ASM recommends that a stratification of safety practices appropriate to the hazard should be developed, so that all laboratorians will be provided a safe working environment. Placing all risk in the TB laboratory in the same category, and requiring a similar level of safety for both specimens and culture amplified materials, does not readily accommodate the development of intermediate safety containment procedures appropriate to routine clinical and anatomic laboratory functions. This disparate management of different laboratory sections will lead to confusion in the clinical laboratory. Whereas the requirements for the facility and many practices represent far more stringency than seems to be necessary, certain elements in the document provide insufficient safety and represent potential hazards to the laboratorian. A serious flaw in the document is the procedures specified for disposal of waste.
Pipettes tend to release bubbles of air that burst droplets of residual fluid.
Yet, the guidelines only call for shallow levels of disinfectant, insufficient for submerging most tubes, and only specifies a closed container, not a sealed one. Such a practice represents a grave hazard when the discard container is removed from the biological safety cabinet before it is autoclaved. This practice will allow residual aerosols to diffuse into the room and place at risk people who work in the vicinity of the area involved in disposal and autoclaving. The ASM also recommends the CDC provide guidance on the proper selection and installation of autoclaves. The CDC guidelines contain appropriate recommendations regarding centrifugation safety in the latter section of the document.