生物科技產業勞工安全衛生管理與健康危害評估研究

Assessment of Occupational Safety and Health Management and Adverse Effects in Biotechnology Industries

生物科技產業已在台灣開始蓬勃發展，高風險、高科技、高成本與高附加價值是主要屬性。由於生技產業勞工除了可能接觸傳統的化學、物理、人因工程與生物性危害外，生產過程中各類微生物暴露與防範更是不可忽略的安全衛生議題。本研究以電話問卷方法進行生技產業可能危害因子調查，總共完成100 家公司、300 位雇主或安全衛生管理人員與現場作業人員之安全衛生相關問卷訪視，包含產品內容、傳統性安全衛生評估、健康保護與健康效應、生物與微生物之安全措施、動物實驗之安全衛生及化學製程之防護與衛生等項目。整體生技產業而言，多於 100 人的公司設有具乙級以上專業安衛證照之技術士或法規規定之同等資格人員之比率只有 23.7%。健康危害評估發現，健康檢查雖然普遍，但其檢查項目與生物危害相關性有待加強。在微生物相關實驗室方面，微生物之紀錄名稱、對生物安全等級之認知、生物危害原料之追蹤聯單、生物安全通風櫃、防護具評估等方面需加強。實驗室廢棄物外包之追蹤普遍不足，只有 17.9%的公司追蹤外包之處理方式。在發酵槽實驗室使用呼吸防護具與一般手套的防護不足，許多作業場所並未定期檢查表面菌落，發酵槽進行生產前之安全評估及操作中、操作後之安全評估與記錄仍欠缺。大多數的動物中心或使用動物之實驗室已建立詳實之動物來源記錄（95.0%），70.0%的人員曾發生被動物抓傷、咬傷之意外。總結而言，生技產業之安全衛生考量宜與所有其他單位充分合作，在生產一個產品或半成品之前，必須由勞工安全衛生管理單位或人員進行整體安全衛生之評估。

Biotechnology industry will be highly developed in Taiwan. High risk, high-tech, high cost, and highly appending value are the characteristics of biotechnology. Biotechnology workers may expose to unusual risk factors from conventional chemical, physical, ergonomic, and biological agents. The term biosafety, implying protection from the potential hazards caused by microorganisms to those who handle them, is new in Taiwan. The present study was based on questionnaire survey. We explored the specific hazard factors in 100 biotechnology industrial companies. This study conducted 300 questionnaire interviews including the employers, industrial hygienists, and empolyees by telephone and discovered that only 23.7% factories have industrial hygienists in companies with the number of workers larger than one hundred. Although most industries have provided periodical physical examination to their employees, examination items were not geared to biosafety. The recording, recognition of biosafety, and protection equipment such as hood and personal protection are relatively lacking, especially at fermentation and pharmacy-related laboratories. Monitoring of waste and accidental release of microbes is not thorough. A high percentage (95%) regarding the records of supplying-systems for experimental animals is established. However, the injury rate of animal scratches or bites is approaching 70%. In conclusion, this study tried to pinpoint those biosafety topics, which were highly relevant in both the current situation of health assessment and the development in the near future. It is important to establish the cooperation between biotechnology industry and government agencies. Moreover, it is necessary to evaluate the profile of safety and health status by industrial hygienist, safety engineers or health management department before or after the process of productions.