Animal Biosafety Level 2  (back to Safety Table)

A. Standard Practices

1. Access to the animal facility is limited or restricted at the discretion of the laboratory or animal facility director.

2. Personnel wash their hands after handling cultures and animals, after removing gloves, and before leaving the animal facility.

3. Eating, drinking, smoking, handling contact lenses, applying cosmetics, and storing food for human use are not permitted in animal rooms. Persons who wear contact lenses in animal rooms should also wear goggles or a face shield.

4. All procedures are carefully performed to minimize the creation of aerosols.

5. Work surfaces are decontaminated after use or after any spill of viable materials.

6. Doors to animal rooms open inward, are self-closing and are kept closed when experimental animals are present.

7. All wastes from the animal room are appropriately decontaminated, preferably by autoclaving, before disposal. Infected animal carcasses are incinerated after being transported from the animal room in leakproof, covered containers.

8. An insect and rodent control program is in effect.

B.ƒAnimal Facilities (Secondary Barriers)

1. The animal facility is designed and constructed to facilitate cleaning and housekeeping.

2. A handwashing sink is available in the room where infected animals are housed.

3. If the animal facility has windows that open, they are fitted with fly screens.

4. If floor drains are provided, the drain traps are always filled with water or a suitable disinfectant.

5. Exhaust air is discharged to the outside without being recirculated to other rooms, and it is recommended, but not required, that the direction of airflow in the animal facility is inward.

6. An autoclave which can be used for decontaminating infectious laboratory waste is available in the building with the animal facility.

C. Special Practices

1. The laboratory or animal facility director limits access to the animal room to personnel who have been advised of the potential hazard and who need to enter the room for program or service purposes when work is in progress. In general, persons who may be at increased risk of acquiring infection, or for whom infection might be unusually hazardous, are not allowed in the animal room.

2. The laboratory or animal facility director establishes policies and procedures whereby only persons who have been advised of the potential hazard and meet any specific requirements (e.g., immunization) may enter the animal room.

3. When the infectious agent(s) in use in the animal room requires special entry provisions (e.g., the need for immunizations and respirators) a hazard warning sign, incorporating the universal biohazard symbol, is posted on the access door to the animal room. The hazard warning sign identifies the infectious agent(s) in use, lists the name and telephone number of the animal facility supervisor or other responsible person(s), and indicates the special requirement(s) for entering the animal room.

4. Laboratory personnel receive appropriate immunizations or tests for the agents handled or potentially present in the laboratory (e.g., hepatitis B vaccine or TB skin testing).

5. When appropriate, considering the agents handled, baseline serum samples from animal care and other at-risk personnel are collected and stored. Additional serum samples may be collected periodically depending on the agents handled or the function of the facility. The decision to establish a serologic surveillance program must take into account the availability of methods for the assessment of antibody to the agent(s) of concern. The program should provide for the testing of serum samples at each collection interval and the communication of results to the participants.

6. A biosafety manual is prepared or adopted. Personnel are advised of special hazards, and are required to read and to follow instructions on practices and procedures.

7. Laboratory personnel receive appropriate training on the potential hazards associated with the work involved, the necessary precautions to prevent exposures, and the exposure evaluation procedures. Personnel receive annual updates, or additional training as necessary for procedural or policy changes.

8. A high degree of precaution must always be taken with any contaminated sharp items, including needles and syringes, slides, pipettes, capillary tubes, and scalpels. Needles and syringes or other sharp instruments are restricted in the animal facility for use only when there is no alternative, such as for parenteral injection, blood collection, or aspiration of fluids from laboratory animals and diaphragm bottles. Plasticware should be substituted for glassware whenever possible.

a. Only needle-locking syringes or disposable syringe-needle units (i.e., needle is integral to the syringe) are used for injection or aspiration of infectious materials. Used disposable needles must not be bent, sheared, broken, recapped, removed from disposable syringes, or otherwise manipulated by hand before disposal; rather, they must be carefully placed in conveniently located puncture-resistant containers used for sharps disposal. Non-disposable sharps must be placed in a hard-walled container for transport to a processing area for decontamination, preferably by autoclaving.

b. Syringes which re-sheathe the needle, needle-less systems, and other safe devices should be used when appropriate.

c. Broken glassware must not be handled directly by hand, but must be removed by mechanical means such as a brush and dustpan, tongs, or forceps. Containers of contaminated needles, sharp equipment, and broken glass should be decontaminated before disposal, according to any local, state, or federal regulations.

9. Cultures, tissues, or specimens of body fluids are placed in a container that prevents leakage during collection, handling, processing, storage, transport, or shipping.

10. Cages are appropriately decontaminated, preferably by autoclaving, before they are cleaned and washed. Equipment and work surfaces should be decontaminated with an appropriate disinfectant on a routine basis, after work with infectious materials is finished, and especially after overt spills, splashes, or other contamination by infectious materials. Contaminated equipment must be decontaminated according to any local, state, or federal regulations before it is sent for repair or maintenance or packaged for transport in accordance with applicable local, state, or federal regulations, before removal from the facility.

11. Spills and accidents which result in overt exposures to infectious materials are immediately reported to the laboratory director. Medical evaluation, surveillance, and treatment are provided as appropriate and written records are maintained.

12. Animals not involved in the work being performed are not permitted in the lab.

D. Safety Equipment (Primary Barriers)

1. Biological safety cabinets, other physical containment devices, and/or personal protective equipment (e.g., respirators, face shields) are used whenever procedures with a high potential for creating aerosols are conducted. These include necropsy of infected animals, harvesting of tissues or fluids from infected animals or eggs, intranasal inoculation of animals, and manipulations of high concentrations or large volumes of infectious materials.

2. Appropriate face/eye and respiratory protection is worn by all personnel entering animal rooms housing nonhuman primates.

3. Laboratory coats, gowns, or uniforms are worn while in the animal room. This protective clothing is removed before leaving the animal facility.

4. Special care is taken to avoid skin contamination with infectious materials; gloves are worn when handling infected animals and when skin contact with infectious materials is unavoidable.