# Surveillance of laboratory exposures to human pathogens and toxins, Canada, 2024

## TL;DR

This paper analyzes 2024 data on lab exposures to pathogens in Canada, identifying trends and contributing factors.

## Contribution

The study provides updated surveillance data and qualitative insights into exposure incidents in Canadian labs.

## Key findings

- In 2024, 71 confirmed exposure incidents affected 132 individuals, with bacteria being the most common pathogen.
- Human factors were the leading root cause, and public health labs had the highest incident rate.
- Qualitative analysis highlighted unsafe practices like working outside safety cabinets as common issues.

## Abstract

Exposure incidents to human pathogens and toxins (HPTs) in licensed facilities in Canada are monitored by Laboratory Incident Notification Canada (LINC), a surveillance system that describes and identifies trends among exposure incidents in Canada using quantitative and qualitative data.

Confirmed exposure incidents reported to LINC in 2024 were analyzed. The exposure incident rate was calculated and compared to previous years. A seasonality analysis compared monthly trends. Exposure incidents were described by sector, implicated HPTs, main activity, occurrence types, root causes, affected individuals and reporting delay. Text-based descriptions of exposure incidents underwent qualitative analysis.

In 2024, there were 71 confirmed exposure incidents affecting 132 individuals. There were 67.5 incidents per 1,000 active licences. Bacteria was the most commonly implicated HPT (64%). Microbiology (67.6%) was the primary activity during confirmed exposures. The public health sector had the highest incident rate and mean number of affected persons per active licence. The most frequently reported occurrence type and root cause was procedure-related (21.4%) and human factors (62%), respectively. Most affected individuals were technicians/technologists (76.5%). The median time between incident and reporting was five days.

The exposure incident rate was higher in 2024 compared to the previous year. The public health sector had the highest incident rate between 2016–2024. Qualitative analysis revealed that working with cultures outside the biological safety cabinet and insufficient face-related personal protective equipment were common factors involved in confirmed exposure incidents.