How Clinical Laboratories Can Prepare for Crisis Events Before They Happen
Experts share strategies to help clinical laboratories prepare for disruptions, protect samples, and maintain testing operations during unexpected crises.
Laboratory crises rarely announce themselves in advance. They may begin with an after-hours phone call, a freezer alarm that fails to trigger, or a system outage that forces leaders to act before all the facts are known. In clinical laboratories, a crisis is not limited to catastrophic accidents. It can include any event that disrupts regulated operations or threatens staff safety—from equipment failures and power outages to cyber incidents, water damage, or supply chain breakdowns. For laboratory leaders, the central question is not whether disruptions will occur, but whether the lab is prepared when routine safeguards fail.
In a recent article from Dark Daily’s sibling publication Lab Manager, Tracy Durnan, disaster preparedness expert and research operations manager at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, stresses that crisis readiness must be built into everyday operations. “You can’t be prepared for a crisis when something goes wrong if you aren’t prepared for a crisis on a typical day; the two are inextricably linked,” she explained.
Identifying Operational Weak Points
Effective preparation begins by identifying where failures could cascade across laboratory operations. Many labs track hazards, but fewer examine how a single breakdown could ripple through staffing, equipment, utilities, vendors, and data systems.
Jason Nagy, PhD, MLS (ASCP), lab safety support coordinator for Sentara Health, recommended starting with the earliest point of failure and working backward to identify mitigation steps. In practice, this type of analysis often reveals a common issue: staff uncertainty during emergencies. Written procedures alone rarely prepare laboratorians to respond under pressure, making drills and scenario-based training essential. (Photo credit: Sentra Health)
Cross-training is another critical safeguard. When only a few individuals know how to manage spill responses, downtime procedures, or emergency shutdowns, those employees quickly become overwhelmed while others hesitate to act.
Systems, Communication, and Leadership
Infrastructure reliability is another major factor in crisis resilience. Critical systems—including alarm monitoring, backup power, and environmental controls—must be tested regularly to ensure they function when staff are offsite. Durnan noted that many laboratories discover alarm failures only after equipment losses occur, such as freezer systems that fail over a weekend without notifying staff.
Supply redundancy can also determine whether labs preserve irreplaceable materials. During a building flood that disrupted liquid nitrogen deliveries, Durnan’s lab avoided sample loss because a backup supply tank was already in place.
When disruptions occur, leadership coordination becomes essential. Nagy described how Sentara Health activates an incident command center during emergencies, bringing together couriers, receiving labs, and leadership to quickly coordinate decisions such as specimen rerouting and operational adjustments.
Even with preparation, uncertainty remains inevitable. Nagy emphasized the importance of contingency planning, noting that laboratories should always have multiple fallback strategies when normal workflows break down.
For clinical laboratory leaders, the broader takeaway is that resilience must be built into everyday operations. Training, infrastructure testing, cross-training, and well-defined communication structures help ensure laboratories can protect staff, preserve samples, and maintain testing services when unexpected disruptions occur.
This article was created with the assistance of Generative AI and has undergone editorial review before publishing.
—Janette Wider
