Posted on 06/02/2003 7:41:35 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Inspectors act to prevent deadly germ leaks after safety lapses
They house some of the deadliest diseases known to mankind and are often located in the heart of Britain's towns and cities.
Yet despite containing lethal pathogens such as tuberculosis, HIV and Sars, several high-security laboratories in hospitals have suffered disturbing lapses in safety, putting the public at risk of a major health disaster.
An Observer investigation has discovered that in the past 10 months three hospital laboratories have been forced to close after government inspectors found facilities in such poor condition that they feared the possibility of potentially deadly viruses escaping into the environment.
Inspectors criticised another hospital laboratory in London last April for breaking safety rules in its work with a genetically modified virus that can cause dangerous respiratory illnesses in young children.
In the worst case, health and safety inspectors visiting the Royal Brompton in Chelsea - one of central London's top hospitals - were so alarmed by its breach of safety rules at its microbiological laboratory that they ordered all its work on dangerous pathogens to stop immediately. The laboratory was a special secure unit designed to diagnose high-risk specimens from patients who were suspected of suffering from dangerous and contagious diseases such as TB or typhoid.
The Health & Safety Executive served an immediate Prohibition Notice on the Royal Brompton last July after finding its laboratory was not properly sealed. A breakage or spillage could lead to a 'release of biological agents outside the laboratory'. The lab was refurbished in 2001, yet it was forced to shut for 10 months until March when inspectors gave it the all-clear. A Royal Brompton spokeswoman accepted there had been a problem but stressed there had never been any risk to the public or patients.
She blamed contractors for failing to seal the lab properly.
However, a spokesman for the dangerous pathogens unit at the Health & Safety Executive said inspectors issued Prohibition Notices only in extreme circumstances where they believed there was a real potential danger.
Normally when inspectors from the HSE discover a high-security laboratory has broken safety rules it issues an Improvement Notice ordering that the facilities must be secured in a set period, or a large fine will be imposed. These laboratories have to abide by stringent safety rules because they deal with pathogens known as 'hazard group 3 biological agents'.
There is only one higher level of danger, category 4, which are killer diseases like Ebola for which there is no known cure. These pathogens can only be handled by scientists at the top security government laboratories in Porton Down, Wiltshire.
In November, health and safety inspectors were forced to act when they visited the Public Health Laboratory in Truro, which is now part of the Royal Cornwall Hospital. They discovered that the laboratory was not effectively sealed and that special filters designed to prevent viruses escaping into the environment had not been tested or examined properly.
The lab was forced to shut down for two months while remedial work was done.
Similarly last December, the microbiology laboratory in the Warrington Hospital, Cheshire, was forced to shut down after inspectors found that it would not be able to cope adequately in the event of a spillage of dangerous pathogens. The hospital brought in an external contractor to carry out remedial work and seal the facilities properly. The hospital hopes to have the laboratory open later this month.
The most recent breach of safety rules occurred last April at Hammersmith Hospital in west London. Inspectors were concerned at the way hospital scientists were storing genetically modified viruses. Like category 3 pathogens, there are strict rules governing the use of GM organisms.
Scientists at Hammersmith were using a genetically modified version of the adenovirus - a virus that can cause mild respiratory illnesses in adults but can be much more dangerous to young children. The special freezer the GM virus was supposed to be stored in had broken down and laboratory workers had moved it to a freezer in an unrestricted area of the hospital.
The HSE notice to the hospital authorities stated: 'You did not ensure the safe storage of genetically modified micro-organisms at the above premises sufficiently to reduce the exposure of humans and the environment.'
Dr Andrew Cottam, head of the Biological Agents Division at the Health & Safety Executive, played down the significance that several hospital laboratories had breached safety rules in the past 10 months.
Cottam said: 'We have increased resources in this area and the number of staff, so it is probably a factor of an increased number of inspections... in general we do find good standards of safety.'
However Dr Sue Mayer of the pressure group Genewatch is more alarmed: 'We have always thought that reported incidents like these are likely to be tip of iceberg. It seems strange that hospital labs that are inspected more frequently reveal dangerous lapses in safety. What else has been going on that we are only just finding out about? It is very disturbing to find that basic safety precautions to protect the public aren't been properly adhered to, and in hospitals of all places.'
The problems are not just confined to hospital laboratories. The HSE documents obtained by The Observer reveal that in September 1999, Huntingdon Life Sciences in Cambridgeshire was criticised for breaching rule relating to BSE that it had administered to mice.
The firm, which has been criticised by animal rights activists for its experiments on animals, was accused of inspectors of being a 'bit dirty and a bit messy' with the way it treated BSE waste.
Hopefully they will keep working on making things safer and more secure, ASAP.
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