Contingency Plan in Case of

Equipment Breakdown
 Thomasian Doctor’s Hospital
Legazpi City, Albay

CLINICAL MICROSCOPY LABORATORY

POLICY ON CONTINGENCIES
The following shall be the guidelines on contingencies:
1. Personnel
a) The head of the Clinical Microscopy must be around daily to supervise day-to-
day activities.
b) If the head of the Clinical Microscopy laboratory is not around, a Chief Medical
Technologist on duty shall temporarily take the place of the head.
c) If both the head of the Clinical Microscopy laboratory and the Chief Medical
Technologist is not around, the Medical Technologist on duty shall supervise the
laboratory.
d) If an immediate action or decision is needed, the in-charge Medical Technologist
shall inform the head via phone call.
e) If the head of the Clinical Microscopy laboratory cannot be reached, the in-
charge Medical Technologist may decide on the matter.
f) The in-charge Medical Technologist shall record the incident in the CAPA
logbook.
g) In case of an expected absence of the incoming Medical Technologist on duty,
the outgoing Medical Technologist shall extend for another eight hours, therefore
rendering a sixteen-hour duty.
h) Office order from the head of the Clinical Microscopy laboratory, may be issued if
needed during contingencies, weekends and holidays, where service of the
Clinical Microscopy are imperative.
2. Equipment
a) All machines and equipment used in the laboratory must have a backup as
contingency measure in case of breakdown of equipment.
b) Non-functional equipment must be reported immediately by the assigned
laboratory staff for its maintenance to be fixed as soon as possible.
c) Reporting of maintenance of equipment shall be recorded in a logbook.
d) The Medical Technologist in-charge shall record in the maintenance logbook the
equipment, the date of breakdown of equipment, the date of the report to the
Engineer and Technician in-charge, and the measures taken.
e) All temporarily unavailable Clinical Microscopy examinations due to the
breakdown of any equipment or machine shall be referred to a DOH-licensed and
PHIC-accredited Clinical Microscopy facility.
f) Facility-to-facility transaction shall be observed in case of send-out specimens for
in-patients.
3. Reagents and Supplies
a) In case of sudden and unexpected utilization, consumption of supplies and
reagents, either the Medical Technologist in-charge or the laboratory staff who
first noted the lack of supply shall report it to the Chief Medical Technologist at
once, who is then responsible for reporting to the head of the Clinical Microscopy
laboratory.
 b) The head of Clinical Microscopy laboratory shall take measures to answer the
immediate needs.
4. Electricity
a) In case of brownouts, all machines and equipment that are not supplied by the
generator must be unplugged by the laboratory staff on duty.
b) The laboratory staff who unplugged the equipment shall be responsible for
plugging back the machine or equipment, if need to be plugged.
c) In case the electricity supply is not expected to be back during the shifts of the
Medical Technologists, the unplugged equipment must be endorsed to the
laboratory staff in-charge on the next shift.
 Thomasian Doctor’s Hospital
Legazpi City, Albay

CLINICAL MICROSCOPY LABORATORY

Record of Action in case of Equipment Breakdown

Date Equipment Problem Corrective Action Remarks
8-29-19 Digisystem The centrifuge Contact the Functional
Centrifuge 8 placer tube cannot be Technician to do
taken out and the corrective action
centrifuge button and preventive
is pressed. maintenance to the
damaged
centrifuge.
10-30-19 Nikon Eclipse Internal Replacement of Use Back-up
Microscope contamination internal optics and machine
which gives film.
erroneous result.
11-25-19 BIO-RD Centrifuge Slow rotation of Contact the Functional
the rotor even Technician to do
when set at high corrective action
speed. and preventive
maintenance to the
damaged
centrifuge.
12-6-19 Boeco Germany Loosen parts Contact the Functional
Microscope were noted supplier and ask
for preventive
maintenance. The
supplier provided a
new microscope
while the
microscope is
under repair.
12-9-19 XL-180 (Automated Gives Conduct Replaced and
Biochemistry consistently low preventive Functional
Analyzer) results in majority maintenance
of the samples
being tested.