Date of Conferral

5-15-2025

Date of Award

May 2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Health

Advisor

Naoyo Mori

Abstract

Laboratorians identifying unknown pandemic pathogens face elevated risks of laboratory-acquired infections yet limited research examines how regulated safety practices influence these risks. This quantitative, correlational study used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s secondary data (2018–2023) to examine two research questions. The first one questioned whether there were differences in safety incidents between registered and exempt clinical laboratories. The second research question investigated whether there was an association of laboratory incidents between BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratories. The research was limited to incident reports from registered and exempted clinical laboratories working in BSL-2 and BSL-3 conditions. Guided by the Health Belief Model, the study analyzed 612 incident reports from seven registered and 385 exempt laboratories. An independent t test was conducted for the first research question revealed significant differences in incident rates from registered laboratories (M = 0.18, SD = 0.650) versus exempt laboratories (M = 1.56, SD = 0.983); t (449) = 11.091, p = < .001. The results of independent t test for the second research question confirmed significant differences in incident rate from BSL-3 laboratories (M = 0.28, SD=0.814) versus BSL-2 laboratories (M = 1.56, SD = 0.979); t (449) = 10.326, p = <.001. Most exposures occurred in BSL-2 labs working on open benches, particularly involving Francisella tularensis and Brucella melitensis, with high incidence in California. Findings underscore the need for stricter safety protocols and further research into geographic and procedural risk factors to enhance laboratory safety and aim to drive positive social change through safer laboratory practices.

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