Dangerous incidents at UK laboratories, hospitals and Covid testing centers have potentially exposed staff to the coronavirus and other dangers during the pandemic, according to official reports obtained by the Guardian.
Many have involved leaks and spills of virus-laden fluids, but investigations have also occurred in connection with a flood in an animal facility that housed monkeys infected with Covid, a mix-up that caused scientists to mistakenly work on a live virus, and a researcher who was bitten by an infected ferret.
The Health and Safety Executive has recorded at least 47 “dangerous events” involving the coronavirus at UK research facilities, hospitals and Lighthouse laboratories during the pandemic. Reports on 37 cases were handed to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act. The others were detained due to ongoing investigations.
The reports reflect the enormous pressure scientists, healthcare workers and staff at the Lighthouse Laboratory have been under as Covid ravages Britain. Researchers’ hours soared as they tried to understand the deadly new virus. Meanwhile, NHS staff and experts quickly deployed to test centers were pushed to the breaking point.
Common accidents involved leaks, spills and splashes of virus-laden liquids, some by human hands, others by robots, leading to rapid evacuation and cleanup operations by biohazard teams. A recurring problem in Lighthouse labs stemmed from swabs in home-testing kits that didn’t click properly, causing people to force them into sample tubes before screwing on the caps. This created what the HSE called a “coil spring” which turned the swabs into “missiles” when the vials were opened for testing.
On several occasions, scientists have worked on live virus without proper safety precautions because they believed the virus had been killed, while in other cases, Covid-positive testing samples were transported without proper precautions. According to HSE reports, two healthcare workers at a Chichester hospital contracted Covid after not wearing PPE, but there is no evidence that laboratory staff contracted the virus due to work-related errors. In most cases, the staff wore appropriate PPE.
The National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, which is run by the UK’s medicines regulator, was investigated after a flood at an animal facility that housed marmosets infected with Covid. The same lab was later found to have violated multiple safety regulations when researchers observed water droplets on the lab bench and floor after heating a stock of the Covid virus. The risk of exposure was considered “extremely low”, but the HSE found the lab had failed to plan, control and monitor its work on Covid, failed to provide enough information and training to handle the virus safely and failed to maintain adequate drill safety.
The Public Health England laboratory in Porton Down, which also carried out key work in the Covid pandemic, was ordered to improve safety after a researcher was bitten by an infected tick. An investigation into the May 2020 incident revealed that the animal had cut through the scientist’s protective clothing and drawn blood, prompting managers to send the researcher home to tend to the wound and self-isolate.
The HSE has sent the Wiltshire lab a “crown improvement notice” and asked managers to beef up security at several facilities. But with staff “overwhelmed” due to “double workload”, the case was not closed for a year.
Allen Roberts, deputy director at Porton Down for the UK’s Health Safety Agency (formerly Public Health England), said: “We take the safety of our laboratory scientists very seriously. Actions suggested to us by the HSE have been taken which have helped to further strengthen robust systems and processes to ensure we continue to operate safely and securely.”
A spokesman for the HSE said the “very high level of control” in the sector was reflected in its good health and safety record. “Instances of mislabeling, or near misses, are extremely rare. There are strict incident reporting requirements and we also expect intelligence sharing across the sector,” they said.
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Vincent Theobald-Vega, a former HSE inspector and director of consultancy Safety 4 HEd, said biocontainment laboratories, the equipment used in them and the many safety protocols in place are designed to protect against the worst effects of any incident. But for people working in laboratories, there are still risks, especially from handling samples. “Research labs are generally much more hazardous environments than process labs where simple tests are run in a process line environment,” he said.
“When these controls break down, it’s important for people to understand what went wrong so they can modify processes and try to prevent the same situation from happening next time. That is the primary purpose of the investigation in the health and safety community,” he added. “If organizations didn’t report, we’d all know a lot less about the ways systems fail, and labs would be a lot less secure as a result.”
An MHRA spokesman said the safety of staff was a top priority and all near misses or accidents were thoroughly investigated through internal incident investigation procedures to understand why they happened.
“Following two incidents involving emergency procedures referred by the HSE, all emergency scenarios have been reviewed and our training has been updated to enable staff to respond appropriately in emergency situations. These incidents were resolved immediately and did not pose any significant risk of injury to staff,” the spokesperson said. “The regulatory breach has been fully resolved by changes to the laboratory and operating procedures for its use.”
