What to do with plants in the lab
Q: Our facilities manager is questioning if we should have plants in the lab. They are not on the work bench and are away from any contaminated areas. We have gone through many lab inspections without comments on this, but I would like to follow up on his concern.
A: It’s not uncommon to see plants throughout any medical facility, including the lab. They add to the atmosphere of your facility, and often provide a better experience for patients and workers.
Plants are great for providing oxygen in the lab area, but they should not be in a technical area. They house mites and other potential organisms that may interfere with testing or the cleanliness of the area. If you do decide to have plants in the laboratory, it wouldn’t hurt to incorporate a routine cleaning schedule to ensure they are not housing infectious organisms.
To my knowledge there are no requirements about plant life in the lab, but for infection control and safety best-practice reasons, they should be in non-biohazardous areas.
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Terry Jo Gile
Terry Jo Gile, MT(ASCP), MA Ed.,The Safety Lady® has more than 40 years experience as a certified medical technologist. As president of her own consulting firm, Safety Lady LLC, she is a world renowned speaker and consultant who helps organizations create safety savvy laboratories. Click the links to visit her Web site and her blog.
Terry Jo has written 49 posts.
Comments
i think that is great that you can have plants to make your area comfortable to work in does that mean that can a dialysis area are allowed to have plants
That’s questionable for dialysis areas and may raise patient safety issues. The CDC Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Health-Care Facilities recommendations include:
–Flowers and potted plants need not be restricted from areas for immunocompetent patients (308–311). Category II
–Designate care and maintenance of flowers and potted plants to staff not directly involved with patient care (309). Category II
–If plant or flower care by patient-care staff is unavoidable, instruct the staff to wear gloves when handling plants and flowers and perform hand hygiene after glove removal (309). Category II
–Do not allow fresh or dried flowers, or potted plants, in patient-care areas for immunosuppressed patients (37,51,308,312). Category II
Check with your infection control policy or experts before acting on your green thumb instincts.
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