Application of the Failure Mode and Effects Analysis for Risk Assessment in the Laboratories of a Research Center

Every year, we witness hazardous and even fatal accidents in laboratories. Therefore, identification of the risks in laboratories and creating safe conditions are of paramount importance in these settings. The present study aimed to evaluate the potential risks in the laboratories of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea Ecological Research Center.
In order to assess and classify the risks associated with working in research centers, the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) and relevant statistical tests were used.
Potential risk levels were evaluated as moderate or high in all the laboratories, with the exception of the benthic laboratory. Therefore, appropriate corrective measures must be taken in this regard. Based on the results of the Kruskal-Wallis test, there were significant differences between the studied laboratories in terms of the risk priority number (RPN) before and after the corrective measures. In addition, posthoc tests indicated the lowest risk levels in the benthic and histology laboratories, while the highest risk was identified in the instrumental analysis laboratory. Results of laboratory classification using cluster analysis were noticeably similar to the post-hoc test results. According to Mann-Whitney U test, there were significant differences between the RPN values before and after the corrective measures only in the case of the sample preparation laboratory (P>0.05).
It could be concluded that FMEA is an effective method for risk assessment in research laboratories, while appropriate statistical approaches could also be used for the complementary analysis in this regard.