engleski

Personal protection and regulatory aspects of infectious samples packing and transport

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is special equipment necessary for personal protection against specific hazards of hazardous substances. Personal protective equipment does not reduce or eliminate the danger and it protects only the equipment wearer (does not protect anyone else). Types and quantities of personal protective equipment will depend on the type of activity, nature and amount of material used. Personnel using the PPE must understand the functioning, proper use and limitations of personal protective equipment usage. Personal protective equipment includes: respiratory protection, eye and face protection, protective clothing and footwear, gloves and, if necessary, ear protection. There are four levels of PPE during work with highly pathogenic or unknown substances - ABCD levels. Level A is the highest level of safety with an emphasis on the strongest respiratory protection, and level D is the lowest level of safety while working with highly pathogenic agents. International and national transport regulations for infectious samples are applied in all types of traffic (air, rail, road, maritime, postal). Also accompanying transport documents are required, according to the Law on Transport of Dangerous Goods and Classification of Hazardous Materials in 9 Classes. Each class of hazardous material has its own marking type (by number and appearance) and labels of standard dimensions and contents. In packing infectious samples, it is necessary to meet the general packing requirements for the transport of infectious substances by airplane and to know in which category your infectious substance belongs to. Dangerous goods have assigned UN numbers and corresponding names in transport according to their hazard classification and their composition. For packing infectious samples a standard UN three-layer pack is used, consisting of three layers: 1) primary container containing the sample ; 2) secondary packaging to protect the primary container and 3) external packaging protecting the secondary packaging from physical damage.

personal protective equipment, ABCD levels, transport regulations, UN three-layer pack

Dvojezično izdanje - na hrvatskom i engleskom