The ORCBS - Biological Safety - Programs & Guidelines

Animal Facility - Biosafety Level 3 (ABSL-3)

Special Practices
The following special practices must be utilized in an ABSL-3 lab:

Medical surveillance
A medical surveillance program will be implemented as indicated by risk assessment. It will apply to animal caretakers, laboratory and support personnel. All personnel using human-derived materials or cell lines must participate in the Bloodborne Pathogens Program. See the MSU Exposure Control Plan for additional information. For the use of other agents, medical surveillance and immunizations will be provided as appropriate. Occupational Health as well as the ORCBS should be contacted for assistance.

Work conducted inside of a biological safety cabinet
A biological safety cabinet, or a combination of PPE and other containment devices (as approved by the biological safety officer) must be used when working with infectious materials, infected animals or there is the potential for the creation of infectious aerosols. This includes, but is not limited to: pipetting, centrifuging, mixing, sonicating, blending, shaking, opening containers, intranasal inoculation of animals, and harvesting tissues.

Restraint devices and practices that reduce risk of exposure while handing animals should be considered as appropriate.

Containment caging systems
Consideration should be given to the use of containment caging systems to reduce the risk of infectious aerosols from animals and bedding.

Ventilated caging systems
Caging systems must be ventilated to prevent escape of microbes from the cage. Exhaust plenums should be sealed and the exhaust must be HEPA filtered. The system should be alarmed to indicate when malfunctions occur.

Proper decontamination and transport of waste
All cultures, stocks, wastes from animal rooms, and other biohazardous materials must be decontaminated before disposal. This includes potentially infectious animal tissues, carcasses, bedding, feed, sharps, etc. An approved method of decontamination must be available in the facility. If you will be transporting waste materials outside of the areas where infectious materials or animals are housed or manipulated (e.g., down the hall) to be decontaminated you must ensure that the waste is placed in a leak-proof, covered container and is secured. The container should be surface disinfected before transport and should bear a biohazard label. Please refer to the following section of this manual: Biohazardous Waste and the MSU Biohazardous Waste Management Plan for additional information regarding to the proper decontamination of biohazardous waste.

Decontamination of equipment
Lab equipment should be decontaminated routinely. All equipment must be decontaminated before being repaired, maintained, or removed from the laboratory. When any of these is to occur lab personnel must complete an Equipment Release Form and attach it to the piece of equipment. See Appendix E for an example of the form. It must also be decontaminated after spills, splashes or when potentially contaminated. All spills must be cleaned by personnel who are properly trained and have the proper equipment to handle infectious materials. All ABSL-3 labs should have a biological spill kit available. See the following section of this manual for spill clean up procedures and spill kit contents: Biohazard Spill Cleanup Procedures .

Exposure incidents
Exposure response procedures should be posted in an easily accessible location in the laboratory. All lab personnel should be made aware of the proper procedures to follow in the event of a possible exposure to potentially infectious materials. See Appendix F for exposure response procedures.