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Home : Publications : Laboratory Biosafety Guidelines : Chapter 1: Introduction

The Laboratory Biosafety Guidelines: 3rd Edition 2004

Chapter 1
Introduction

Despite a greater awareness of biosafety and biocontainment practices, handling infectious microorganisms remains a source of infection, and even mortality, among laboratory workers(1-4). Incidents of secondary transmission of disease to the public at large, which may be due to possible contamination of the environment or personnel, are also occurring(1,5). There is a steady increase in both the number of laboratories handling pathogens and in the number of scientists wishing to import into Canada new or exotic strains for further study. Laboratory workers can minimize the risks associated with work involving these infectious agents through the application of appropriate biosafety and containment principles and practices. Increasing demands are also being placed on regulatory authorities to ensure that such pathogens are handled in a safe and secure manner.

The Laboratory Biosafety Guidelines were initially developed to guide government, industry, university, hospital, and other public health and microbiological laboratories in their development of biosafety policies and programs. The Guidelines also serve as a technical document providing information and recommendations on the design, construction and commissioning of containment facilities. In recognition of the Guidelines ' impact on key stakeholders, a consultation draft of the 3rd edition was distributed widely by mail-out and Web site posting to offer stakeholders an opportunity to state their opinions and comment on the implications of the draft recommendations. All comments and feedback that stakeholders provided were reviewed and incorporated where possible.

This 3rd edition has been updated to reflect current biosafety and biocontainment principles and practices. The document has been written with a performance-based approach, which not only accommodates contemporary technologies and ever-changing approaches to achieving containment but provides simple and sensible solutions as well. The development of this document parallelled the production of the 2nd edition of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Containment Standards for Veterinary Facilities(6) with the goal of including similar containment requirements where possible in the two documents. Additions include a section on non-human primates. Separate guidelines will be available specifically for work with mycobacteria. These will reflect an ongoing area of concern of biosafety professionals and outline a stratified approach to containment according to the type of procedures used. These will be available by accessing the office of Laboratory Security's Web site at the address below.

A significant change in the 3rd edition is the removal of the Risk Group lists of human pathogens from this document, and is to be available from Health Canada's Office of Laboratory Security and its Web site. Publishing a static list in hard copy does not allow for a dynamic and ongoing assessment of risk or for the addition of new and emerging pathogens. As new risk factors are first identified and explored and more information becomes available, the selection of appropriate containment levels for work with potentially infectious materials is subject to change. The Risk Group list of human pathogens will be available from the Office of Laboratory Security's Web site: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ols-bsl/

Finally, emphasis must be placed on the practices and procedures used by trained laboratory staff. The World Health Organization's Laboratory Biosafety Manual states that "no biosafety cabinet or other facility or procedure alone guarantees safety unless the users operate safe techniques based on informed understanding."(7) It is the responsibility of everyone, including managers and laboratory workers, to use the information available in these Guidelines and to perform their work in a safe and secure manner.

References

  1. Collins, C.H., and Kennedy, D.A. Laboratory-acquired infections. In: Laboratory-acquired infections: history, incidence, causes and preventions. Oxford, UK: Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999;1-37.

  2. Harding, A.L., and Brandt Byers, K. Epidemiology of laboratory-associated infections. In: Fleming, D.O., and Hunt, D.L. Biological safety: principles and practices. Washington, DC: ASM Press, 2000;35-54.

  3. Sewell, D.L. Laboratory-associated infections and biosafety. Clin Microbiol Rev 1995;8:389-405.

  4. Gaidamonvich, S.Y., Butenko, A.M., and Leschinskaya, H.V. Human laboratory acquired arbo-, arena-, and hantavirus infections. J Am Biol Safety Assoc 2000;5:5-11.

  5. Richmond, J.Y. and McKinney, R.W. Biosafety in microbiological and biomedical laboratories. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1999;1-250.

  6. Containment standards for veterinary facilities. Ottawa: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Minister of Supply and Services Canada, No. 1921/E, 1996.

  7. Laboratory biosafety manual. Geneva: World Health Organization, 1993;1-133.

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