Title: 1.2 Safety and Security Training
Course: ATEP - Biotechnology Module B > Section: Course Safety and Training

1.2.1 What Do You Already Know About Safety?

You have all taken science courses throughout your middle or high school courses. Let’s review the basic laboratory guidelines that apply to all laboratories settings.

1.2.2 Hazardous Materials

In addition to the rules discussed in the previous section, the biotechnology lab has some more detailed rules and regulations, as you experienced in in the Technology Park in Module A. Let’s start by discussing lab security.

Why do you think lab security is highly regulated in the biotechnology lab? Think about the chemicals, organisms and equipment you used in the Technology Park. What if these materials were stolen? Where would they end up? What are some possible consequences?

Hazardous Materials

Educational institutions and biotechnology companies use a wide assortment of highly hazardous materials. When working with these materials every day, it is easy to forget about the harm these materials can cause if they are stolen. Following the terrorist attacks of September 2001 and the "anthrax letters" sent the same month, much attention has been directed to practical measures that will keep hazardous materials (biological and chemical) out of the hands of criminals. Many new federal laws were enacted in direct response to these terrorist attacks.

It is important that laboratory personnel take specific actions to prevent unauthorized entry to labs, secure highly hazardous materials against theft, and ensure compliance with new security regulations. It is essential to implement procedures necessary to provide security of all hazardous materials in their areas of responsibility.

Different laboratories implement various security measures, which include locking up controlled substances, balances, computers, equipment and syringes and needles. Laboratory personnel should review and assess the security of their highly hazardous materials, such as infectious agents, toxins, radioactive materials, acutely toxic chemicals, carcinogens, explosive or reactive chemicals, and compressed gases.

1.2.3 CDC/NIH Guidelines

The following guidelines were adapted from Appendix F of the CDC/NIH publication, biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories. The guidelines are intended to reduce the risk for unauthorized removal of hazardous materials from your laboratory:

1. Recognize that laboratory security is related to but different from laboratory safety and develop a site-specific security policy. Security, as used in this discussion, refers to measures used to control access to the laboratory in order to prevent theft of materials or equipment from the lab.
  1. Assess your laboratory for hazardous materials and particular security risks.
  2. Develop and implement lab security procedures for your lab group.
  3. Train your lab group on these security procedures and assign responsibilities.
2. Control access to areas where hazardous materials are used and stored.
  1. Close and lock laboratory doors when no one is present. Consider the use of card-keys or similar devices when the risk warrants.
  2. Do not leave hazardous materials unattended or unsecured at any time.
  3. Lock freezers, refrigerators, storage cabinets, and other equipment where biological agents, hazardous chemicals, or radioactive materials are stored when they are not in use.
3. Know who is in your laboratory area.
  1. Consider using a logbook for staff to sign in and out of the lab each day or using carded access devices for this purpose.
  2. Limit laboratory access to those individuals who need to be in the lab.
  3. All lab workers (including students, visiting scientists and other short-term workers) should wear identification badges.
  4. Restrict off-hours access to individuals authorized by the principal investigator.
  5. Guests should be issued badges and escorted to and from the lab. Approach people you don't recognize who appear to be wandering in laboratory areas and ask if you can help direct them.
4. Know what materials are being brought into your lab.
  1. Know what hazardous materials are being ordered and shipped to your lab.
  2. Get rid of unneeded hazardous materials.
  3. Use a log to sign highly hazardous materials in and out of secure storage.
  4. Take periodic inventory of all highly hazardous chemicals, biological agents/toxins, radioactive materials, and controlled substances.
5. Know what materials are being removed from your lab.
  1. Track the use and disposal of hazardous materials.
  2. Require written permission prior to removal of highly hazardous materials from the lab.
  3. Report any missing inventory.
  4. Have an emergency plan.
  5. Recognize that controlling access can make emergency response more difficult.
  6. Evaluate emergency plans with administrators, safety and security officials and, if necessary, outside experts.
  7. Review emergency plans with lab personnel.
  8. Provide emergency responders with information on serious hazards.
6. Have a protocol for reporting security incidents.
7. Principal investigators, in cooperation with facility safety and security officials, should have policies and procedures in place for the reporting and investigation of incidents or possible incidents, such as undocumented visitors, missing hazardous materials, or unusual or threatening phone calls.

1.2.4 Biohazards

What is a biohazard?

Just as in the Technology Park, you will be working with live organisms in many biotechnology labs, so it is important to be able to assess any biological hazards that they may pose and to treat them accordingly. In general, a live organism is considered a biological hazard if its release into the environment could have an effect on the health of the environment in general or humans in particular. This includes known pathogens to humans, plants, or animals, as well as benign organisms containing recombinant DNA that could render the recombinant host dangerous. In fact, the recombinant DNA itself should be treated as a biohazard, since it is usually inserted into a vector that could transform organisms in the environment if released. Similarly, tissue cultures of human or animal cells should be treated as a biohazard: while they would not survive if released into the environment, most immortalized tissue culture cells contain recombinant DNA.

1.2.5 Biological Safety

How can you maximize biological safety?

The routes of exposure to infectious agents are the same as those of hazardous chemicals: inhalation, contact with eyes and skin, ingestion, and injection. The same general precautions should be taken in handling biological hazards as the guidelines above for handling chemical hazards, especially toxic ones.

Here are some general practices to maximize biological safety:

  - Limit access to the lab at the discretion of the lab director, and adequately train all lab personnel.
  - Use personal protective equipment (PPE) at all times, and keep all PPE inside the lab.
  - Wash hands after handling viable materials and animals, after removing gloves and before leaving the lab.
  - Always remove gloves before touching phones, doorknobs, light switches, etc.
  - Avoid touching your face with your hands or gloves.
  - Keep personal items such as coats and book bags out of the lab or in a designated work area.
  - No mouth pipetting; use mechanical pipetting devices.
  - Minimize splashes and aerosol production.
  - Disinfect work surfaces to decontaminate material after a spill and after each work session.
  - Disinfect or decontaminate glassware before washing.
  - Decontaminate all regulated waste before disposal by an approved method, usually by autoclaving.
  - Have an insect and rodent control program in effect.
  - Use a laminar flow biological safety cabinet when available.
  - Contaminate rooms-Level 1-4

Disinfectants such as bleach and ethanol are used extensively to decontaminate glassware and work areas, and it is important to realize that the effectiveness of disinfectants depends on the type of living microorganisms you are encountering:

Resistance Level | Type of Organism | Examples
Least resistant | Enveloped Viruses | HIV, Herpes simplex, Hepatitis B
Slightly resistant | Bacteria | E. coli, S. aureus
Medium resistance | Fungi | Candida species, Cryptococcus
Highly resistant | Non-enveloped Viruses | Polio virus, Mycobacteria, M. tuberculosis
Most resistant | Spore | B. subtilis, Clostridium species

1.2.6 Chemical Safety

The biotechnology laboratory contains many different types of chemicals. Some you may also find in your cabinets at home. Others are so dangerous that they are stored in special cabinets that house explosives, toxins, acids and flammables. Each chemical in the laboratory has a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) to help maintain safety.

MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets)

While each chemical that you use will have its own unique properties, there are some common practices that will aid you in treating them all with the level of respect that they are due. For example, labeling each chemical is required under the law and should be thorough enough so that even a person who does not work in the lab can identify any chemical. Also, every chemical in the laboratory should have a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) on file and readily available. The MSDS is a legally required technical document, provided by chemical suppliers, that describes the specific properties of a chemical. Besides the MSDS on file in the lab, several websites offer MSDS databases. They are all broken down to the same eight sections:

Section I: Chemical Identity

- The manufacturer’s contact information is here, along with contacts for emergency situations.

Section II: Hazard Ingredients/Identity

- Some reagents have multiple components, and many single-component chemicals have alternative names. These are all listed here.
- Concentration limits for airborne exposure to a chemical are listed here. Although these indices of toxicity are mainly of concern for production workers in factories, they are also useful for evaluation of short-term exposures. The TLV (threshold limit value) is the maximum airborne concentration of a substance to which workers can be repeatedly exposed without adverse effects. The units used are usually parts per million (ppm) or mg/m^3.

Section III: Physical Chemical Characteristics

- This list of physical properties tells you whether the chemical is solid or liquid and how volatile it is.

Section IV: Fire and Explosion Hazard Data

- This is of particular interest in cases where firefighting methods must be selected.

Section V: Reactivity Data

- This information is essential in determining the proper handling and storage of chemicals. By knowing the reactivity patterns of a chemical, you know what substances or conditions from which you must isolate the chemical. For example, acids and bases react with each other rapidly, giving off large amounts of heat, so should not be stored next to each other. Others react with water and should be stored in sealed containers with desiccants.

Section VI: Health Hazards

- The best source of specific toxicology data is given here, such as symptoms of acute damage from exposure and some recommended emergency procedures.
- If a chemical has been tested for carcinogenicity (cancer-causing potential) that information is listed here.
- In addition, levels at which a chemical has been found to be lethal (called the LD50 for lethal dose for 50% of test animals) is listed here. Since the LD50 is dependent on which type of animal it was tested on, as well as how the animal was exposed to the chemical, this information always requires these specifics. For example, the lethal dose for chemicals is much lower if injected than it is if ingested. The most common index reported is the LD50 for a rat in mg of chemical per kg of animal, administered orally (ingestion). For volatile chemicals, the toxicity of breathing is measured as the LC50 (lethal concentration in air for half of the test animals), measured in ppm. In all cases, the lower the number for the LD50, the more toxic the chemical.

Section VII: Precautions for Safe Handling and Use. This describes how to deal with spills.

Section VIII: Control Measures. Specific recommendations for personal protective equipment (PPE) are given here.

OSHA Data Sheet.

1.2.7 Flammability of Lab Material

NFPA Ratings (National Fire Protection Association)

Another quick assessment of a chemical’s health hazards that is usually available on its container is a rating by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). A color-coded diamond shape lists numbers rating a hazard as:

Blue for health hazard | Red for flammability | Yellow for reactivity
0 – normal material | 0 – will not burn | 0 – stable
1 – slightly hazardous | 1 – flash point > 200^o F | 1 – unstable if heated
2 – hazardous | 2 – flash point > 100^o F | 2 – violent chemical change
3 – extreme danger | 3 – flash point < 100^o F | 3 – shock and heat may detonate
4 – deadly | 4 – flash point < 73^o F | 4 – may detonate

The uncolored station of the NFPA diamond is for specific hazards:

- OX – oxidizer compound
- ACID – acidic compound
- ALK – basic compound
- CORR – corrosive compound
- W – use NO WATER

1.2.8 Safety Walk

Using a sheet of graph paper or a computer software, sketch your classroom and the location of the following safety items (your room may not have all of these):

- Eyewash stations
- Shower
- Glass disposal box
- Goggles
- Closest phone
- Chemical cabinet
- Paper towels for clean up
- Gas valves
- Sinks
- Lab benches
- Emergency gas shut off
- First Aid Kit
- Lab Aprons
- Fume hoods
- Gloves
- Fire extinguisher
- Windows
- Exits
- Fire blanket
- Emergency evacuation rally point (outside) and route to it