We have a form for all pregnant women (and her doctor) to sign. The form lists the chemicals she will be exposed to and the potential risks of each are outlined. The form also reminds the employee that she should continue to use universal precautions when working around these chemicals. I like to have her doctor acknowledge that he/she is aware of the employee's work environment and that the employee has her doctor's OK to continue working here. I feel that having both sign this form protects us from any possible liability.
_______________________ James E. Staruk HT(ASCP) www.masshistology.com www.nehorselabs.com -----Original Message----- From: histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu [mailto:histonet-boun...@lists.utsouthwestern.edu] On Behalf Of Parker, Helayne Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2013 1:10 PM To: 'histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu' Subject: [Histonet] Pregnancy Hi Gang, Thought I would ask some people with some more experience than I in this. One of our techs is pregnant- Yay !!! She is very early - about 5 weeks. My Lab Director wants her to start wearing a mask due to the chemicals. So we need to ask what sort of precautions need to take place during the pregnancy etc. We also coverslip by hand here out of xylene etc. I can not remember ever working with any pregnant HTs in the past so I honestly do not know. Please carbon copy replies to jascholefi...@skaggs.net as well. We predominately work with 10% formalin, reagent grade alcohols, paraplast, xylenes, clear-rite 3, Decal I and II (from Surgipath), cytofixative and some routine special stain items. Basically the typical myriad of stuff a very small routine histo lab would have (no immunos).... Thanks and bunch for your help ! Sincerely, Helayne Parker, H.T. (ASCP) Pathology Section Head Cox Medical Center Branson P.O. Box 650, Branson, MO 65615 Phone: 417-335-7254 Fax: 417-335-7127 Email: hpar...@skaggs.net Web: www.coxhealth.com/branson _______________________________________________ Histonet mailing list Histonet@lists.utsouthwestern.edu http://lists.utsouthwestern.edu/mailman/listinfo/histonet