Pharma Industry Health & Safety

Health and safety is vital in the workplace, but especially in a volatile one such as the pharmaceutical industry where toxic hazards are a fact of working there. Though risk is expected, it should never be allowed to happen due to lack of care on the part of the employer or employee.

The importance of health and safety in the pharmaceutical industry cannot be stressed enough. But here are a few key points:

Basic Safety

When working in hazardous conditions, employees are legally obliged to take extra precaution to avoid risks. They must comply with the basic standard of a functional lab. Basic safety procedures in a lab include:

• Spillage clearing as soon as it occurs.
• Tidy work areas.
• Hand washing at regular intervals.
• Laboratory coats.
• Eye protection at all times.
• Clear safety exits.
• Ties for long hair.
• Regular risk assessment to help mitigate risks.

Pharmaceutical Risk Assessment

Necessary assessments need to be made at regular intervals in order to upkeep the safety of your pharmaceutical lab at all times. This helps to review and alter any procedures that may be in place already to help improve health and safety.

This involves examining accident report sheets for improved methods, take note of those workers most at risk, working out how to minimise the risk and then making a recording of this assessment. From there, this process should be repeated at regular intervals to ensure risk is always kept at its lowest point.

Fume Extraction

Toxic fumes are an unfortunate side effect of some of the work conducted in a pharmaceutical lab. Making extraction, then, a vital component of any labs safety. A hooded fume extraction system can help to remove the potential danger of solvent or other such fumes affecting your workforce. 

Always have safety data sheets on hand so workers know the hazards of the materials they are working with. This should outline the hazards of chemicals in the lab, as well as potential hazards. This is a legal requirement, as part of the Health & Safety at Work Act.

Overall, safety is paramount no matter what industry you are in; but, especially in ones that have an increased risk of hazards. Here at Airmatic Ltd, we supply ways to keep workplace safety at its peak at all times.