An Inexact Science: Biosafety Risk Assessment

By Brian Garrett, LEED® Green Associate & Product Specialist, Labconco Corporation

Introduction
One of a Biosafety Officer or Laboratory Manager’s most vital functions is that of performing Risk Assessments. This multistep process becomes the backbone of a microbiology laboratory’s Biosafety Plan, Operating Procedures, and, if done early, facility design.

Due to the very nature of work in laboratories, new variables are continually being introduced. This makes any static plan ineffective. To maintain superior and continued safety policies, risk assessments and biosafety plans should be dynamic, living programs; not just mundane exercises.