Skip Navigation
Search
All laboratory accidents must be reported to EH&S, Lab Supervisors, and Lab Safety Coordinators. This includes:
- Fires
- Explosions
- Large hazardous material spills
- Serious injuries (e.g., death, amputation, concussion, crushing, fracture, burn, laceration with serious bleeding or requiring stitches, or hospitalization)
- Laboratory-acquired infections
- Exposures to hazardous materials, including biohazardous material
- Incidents that have the potential to cause serious injury or harm
EH&S will conduct an accident investigation for all serious accidents.
The following forms must be used to report accidents involving an injury, illness or exposure to chemical, biological or radiological materials (via inhalation, splash or other accident):
- RF: Research Foundation Work-Related Employee Injury/Illness Incident Report
- Minors/Students: Student Accident/Injury Report
- Hospital Employees:Stony Brook Medicine Injury/Illness Report
It is also important for lab workers to report to the PI or Lab Manager all near misses that had the potential to cause serious injury or harm. Near misses provide you with the opportunity to correct potential hazards before an injury occurs. Near misses can be reported to EH&S by contacting the Laboratory Safety Specialist directly. They are not to be reported using the HR Accident Reporting process.
Specific information will assist EH&S in recommending corrective actions that the lab can take to prevent re-occurrence. This information is part of the HR Accident Reporting process, and the information EH&S needs for near misses. The information that is needed includes:
- Injured person's name, address, etc
- Place of accident (be specific); Work location
- Specific type of injury (e.g. cut, sprain, chemical splash)
- Specific body part injured
- Was medical attention required (doctor or hospital)?
- Describe how accident occurred
- What do you think can be done to prevent this from reoccurring?
- Include any equipment involved in the incident
- What were the primary & contributing causes of the incident?
Immediate steps must be taken by the PI or Lab Manager to correct hazardous conditions or practices. The lab must document corrective actions that are taken, such as:
- Remove - dangerous situations
- Repair - equipment, process
- Replace -damaged equipment
- Retrain - on-the-job training
- Review - update and correct SOPs
- Assign responsibility and timeline for corrective actions