Evaluations of the data on electromagnetic field intensity produced by specific biological laboratory instruments and the risk assessment of biological field investigations in the context of occupational health and safety

The purposes of this study are to determine the electromagnetic field (EMF) produced by some electrical-electronic equipment that specially used in biology laboratories, and to identify the specific risks of biological field researches, in the context of occupational health and safety. At first step of the investigation, EMF intensity of 30 different appliances that used in three different microbiology and microbiological analysisgenetic researches laboratories of Ege University, Faculty of Science, Department of Biology, were measured by an electromagnetic radiation analizator, PCE-EMF 823, at the distances of 1 cm, 5 cm and 50 cm. The statistical data were analyzed comparatively. For all measurement distances, the highest EMF values were recorded for vortex. At second step, the data obtained from an original questionnaire that was applied to 150 volunteers of different universities and one corporation was evaluated with SPSS software; in order to determine the special risks of biological field researches. The results indicate that, the most of the participants were not fully aware of potential hazards and special risk analyzes of biological field researches, although they have been taken before occupational health and safety training.