Introduction
Health and safety, along with suitable infection control procedures are very important within a dental laboratory. You need to be able to show that you understand the different aspects of what is required by the General Dental Council and use basic knowledge that you don’t know where the impression has come from and it is essential that you disinfect before you can proceed on their case. This is purely for the safety of you as the technician and others colleagues working beside you. By
Summary
Contents
Safe working practices in dental environments, risk assessments and safe use of materials, storage and disposal (30)
There are many different safe working practices in dental environments. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 outlines the most important requirements that both employers and employees are responsible for. Employers have the responsibility to make sure that the workplace is safe in order to prevent any risks to health for the employee. They also have to make sure that the safe working practices are set up and followed in order to ensure that employees know how to use equipment correctly as well as being able to maintain and monitor the effectiveness of that piece of equipment and decide whether it may still be fit for purpose. Furthermore,
Risk assessments are essential in both clinical and laboratory dental environments because you need to make sure you are able to highlight any potential risks that can cause harm to either you or others. Risks can be anything from slip hazards to possible dangerous chemicals which can harm a person. The employer should make adequate assessments of anything that can be a risk to the health and safety of all employers and put barriers in place to reduce harm.
SPECIFIC ACTIVITY ASSESSED
In this risk assessment, I will be assessing impression material disinfection and why it important to acknowledge the risks behind why it is important to disinfect as soon as an impression comes into the laboratory.
HAZARDS & RISK FACTORS There are many risks and hazards associated with receiving impressions into the laboratory. First of all, you could be exposed to all types of bacteria, viral infections and other microscopic pathogens.
WHO IS AT RISK
The technician dealing with that case would be the one at risk as they would be dealing with that impression when disinfecting at the beginning. However, if other colleague comes into contact with that impression then they are at risk too.
EXISTING CONTROLS/WHERE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND
The most obvious control put into place when dealing with impressions is as soon as they come in, you need to disinfect. Before doing anything, is it critical that you protect yourself using the correct PPE such as gloves, lab coats, masks etc. The next step would be check whether you are casting the right impression and then to disinfect. You shouldn’t handle other things when handling an impression as you can transfer contaminants from other places. The impression itself should be placed away from others so that it does not mix with others. Any contaminated materials used during the casting process should be disposed of immediately and not used with other impressions as this can cause cross infection. Furthermore, cleaning and maintaining the decontamination room is essential so that you are not spreading or cross contaminating with other materials.
FURTHER ACTION (IF REQUIRED) If there has been contact with the impression without it being disinfected, you should wash your hands with antibacterial hand wash thoroughly.
If the impression has been dropped on the floor during delivery process, it should be picked with the person wearing gloves in order to protect them from any infection. If it was to be dropped, they must tell the technician and they must then sterilise the impression properly.
You need to be able to store all chemicals and equipment in the right area. If something is explosive, you wouldn’t put it near something which may ignite it. It’s the same if there is a clear chemical, you wouldn’t put it near something which looks similar to it (such as water) as this can cause confusion and can be very dangerous to a person’s health. Disposal should be taken seriously too. If you use a single use piece of equipment, then it should be disposed of immediately after use. This helps to prevent any cross contamination and possible infections between yourself and other people. Not only this, but it is good practice to dispose of materials after each use so that you can be certain no bacteria or microorganisms have been transported onto another material.
Cross infection control
This is highly important within both clinical and laboratory environments simply due to the fact that you want to protect yourself from any infections. Procedures should be put into place to ensure that even the simplest rules should be followed such as wearing the correct PPE (gloves, masks and protective clothing). The workflow of any laboratory is crucial in order to help prevent cross infection. By following a dirty to clean flow when cleaning or even handling contaminated instruments, it will help to prevent cross contamination and make your environment safer to work in. According to
Washing your hands is another simple way of preventing infections. In a clinical environment, you should always wash your hands before and after seeing a patient as well as after using instruments. There are other barriers in which can prove to be effective if carried out properly. For example, personal protective equipment such as gloves, masks, protective eyewear when necessary as well as protective clothing such as lab coats.
Pathogens can be transported into the laboratory by direct contact with saliva that is infected, via blood through cuts or abrasions, exposure to knifes or other sharp equipment and even airborne infections from aerosols. (Fluent, Molinari, 2013). If the aerosols contain blood then there is the possible risk of blood borne pathogens such as HIV.
Common decontamination techniques
Decontamination is very important to know within dental environments. You need to make sure that you know when and how to decontaminate certain areas/instruments in order to maintain a safe working environment. Records of when instruments have been decontaminated should be monitored so that other people will have an idea of when it was done and when they need to do it next. Ensuring the information is recorded can be included in audit purposes so that you have documentation of when it was done and when someone needs to check it, they can do. Sterilisation is killing all microbes present regardless of whether they are harmful or not. Good decontamination practice is ensuring that staff are properly trained and supervised as well as ensuring equipment properly maintained, calibrated, monitored and authenticated. It should be made aware to practitioners that a routine will help reduce the risk of disease transmission and make the work place safe to work in.
Safeguarding other dental team members
Making sure you, other staff and the patient are safe is imperative as you don’t want to be the cause of someone else’s injuries or bad health. The dental laboratory association advise that you should always disinfect if you are in doubt so that you are protecting the health and safety of yourself and other members of staff.
Audits – specifically for safe working practices
‘DAMAS is the ‘Dental Appliance Manufacturers Audit Scheme’. It is a quality management system designed specifically for the manufacturers of custom made dental appliances.’ It is used to ensure that clients are receiving the best possible appliances that regulate within the required law such as the Medical Devices Regulations. (DAMAS 2016). Audits work by analysing the effectiveness of the different devices designed to make appliances in order to maximise the quality for the patient. (Lab Manager 2011).
Regulatory requirements (MHRA etc)
There are many regulatory requirements which are implanted into dental laboratories such as the MHRA, GDC,