Abstract
Background. This study focuses on personnel preparedness for implementing biosafety and biosecurity measures in emergencies in laboratories handling pathogens of different hazard groups and on identifying key elements that contribute to the likelihood of personnel being infected and their impact on health. The study found that a lack of external and internal coordination in emergency response can lead to the release of pathogens into the environment, posing a risk to public health. Aim: the aim of this study was to evaluate the main hazards associated with laboratory conditions and assess personnel preparedness for crisis scenarios and their ability to respond effectively. Materials and methods. During the study, analytical and survey-based methods were used. Statistical analysis was conducted using the licensed version of IBM SPSS Statistics Base v.22. A generalized linear model was built using the Poisson distribution to assess the influence of factors such as laboratory specialization, experience in emergencies, frequency of respiratory illnesses among workers, and vaccination status. Results. The study results indicate that 31.4% of workers reported that experience in emergency situations significantly increases the likelihood of infection, highlighting the need to strengthen biosecurity measures for these employees. Workers who suffer from respiratory illnesses more than three times a year are at high risk of contracting an infection. Other findings of the study revealed a low level of laboratory certification according to international standards, exposing a critical gap in ensuring adequate biological safety measures. According to the collected data, only 32% of laboratory employees reported accreditation under ISO standards. In 62.8% of laboratories, biosafety surveillance systems are lacking, posing additional risks to personnel, public health, and the environment. Conclusion. There is a need to enhance employees' competence in risk assessment, as laboratory-related risks may lead to incidents, accidents, and emergencies