Hi
We had the same safety issues in a small hospital, brought to everyone's
attention by a formalin spill in the OR.  There is now a refrigerator in the
OR area so that large specimens can be refrigerated until the next pickup by
the  pathology aide.  It's had the added benefit of having the tissue be
grossed fresh and bivalved if a uterus or cleaned out and cut if a colon
before going into fixative.
The pathologist that I first worked for used to go directly to the OR and
pick up the large fresh specimens, bring them back to the grossing room and
handle them immediately.  We NEVER had a problem with unfixed middles, etc.
He also fixed large specimens overnight, including melanomas and lipomas and
always fixed decals overnight before decaling them.  It was a real shock for
me to learn that all tissue wasn't treated that way! and I've often thought
of how fortunate the patients were to have their tissue respected and handled
this way and to get the best diagnosis possible.  Sorry to ramble-I'm an old
tech. :-)
Nancy