Past events & courses

From minor lab mishaps to large accidents, the biosafety professional has a central role in minimizing unwanted effects of biological agents when normal biosafety or biosecurity operational controls fail.

This short course will introduce the issues and practical approaches to developing and influencing an effective biosecurity programme.The course will introduce delegates to the issues required to develop an effective biosecurity programme at the institute level. The course includes practical and theoretical aspects to adopt and to determine risk.

This workshop is intended to provide a basis to set up a training & qualification programme in connection with activities involving biohazards.There will be specific focus on different training methods, their pro´s and con´s, costs, what outcome students will have on short- and long term, what group size the different tools are suited for and to evaluation of training.After an introduction to training in general and more specifically to education, knowledge and experience, as well as the available training tools, the attendants will set-up in small groups a training programme for an imaginary workplace. At the end of the day, the students will be asked to make a GAP analysis for their own institution and create an institutional action plan for implementing supplemental training methods/tools found needed.

The first part of the workshop is dedicated to presentations on the basic principles of animal biosafety. An overview about safety measures (operational, work practices, equipment) that relate to small and large animals will be given, including a particular focus on risk assessment of both infected (e.g. animal models for human diseases) and genetically modified animals. Emphasis will be put on containment measures as well as on personal protective equipment.In a second part the case study approach will be used to allow participants to work in smaller groups to recognize, to discuss and to assess the hazards and associated risks related to animal handling.

This full day course aims at providing research workers, biosafety professionals and facility managers with practical views on how to operate and manage a BSL3 facility in a safe and sustainable way.As all BSL3 facilities do not host the same type of activities and are not necessarily designed in a similar way, the link between the type of operations, the infrastructure and the handling and managing practices will be the thread of this workshop. The importance of setting up fully adapted working practices and maintenance programmes will be emphasized.

In a biosafety setting, accidents and incidents not being properly addressed and corrective action introduced can lead to consequences to the affected individual(s) or even the general public at large.

This workshop is intended to provide a basic course on auditing management systems and monitoring safety performance in connection with activities involving biohazards. In addition to setting out the general framework for the audit process, and contrasting this with safety inspections, a number of scenarios will be presented to illustrate some of the difficulties which may be encountered, along with approaches to circumvent these. Points to consider when planning and conducting an audit will be presented together with useful hints based on the auditing experience of the tutors. Based on a case study, audit preparation and strategy as well as communication will be practiced in group work and role playing.

It is a requirement that risk assessments are undertaken before hazardous work is undertaken, however, these assessments must deliver pragmatic outputs in terms of containment and control. This workshop will involve understanding the principles and methods underlying risk assessments for activities involving various hazardous biological materials including genetically modified micro-organisms (GMM) and material where there is known, suspect or possible contamination with infectious agents. Throughout the workshop there will be a number of interactive sessions involving participants to evaluate and comment on the hazard and risk with various biological agents and to consider the effectiveness of the risk assessments.

This course will review the critical interfaces and elements of an occupational health program for people with the potential for exposure to biological hazards (laboratory or production).The course will also discuss the use of pre-placement and periodical exams, medical surveillance, serum banking, immunizations and treatments (incl. post exposure prophylaxis).Special hazards like laboratory animal allergy or infections as well as groups of people needing special attention will be reviewed.The participant should take home the basic elements for an occupational health program to be implemented in her/his facility.