used in the laboratory, they protect against accidental spills, e.g. acids. In this case they usually have long sleeves and are made of an absorbent material, such as cotton, so that the user can be protected from the chemical. Some lab coats have buttons at the end of the sleeves, to secure them around the wrist so that they do not hang into beakers of chemicals.
 
For added safety, a variant of the lab coat, called a "Howie" style lab coat is often adopted . It is called that after a 1978 report commissioned by the UK department of Health and Social Security to codify standard clinical laboratory practices, chaired by a JW Howie. Among the codified standards was protective clothing - the type of wrap around full-coverage lab coat which had been in use in the UK for over a hundred years was nicknamed the "Howie-Style" coat to indicate its compliance with the provisions of this report. It has the buttons on the left flank, elasticated wrists and a mandarin collar and is quite similar to a chef's uniform and designed to minimise pathogen contact with street clothes.
 

Although, most lab coats are not designed to be impermeable to hazardous substances or flameproof, they provide additional safety because they can be quickly removed to isolate harmful exposures or flames.

 

• Do wear a lab coat when a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Hazard Assessment of the laboratory determines hazards to the body are present or likely to be present. A good rule of thumb is to wear a lab coat at all times when working in a lab.
• Do wear lab coats that cover the knees and have full length sleeves.
• Do keep lab coats completely buttoned up. Snap closures are preferred over buttons or zippers to keep the body covered and allow quick removal in an emergency
• Do immediately remove a lab coat if on fire or if there is obvious hazardous contamination
• Do consider the addition of a rubber apron when there is a significant chance of exposure to corrosive materials
• Do keep lab coats clean.  If they become contaminated they should be decontaminated or cleaned on site, sent away for cleaning by professionals who have been informed of the hazards or disposed of as a hazardous material.
• Don't wear lab coats unbuttoned as that can compromise a wearers safety

 

If you know or suspect that your laboratory coat has become contaminated with hazardous chemicals follow these rules:

• If the chemical is safe to dispose to drains (e.g. most Acids and Alkalis), rinse it clean in water before sending it to be laundered.
• If the spill was a solvent it must have completely evaporated off before it is cleaned.
• Toxic chemicals spilt on a lab coat will require that it be disposed of via chemical waste.



Lab Coats

P&R Labpak Limited offer a range of laboratory coats and currently have some on special offer.  Terms and conditions apply.

Please visit http://www.prlabs.co.uk/news/article.php?Id=195 for details.
http://www.prlabs.co.uk/news/article.php?Id=294

 

 

 

 

The Amazing Properties of Copper

New research has revealed that the use of Antimicrobial Copper surfaces in hospital rooms can reduce the number of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs) by 58% as compared to patients treated in Intensive Care Units with non-copper touch surfaces.

In the United States, 1 out of every 20 hospital patients develops an HAI, resulting in an estimated 100,000 deaths per year. Although numerous strategies have been developed to decrease these infections, Antimicrobial Copper is the only strategy that works continuously, has been scientifically proven to be effective and doesn’t depend on human behaviour, according to a recently published study in the SHEA Journal of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
“The implications of this study are critical,” said Dr. Harold Michels, Senior Vice President of the Copper Development Association (CDA). “Until now, the only attempts to reduce HAIs have required hand hygiene, increased cleaning and patient screening, which don’t necessarily stop the growth of these bacteria the way copper alloy surfaces do. We now know that copper is the game-changer: it has the potential to save lives.”


Intensive Care Units See the Benefit of Copper Alloys

The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Defence, was conducted in the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of three major hospitals: The Medical University of South Carolina, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York City and the Ralph H. Johnson Veterans Affairs Medical Centre in Charleston, South Carolina. To determine the impact of copper alloy surfaces on the rate of HAIs, copper-surfaced objects were placed in each ICU, where patients are at higher risk due to the severity of their illnesses, invasive procedures and frequent interaction with healthcare workers. Patients were randomly placed in available rooms with or without copper alloy surfaces, and the rates of HAIs were compared. A total of 650 patients and 16 rooms (8 copper and 8 standard) were studied between July 12, 2010 and June 14, 2011.

Results of this study, that appeared last July in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, found that Antimicrobial Copper can continuously kill 83% of bacteria that cause HAIs within two hours, including strands resistant to antibiotics. The study compared copper to equivalent non-copper touch surfaces during active patient care between routine cleaning and sanitizing.

“Copper alloy surfaces offer an alternative way to reduce the increasing number of HAIs, without having to worry about changing healthcare worker behaviour,” said Dr. Michael Schmidt, Vice Chairman of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina and one of the authors of the study. “Because the antimicrobial effect is a continuous property of copper, the regrowth of deadly bacteria is significantly less on these surfaces, making a safer environment for hospital patients.”
In study results, 46 patients developed an HAI, while 26 patients became colonized with MRSA or VRE. Overall, the proportion of patients who developed an HAI was significantly lower among those assigned to intensive care rooms with objects fabricated using copper alloys. There are currently hundreds of Antimicrobial Copper healthcare-related products available today, including IV poles, stretchers, tray tables and door hardware.

This study was so successful that an interdisciplinary team from UCLA began replicating this research in July 2012. The team is testing ICUs with Antimicrobial Copper at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Centre.
For more information about Antimicrobial Copper, visit http://www.antimicrobialcopper.com.

Numerous antimicrobial efficacy studies have been conducted in the past 10 years regarding copper’s efficacy to destroy a wide range of bacteria, as well as influenza A virus, adenovirus, and fungi.
Copper-alloy touch surfaces have natural intrinsic properties to destroy a wide range of microorganisms. Some 355 copper alloys were proven to kill more than 99.9% of disease-causing bacteria within just two hours when cleaned regularly. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved the registrations of these copper alloys as “antimicrobial materials with public health benefits," which allows manufacturers to legally make claims as to the positive public health benefits of products made with registered antimicrobial copper alloys. In addition, the EPA has approved a long list of antimicrobial copper products made from these alloys, such as bedrails, handrails, over-bed tables, sinks, faucets, door knobs, toilet hardware, computer keyboards, health club equipment, shopping cart handles, etc. Copper doorknobs are used by hospitals to reduce the transfer of disease, and Legionnaires' disease is suppressed by copper tubing in plumbing systems. Antimicrobial copper alloy products are now being installed in healthcare facilities in the U.K., Ireland, Japan, Korea, France, Denmark, Brazil and Chile amongst other.

Hydrofluoric Acid

Hydrofluoric acid (HF) is a solution of hydrogen fluoride in water. It is a valued source of fluorine and is a precursor to numerous pharmaceuticals such as fluoxetine (Prozac) and diverse materials such as PTFE (Teflon).

Hydrofluoric acid is a highly corrosive acid, capable of dissolving many materials, especially oxides. Its ability to dissolve glass has been known since the 17th century, even before hydrofluoric acid had been prepared in large quantities by Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1771. Because of its high reactivity toward glass and moderate reactivity toward many metals, hydrofluoric acid is usually stored in plastic containers (although PTFE is slightly permeable to it).

Hydrogen fluoride gas is an acute poison that may immediately and permanently damage lungs and the corneas of the eyes. Aqueous hydrofluoric acid is a contact-poison with the potential for deep, initially painless burns and ensuing tissue death. By interfering with body calcium metabolism, the concentrated acid may also cause systemic toxicity and eventual cardiac arrest and fatality, after contact with as little as 160 cm² (25 square inches) of skin.

Production
Hydrofluoric acid is produced by treatment of the mineral fluorite (CaF₂) with concentrated sulphuric acid. When combined at 265 °C, these two substances react to produce hydrogen fluoride and calcium sulphate according to the following chemical equation:

CaF₂ + H₂SO₄ → 2 HF + CaSO₄

Although bulk fluorite is a suitable precursor and a major source of world HF production, HF is also produced as a by-product of the production of phosphoric acid, which is derived from the mineral apatite. Apatite sources typically contain a few percent of fluoroapatite, acid digestion of which releases gaseous stream consisting of sulphur dioxide (from the H₂SO₄), water, and HF, as well as particulates. After separation from the solids, the gases are treated with sulphuric acid and oleum to afford anhydrous HF. Owing to the corrosive nature of HF, its production is accompanied by the dissolution of silicate minerals, and, in this way, significant amounts of fluorosilicic acid is generated.

Health & Safety

Hydrofluoric acid is a highly corrosive liquid and is a contact poison. It should be handled with extreme care, beyond that accorded to other mineral acids. Owing to its low dissociation constant, HF as a neutral lipid-soluble molecule penetrates tissue more rapidly than typical mineral acids. Because of the ability of hydrofluoric acid to penetrate tissue, poisoning can occur readily through exposure of skin or eyes, or when inhaled or swallowed. Symptoms of exposure to hydrofluoric acid may not be immediately evident. HF interferes with nerve function, meaning that burns may not initially be painful. Accidental exposures can go unnoticed, delaying treatment and increasing the extent and seriousness of the injury.

Once absorbed into blood through the skin, it reacts with blood calcium and may cause cardiac arrest. Burns with areas larger than 25 square inches (160 cm²) have the potential to cause serious systemic toxicity from interference with blood and tissue calcium levels. In the body, hydrofluoric acid reacts with the ubiquitous biologically important ions Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺. Formation of insoluble calcium fluoride is proposed as the etiology for both precipitous fall in serum calcium and the severe pain associated with tissue toxicity. In some cases, exposures can lead to hypocalcemia. Thus, hydrofluoric acid exposure is often treated with calcium gluconate, a source of Ca²⁺ that sequesters the fluoride ions. HF chemical burns can be treated with a water wash and 2.5% calcium gluconate gel. or special rinsing solutions. However, because it is absorbed, medical treatment is necessary; rinsing off is not enough. Intra-arterial infusions of calcium chloride have also shown great effectiveness in treating burns.

P&R Labpak can supply HF antidote gel - just ask for details.

For more information visit:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofluoric_acid
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg307.pdf
This link covers HF poisoning, effects and precautions