The mission of the Clinical Services of the Laboratory of Pathology (LP) of the National Cancer Institute is to achieve the highest level of quality in diagnostics, education and research. These goals are supported by a commitment to high standards of laboratory safety. The LP has established a partnership with the clinical and research community at the National Institutes of Health to expand the scope of our expertise. This is turn will ensure the achievement of our goal to be a globally recognized center of excellence for clinical diagnostics, disease research, and pathology education. The manual is designed to promote the highest standards of safety practices, in keeping with our mission, vision and departmental philosophy.

This manual was revised for the year 2002 in an effort to consolidate, condense and streamline the information in our previous manual so that it is easier to find information and insure that we are covering all regulatory and NIH safety issues for the employees working in the Clinical Services of LP. In 2003, revisions were made to address new safety standards of various regulatory and accrediting bodies and placing the material on the web for quick and easy access for LP employees.

The contents of this manual have been standardized with the exception of variable content [e.g., chemical inventory, material safety data sheets (MSDS), etc.] for all the clinical laboratories sections and copies are available in each section/unit and office. Note: Each Laboratory Section has a separate Chemical Inventory and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). MSDS may also be viewed online using links found at http://www.nih.gov/od/ors/ds/msds.html

All employees must review the content of both safety manual and the CC Emergency Management Plan (web and/or printed material) and sign a log indicating they are familiar with its contents. Other very useful web based sources include:

• Division of Safety
• Office of Research Services
• Clinical Center Safety Committee
• NIH Manual Chapters
• CC Emergency Management Plan
• NIH Policy 3015, Admittance of Children to Hazardous Areas
• NIH Policy 1340, NIH Occupational Safety and Health Management

The information contained in this manual may be reproduced; however, reference to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government.

Last Updated 1/12/2009 2:43:05 PM