Assessment of laboratory waste management and laboratory staff awareness in Khartoum state

Abstract

Background A good environmental health conditions is a challenge worldwide. However, Majority of Laboratory wastes extremely dangerous to the environment, animals, and human because of increasing numbers of laboratories and health facilities especially on big cities in Africa like Khartoum state Capital of Sudan.Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out on a group included 34 laboratories in Khartoum state from February to march 2021. Approvals have taken from each laboratory and participants voluntary informed consent and the data were collected using administered questionnaire and the data were analyzed by SPSS .Result Majority of the laboratories have sharp and needles waste , biological waste of human samples mainly (urine, stool, blood) and regular waste. Followed by chemical waste, culture media respectively, and radioactive waste which is the least frequent waste in Khartoum medical laboratories.More than two thirds of laboratory personal did not get training in waste management. greater portion of laboratories have specialized company approved by authorities to collect the medical waste and treat it. similar percentage of laboratories have dustman for this job and in few laboratories the collection and treatment of the waste done by laboratory staff.Majority of laboratories staff are separating the medical sharps from other types of wastes in safety boxes and get rid of it by specialized company in medical waste. Few laboratories throw the safety box in landfill and reuse the safety box again and others burring or burning it. Majority of laboratory staff they don’t know how to manage chemical waste. Conclusion Laboratories wastes are harmful to the environment, human, and animals. laboratories staff have inadequate training in waste management and disposable .there is no unique protocol for waste management and disposal followed by laboratories in Khartoum state so jeopardize laboratorian and community .