Biorisk Management – Dealing with Possibilities of Biological Material

1. Biorisk Management – Dealing with Possibilities of Biological Material Facilities handling dangerous biological material pose great risks for personnel working in them. Without an effective biorisk management program, you can be putting your team—and the public—at risk. A solid program can safeguard your staff and the general population from the dangers of biological contamination and its harmful effects. A safety standard compliant laboratory must have a Biosafety Officer whose main task is to oversee and make sure that all safety procedures and processes are complied with. Part of the job includes inspecting and keeping the facility and its equipment compliant with set safety standards. High containment labs classified as BSL-3 are required to possess well designed, safety-engineered equipment and facilities. They must also be up to Biosafety standards which typically dictate and require features like redundant power, ventilation, and filtration systems for air and water as well as multi-stage waste disposal systems. Your laboratory’s biorisk management program must address all policy statements, standard operating procedures, and program plans to ensure the elimination (or at least the minimization) of biological risks. Training programs must in place, along with new employee initiations, to minimize the risk of new hires from brining their bad habits with them into your lab. Detailed and specific standard operating procedures also need to be strictly enforced. Biorisk management focuses on efficiencies, proper procedures, and constant vigilance, to ensure the safety and security of a lab environment. A common reason for the occurrence of biological risk incidents is the lack of focus and carelessness with regards to even the simplest of laboratory safety procedures. This underlines the need for a biorisk management program to handle the situation in case an accident occurs. Proper training and hiring of qualified personnel is necessary for laboratory biorisk management in high containment level areas. Workers and scientists dealing with hazardous biological materials must be specially trained for the specific task of handling such elements. Managing and reducing mistakes in material handling and practices will be greatly reduced if the persons in charge have the adequate skills for the job. This is true for security personnel as well. They must be mindful of any potential risks that may get into a secure facility to prevent any incident from happening in the first place.