Health and safety in clinical laboratories in developing countries: safety considerations.

BACKGROUND: Clinical laboratories are potentially hazardous work areas. Health and safety in clinical laboratories is becoming an increasingly important subject as a result of the emergence of highly infectious diseases such as hepatitis and HIV. This is even more so in developing countries where health and safety have traditionally been regarded as low priority issues, considering the more important health problems confronting the health authorities in these countries.
METHODS: We conducted a literature search using the medical subheadings titles on the INTERNET over a period of twenty years and summarized our findings.
RESULTS: This article identifies hazards in the laboratories and highlights measures to make the laboratory a safer work place. It also emphasizes the mandatory obligations of employers and employees towards the attainment of acceptable safety standards in clinical laboratories in Third World countries in the face of the current HIV/AIDS epidemic in many of these developing countries especially in the sub-Saharan Africa while accommodating the increasing work load in these laboratories.
CONCLUSION: Both the employer and the employee have major roles to play in the maintenance of a safe working environment. This can be achieved if measures discussed are incorporated into everyday laboratory practice.