Hazards+and+Risks

Our investigation does involve some dangerous work due to the fact we are dealing with live microorganisms.

[[image:376px-Biohazard_symbol.svg.png width="113" height="107" align="right" caption="The biohazard symbol"]]
A biohazard is any hazardous biological materials that present a risk or potential risk to the health of humans, animals or the environment. This can be a direct risk of infection or an indirect risk which causes damage to the environment.

Biohazardous materials can include the following things:  By using Safe Laboratory Practice and aseptic technique, we can cut down the risk to ouselves of infection from the microbes we are using in our investigation.
 *  Bacteria, fungi or viruses infectious to humans
 *  Animals or plants
 *  Biologically active substances such as toxins, allergens and venoms that may cause disease in other living organisms.

Risk Assessment
For any experiment carried out in school or a workplace it is necessary to assess the risks that the experiment poses for the scientist. The obvious risk in our experiment is the danger from using live microbes, but other dangers do exist. In order to cut down the chances of an accident happening, we carry out a risk assessment. This involves a number of steps:
 * 1) Look for the hazard - decide what materials or methods being used could be a potential hazard.
 * 2) Who might be harmed - Identify the people who could be a risk from your work - it may not just be you.
 * 3) Evaluate the risk - How likely is the problem likely to occur (High, medium or low)
 * 4) Record your findings - Make up a risk assessment document for other people to follow
 * 5) Review your assessment - If we change part of our method, do the risks changed

Once the risk assessment has been carried out, you can identify ways to cut down on the risk, or perhaps remove it all together.

Think about the methods, techniques and materials we are using - what are the risks, how likely are they and how can the problems be avoided?


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