Chemical and biological risk assessment in university teaching laboratories: an open question

According to Legislative Decree 81/08, any university student performing any activity in a laboratory, including teaching laboratories, is considered a worker and therefore subject to current legislation. This study aimed to assess the chemical and biological risk in university teaching laboratories of Urbino.

The chemical and biological risk assessment was carried out in 6 teaching laboratories of Urbino University using the ISPRA method and INAIL questionnaires (one for intentional use and one for potential exposure), respectively.

Overall, the activities carried out in the examined teaching laboratories resulted in chemical level lower than 1, except one activity (1.304). In total, 192 hazardous reagents were identified; 16, classified as carcinogens/mutagens, are handled exclusively by the technical assistants. As regards the biological risk, the activities with potential exposure resulted in an acceptable risk level (83%) and only one in a medium risk level (17%). In the case of the intentional use, all the examined activities showed a medium risk level, ranging from 2.29 to 3.43.

These results highlight the importance of the safety training provided to students attending the laboratories, as well as the awareness of teachers regarding safety. The risk assessment here presented was referred to technical assistants and course instructors, rather than the students themselves. Even if this approach is certainly more conservative, the question of the true extent of the chemical and biological risks to which students are exposed during their laboratory activities remains open.

The development of a standardized tool for this purpose, beside the standard risk assessments used in research laboratories, would provide more information on risk exposure and risk perceptions by the students.