Working in clinical diagnostic laboratories usually means working with potentially infectious samples like blood or other bodily fluids. But handling infectious microorganisms or harmful chemicals is quite common in research laboratories as well. To ensure the safety of laboratory personnel and to prevent laboratory acquired infections (LAIs) or other health hazards, reasonable precautions must be taken throughout the whole workflow.
Instead of examining the entire flow of work now, we will concentrate on the centrifugation step of infectious and hazardous samples as the dangers here are often quite underestimated. Statistics show that about 80% of all LAIs are unsuspected (aerosols). For further information, please see the additional literature listed at the end of this text.