User:Anthony Salvagno/Notebook/Research/2009/07/02/Follow up on E. Coli Access

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From Safety and Maint

****, believe that facilities requirements are met: Doors are always locked and keys and mag cards issued to occupants only, new lab sink was installed, so hand washing is not a problem (we could install a point-of-use electric hot water heater if necessary. Work surfaces are standard epoxy based (hard) surfaces typical of any lab space and they're specifically designed for potentially wet applications. Furniture is sturdy and in good working order. I'll defer to steve koch for biological safety cabinets (not sure about that one). Lab is probably 100 foot candles of illumination at bench level. there exists an eyewash station that is tested on a monthly basis. No windows in the lab. Lab is secure from an outsider entering standpoint (understood that no one is to enter unless invited). Lab has its own recirculation air handlers with their own filtration system. Exhaust is common to other labs- there's always positive flow (fan is on at a "minimum position" at all times; we've never had a backflow issue for these standard sash type lab hoods in the past. Fresh air (makeup air) is maintained by our own techs. ****, do you recommend a biosafety level 2 manual? thanks, Man

Safety Guy Wrote:
Recommended Precautions for Escherichia coli
Biosafety Level 2 practices, containment equipment and facilities are recommened for all activites utilizing known potentially infectious clinical materials or cultures.

Requirements:

• Laboratories have lockable doors
• Sink for hand washing
• Work surfaces easily cleaned
• Bench tops are impervious to water
• Sturdy furniture
• Biological safety cabinets installed as needed
• Adequate illumination
• Eyewash readily available
• Windows fitted with flyscreens
• Location -separated from public areas
• Ventilation –directional
• Air flows into lab without re-circulation to non-lab areas

From Koch

Koch 1

Except for the BSL 2 "recommendation," it all looks promising to me

Koch 2

To Safety and Maint:

Except for the recommendation for BSL2, it all looks good to me. Most of the labs that I've ever been in that used E. coli (and yeast, some viruses, and some human cells) have been BSL1. BSL2 is substantially higher level safety and security requirements. Thus, I think we should not go for full BSL2. (Here's a link to wikipedia describing BSL1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level#Biosafety_level_1 )

Thank you for looking into this!