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Laboratory Biohazard Exposure

203. Laboratory Biohazard Exposure

Work with hazardous biological agents in research laboratories has expanded as new infectious agents and diseases have emerged. Biological hazards include infectious or toxin producing microorganisms, potentially infectious human substances, and research animals, or their tissues, from which transmission of infectious agents or toxins is reasonably anticipated. It is crucial to provide safe methods, facilities and equipment for managing infectious materials in the microbiological and biomedical laboratories where these type of materials are being handled or maintained. The risk assessment of the work to be done with a specific biohazard helps to determine the appropriate combination of all above mentioned elements to reduce or eliminate exposure of the laboratory staff, the community, and the environment to potentially harmful biological agents. The safety principles described are based on sound safety practices, common sense, good housekeeping, thorough personal hygiene, and a plan for responding to accidents. It is likely that laboratories which are well organized and procedurally disciplined are not only effective scientifically, but safe as well. The most important element of safety when working with biohazardous materials is strict adherence to standard microbiological practices and techniques. Training is a key requisite to guarantee the fundamental objective of biological safety programs: a safer and healthier working environment for the campus community.

BMP

  • The Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) has been established at UT Arlington to review all research involving recombinant/synthetic nucleic acid molecules. UT Arlington complies with the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules, effective November 2013. In addition, UT Arlington follows the guidance found in Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL), CDC/NIH, Fifth Edition, revised December 2009. All projects involving recombinant/synthetic nucleic acid molecules, regardless of funding, must be reviewed by the UT Arlington IBC prior to initiation. The Principal Investigator (PI) must submit a Protocol Application for Research Involving recombinant/synthetic nucleic acid molecules to the IBC.
  • All individuals who plan to work with select agents/toxins must register with the CDC and/or APHIS (Select Agents and Toxins List). The registration process is rigorous and includes many provisions. Currently, there are no research projects on UT Arlington utilizing select agents or toxins. Use of these materials will require involvement and approval by UT Arlington Office of Research Administration.
  • The UT Arlington Environmental Health and Safety Office (EH&S) maintains a registry of all laboratories and personnel working with biohazardous agents such as microbial pathogens, toxins, and/or human blood, body fluids, and cells/tissues. Additionally, when a cell culture is inoculated with or known to contain an etiologic agent, it should be classified and handled at the same biosafety level as the agent. UT Arlington complies with the CDC recommendations in BMBL. The PI is responsible for completing the appropriate parts of the Human Pathogen Registration (HPR) and forwarding it to EH&S. After receiving the registration, EH&S conducts a laboratory inspection using Biosafety Level 2 (BSL-2) Commissioning Checklist to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal regulations and to improve safety. The PI is also responsible for notifying EH&S when the project has terminated or when other significant changes occur using the Human Pathogen Registration Update (HPRU). All three forms mentioned in this paragraph can be found on the EH&S - Biological Safety website under “Forms”.
  • Any specimen from humans may contain infectious agents. Specimens most likely to harbor such microorganisms include blood, sputum, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, semen, vaginal secretions, cerebrospinal fluid, synovial fluid, pleural fluid, pericardial fluid, peritoneal fluid, amniotic fluid, feces and cells/tissues. Personnel in laboratories handling human blood or body fluids should practice universal precautions, an approach to infection control wherein all human blood and other potentially infectious materials (OPIM) are treated as if known to harbor human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and other bloodborne pathogens. EH&S has developed Exposure Control Plan for Bloodborne Pathogens in accordance with Texas Department of State Health Services Exposure Control Plan, Health and Safety Code 81.304 to be analogous with the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030. Bloodborne Pathogens for Laboratory Research Personnel Training is a requirement if during the course of work there is a potential for coming into contact with human blood or OPIM. It is highly recommended that all persons with potential exposure to bloodborne pathogens through handling human blood / OPIM receive the hepatitis B vaccination. Employees shall be offered the hepatitis B vaccination free of charge. Employees may refuse the hepatitis B vaccine, but they need to be properly informed of its benefits through appropriate training. If the employee refuses the vaccine, he/she must sign a declination form (Hepatitis B Vaccine Waiver). Hepatitis B Vaccination/Hepatitis B Vaccine Waiver/Exemption (Prerequisites for access to BSL-2 laboratories/handling human blood or other potentially infectious materials).
  • To apply biological safety principles rationally while handling a potential pathogen, one must perform a risk assessment. Biological risk assessment is an important responsibility of PIs of microbiological and biomedical laboratories. The IBC, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), biological safety professionals, and laboratory animal veterinarian(s) share this responsibility. 
  • The information identified by risk assessment will provide a guide for the selection of appropriate biosafety level, microbiological practices, safety equipment, and facility safeguards that can prevent laboratory-associated infection(s) (LAIs), protect persons that are not directly associated with the laboratory, and reduce environmental contamination risk. The primary factors to consider in risk assessment and selection of precautions are agent hazards and laboratory procedure hazards. Careful judgment is crucial to guarantee that the risks are neither underestimated nor the laboratory burdened unnecessarily with too rigorous safeguards.
  • Understanding the natural mode of transmission of microorganisms and the natural immunity and health status of the laboratory personnel are important considerations when assessing the protective impact of natural biological barriers. Pathogens are transmitted via several routes depending on the pathogen in question. The most common routes of infection are inhalation of infectious aerosols or dusts, exposure of mucous membranes to infectious droplets, ingestion from contaminated hands or utensils, or percutaneous self-inoculation (injection or incision). Appropriate precautions can be implemented to avoid such exposures.
  • Physical containment barriers represent administrative, engineering, and PPE controls designed to control biological materials. The objective of physical containment is to confine biohazards thus reducing the potential harmful exposure of the laboratory worker, persons outside of the laboratory, institutional visitors, the community-at-large, and the environment. Physical barriers are established in addition to the identified natural and contrived barriers. 
  • There are two functional types of physical containment: Primary Containment: Barriers erected for the protection of personnel within the immediate laboratory. This type generally includes PPE and safety equipment. Secondary Containment: Barriers erected for the protection of the environment external to the immediate handling area. This type generally includes facility features.
  • Safety equipment includes biosafety cabinets (BSCs), enclosed containers, and other engineering controls designed to remove or minimize exposures to hazardous biological materials. The BSCs are the principal devices used to provide containment of infectious splashes or aerosols generated by many microbiological procedures. Other primary barriers are the safety centrifuge cups, enclosed containers designed to prevent aerosols from being released during centrifugation. Centrifugation involving the use of gasket-sealable tubes, carriers and rotors, and containment controls such as BSCs must be used when handling infectious agents that can be transmitted through the aerosol route of exposure.
  • Accidental spilling of liquid infectious cultures is an obvious hazard due to the generation of aerosols (airborne droplets containing microorganisms). However, even routine manipulations of cultures may release microorganisms via aerosol formation.
  • When preparing aliquots of infectious material for long term storage, it needs to be taken into consideration that viable lyophilized cultures may release high concentrations of dispersed particles if ampoules are not properly sealed. Breakage of ampoules in liquid nitrogen freezers may also present hazards because of survival and dispersal of pathogens in the liquid phase.
  • Equipment used for manipulations of infectious materials, such as cell sorters and automated harvesting equipment, must be evaluated to determine the need for secondary containment and to consider decontamination issues.
  • Safety equipment also includes items for personal protection, such as gloves, laboratory coats, gowns, shoe covers, boots, respirators, face shields, safety glasses/ goggles. PPE is often used in combination with BSCs and other devices that contain the agents, animals, or materials being handled. In some situations in which it is impractical to work in biosafety cabinets, PPE may form the primary barrier between personnel and the infectious materials.
  • Each laboratory needs to develop or adopt a biosafety or operations manual. The manual should identify the hazards that will or may be encountered, and specify practices and procedures designed to minimize or eliminate exposures to these hazards. Persons working with infectious agents or potentially infectious materials must be aware of the hazards, and personnel must be trained and be proficient in the practices and techniques required for handling biohazardous materials safely. The PI / person in charge of the laboratory is responsible for making sure that appropriate training is provided for personnel. Laboratory personnel, safety practices, and techniques must be supplemented by appropriate facility design and engineering features, safety equipment, and management practices. The design and construction of the facility contributes to the laboratory workers' protection, provides a barrier to protect persons outside the laboratory, and protects persons / animals in the community from infectious agents which may be accidentally released from the laboratory.