Risk Assessment (Biosafety)

1.

Based on what you know about Biosafety levels, practices and

operational, what are some discussion issues for conducting
biohazard risk assessment?
Risk Assessment is dependent on type of infectious agents, procedures and
materials we are dealing with. Although in any type of risk assessment whole
process focuses on controlling and managing, monitoring and making aware
of the risk casualties. There are no strict rules for assessing risk its
dependent on type of work thats being conducted and assessment is done
according to that. However, a general risk assessment involves following
measures in a hierarchical way:
Elimination:
Elimination of biohazards risk is first and most preferred way of risk
assessment. It includes:
Passing the task to those people where there is no risk (like conducting
nuclear experiments far away to limit risk).
Smooth the sharp edges of surfaces so that no injury they can cause.
Remove chemical spills and try to work with lower concentration of
chemicals. Low concentration chemicals are less dangerous.

Substitution:
To replace the biohazard with something less harmful or totally innocuous is
subsituition. Following steps are involved in substitution:
Replacing harmful chemicals with less harmful ones for example

replacing ethidium bromide chemical with Sybr Green, crystal violet
and others.
To make laboratories of noisy experiments in areas away from
population.
Freon based instead of water based.
Engineering
Engineering includes installation of safety parameters in the building that
prevent or minimize hazard. Following is how engineering helpful:
Installing alarms, fix guard, auto guard, light

switches and curtains
Process redesigning for providing up to date safety
Insulation for the control of temperature
conditions
Forklift alert systems, cryogenic system, fire safety and Local

Exhaustive Ventilation Measures
Administrative
People who supervise and allotment of people who understand the risk and
work to minimize it. Following measures are involved in administrative
process:
Lock Out/ Tag Out (LOTO) for machines proper locking

and tagging them to know that they are in use.
Permit to Work at confined spaces, heights and risky
places
Procedures
supervision,
separated
path
for
pedestrians and forklifts so that they both dont
interact
Education, Enforcement, Encouragement and Emergency preparedness
are the 4 Es which must be absorbed.
In education TBM and courses modules learning like Borderline Isolated

Systolic Hypertension (BISH), Bioreactor Channel Systems and so on must be
made understandable to laboratory personnel. Posters should be placed,
talks and briefings of particular risk must be done and learning on computer
should be focused.
In enforcement warnings, suspension and dismissal should occur for not
following the rules. Supervisor must watch the researchers. Reporting must
be done if any incident happens, also to MOM, FSSD and so on.
In encouragement people are made aware by campaigns, quizzes, rallies,
signs on walls and so on. Like dengue campaigns happened in Pakistan for its
prevention.
In emergency preparedness students are already prepared to take measures

in case of emergency. This involves drills, first aids, fire-fighters, fireextinguishers and so on.
Personal Protective Equipment
These are quite necessary while working in the laboratory
to reduce direct exposure to risk. They are required on the
type of risk that is involved. Overall is a must in laboratory
in case of any experiment; while eyewear, ears muffs,
helmets, face shields, suits, face mask and so on are
necessary in particular situations to reduce risk.
For example, while working with a splashing liquid laboratory coat, face mask
or helmets, rubber gloves, rubber boots are necessary. (1)
1. How do you approach risk when addressing a particular
organism?
Different organisms arises different kind of risk, therefore risk assessment is
different for different organisms. Basic approach overview of risk assessment
for biological agents is shown below. In case of some organisms like E.coli
and other harmless organisms the risk assessment does not proceed from
first step as it does not require additional measures.
Summary to approach
Risk.
1. Identification of Agent hazards and performing initial Risk

Assessment
National Institute of health (NIH) and World Health Organization (WHO)
both have provided extensive guidelines to divide agent in risk groups.
These risk groups are based on the aspects virulence of that agent like
severity of the disease, treatment availability and effectiveness. Route
of transmission, dose and stability, host range and its spreading
potential are all also kept into account. Guidelines to work on
genetically modified microorganism is also provided by NIH.
Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL) also
provides information about agent hazards for Laboratory Acquired
Infection (LAI).
The Control of Communicable Diseases Manual provides information on
agent transmission.
When a particular organism is selected to work on we check in which risk
group it falls. Like in the following figure there are four risk groups according
to WHO are shown. On the basis of information collected from above
mentioned sources and from experienced experts initial risk assessment is
conducted which lay the foundation for the selection of laboratory design
and biosafety level.
(2)
2. Identification of Laboratory Procedure Hazards
Laboratory procedure can be complex and equipment, suspensions,
concentration of agent and handling are all taken under consideration.
Different concentrations and suspensions of agent pose different severity of
threat. The most probable risk is from air borne or aerosol transmission
which can arise.
Animals for experimentation can also pose risk and their handling must be
done carefully.
3. Selecting suitable Biosafety Level
The biological safety level selection and laboratory precaution depends on
the agent. In order to select level of biosafety complete for laboratory
information of agents risk and also complete information of biosafety levels
must be known (Biosafety levels are shown in figure below).
Sometimes, agents threats are more complicated than stated and agent
transmission through different ways poses a great risk to everyone. So,
secondary barrier is added in biosafety level for more protection. People who
are more vulnerable to disease should go with extra care. For such people
proper consultation from physician should be available.
(3)
4. Evaluation of expertise or proficiency of the staf
To ensure safety measure it is necessary for Personal Investigator (PI) and
Laboratory Director to have a staff expert in techniques to be performed. The
staff should know how to properly handle microbiological agents, equipment
and waste. Also, the staff should have the sense of responsibility to provide
protection to themselves and the others.
All the safety equipment proper working is directors duty to conduct. There
should be no compromise for that
5. Review Risk Assessment
After approaching risk, review of its assessment is compulsory in case of
conducting particular research in the light of NIH guidelines. The review of
risk by experts by Institutional Biosafety Committee because is a very good
practice.
The prime objective for the conduction of risk assessment is to ensure safety
of everyone. Through all these steps of risk assessment safety coverage
posed by any harmful organism can be approached. (4)
References
1. RISK ASSESSMENT TRAINING.Faculty of Engineering, Safety Unit; p. 1-
36.
2. 2008.igem.org. Team:Bologna/Biosafety - 2008.igem.org [Internet].
2015
[cited
12
June
2015].
Available
from:
http://2008.igem.org/Team:Bologna/Biosafety
3. Researchcompliance.uc.edu. UC Research Compliance [Internet]. 2015
[cited
13
June
2015].
Available
from:
http://researchcompliance.uc.edu/Biosafety/BiosafetyAndBiosecurity.as
px
4. Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories. 5th ed. HHS
Publication No. (CDC) 21-1112; 2015.

Risk Assessment (Biosafety)

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1.

Based on what you know about Biosafety levels, practices and

Replacing harmful chemicals with less harmful ones for example

Installing alarms, fix guard, auto guard, light

Forklift alert systems, cryogenic system, fire safety and Local

Lock Out/ Tag Out (LOTO) for machines proper locking

In education TBM and courses modules learning like Borderline Isolated

In emergency preparedness students are already prepared to take measures

1. Identification of Agent hazards and performing initial Risk

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