SPECIALIST FACILITIES
Creating a safe, secure, and successful CL3 laboratory
Steve Stott, managing director of Medical Air Technology, considers the importance of specialist design and build in creating a ‘safe, secure, and successful’ CL3 containment laboratory, and the key part that the HVAC system plays in the containment process.
Recent events in Salisbury and Amesbury have brought the subject of biosecurity clearly into the public eye, with the idea of facing a threat that is, to all intents and purposes, invisible, presenting a terrifying prospect. The attacks on the Skripals, Dawn Sturgess, and Charlie Rowley, also turned the spotlight on the UK’s biological research capability, as the Novichok samples were sent away to specialist laboratories for further scientific investigation.
Despite the media attention around this particular incident, investigation into potentially dangerous pathogens is carried out all the time in countless laboratories throughout Britain. All are rated in line with the work being carried out, and specifically designed to the most stringent guidelines for the safety of operators and the general public, and to ensure that a pathogen that goes into a laboratory, stays in the laboratory.
Laboratory containment levels The Medical Research Council says of containment laboratories: ‘Containment laboratories must be designed and built so as to prevent or control the exposure of laboratory workers, other persons, and the environment, to the biological agent in use.’ There are four different biosecurity levels or categories of containment, each of which meets a standard set by the Health and Safety Executive, under guidance from the Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP). Each level is directly related to the equivalent biological agent hazard group, as defined by the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations and categorised by the ACDP. Level 1 is the lowest, and 4 the highest, reflecting the increasing levels to health risk to those involved in, or who
‘‘ CL3 laboratory and Class II safety cabinets.
could be affected by, such work. So, an agent in hazard group 1 should at a minimum be handled in a CL1 laboratory, etc.
Work with animal pathogens Work with animal pathogens is similarly classified into groups 2-4. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) determines the classification of animal pathogens under the Specified Animal Pathogen Order (SAPO). Genetically modified organisms are categorised under the Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations, and require facilities similar to those specified under COSHH. COSHH defines a biological agent as ‘any microorganism, parasite,
CL3 laboratories are the highest containment level laboratories in common use in the UK, and the point at which certain features to ensure appropriate containment must be incorporated into the design
microscopic infectious form of larger parasite, cell culture, or human endoparasite, including any which have been genetically modified, which may cause any infection, allergy, toxicity, or otherwise create a hazard to human health’. Each biological agent is classified according to its level of infection to humans, as follows: n Group 1: Unlikely to cause human disease.
n Group 2: Can cause human disease, and may be a hazard to employees; it is unlikely to spread to the community, and there is usually effective prophylaxis or treatment available.
n Group 3: Can cause severe human disease, and may be a serious hazard to employees; it may spread to the community, but there is usually effective prophylaxis or treatment available.
n Group 4: Causes severe human disease and is a serious hazard to employees; it is likely to spread to the community, and there is usually no effective prophylaxis or treatment available.
October 2018 Health Estate Journal 87
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