Biohazards facility design

A variety of public facilities create opportunities for the transfer of biohazards. Proper design, operation, cleaning and maintenance are important in controlling biohazards. Each recreational facility may have other safety and health hazards requiring additional controls. 

The architectural services integrate the design of the facility so that it can support the corresponding process the flows of people, materials, products and waste, product separation, sterile processing, sanitary design, biohazard containment, special utilities, and solvent recovery, handling and storage. 

Sometimes in the design of a BSL-4 facility, the full letter of health and safety codes/requirements for the protection of workers can not be met. This is where health and safety specialists must compromise and use their ingenuity to meet the intent of the requirements. For example, it is not always possible to provide a secondary means of egress from each area. Two change facilities are not cost effective or practical. A viable alternative is the use of airlocks with built-in liquid disinfection systems which are not hazardous to humans, but destroy the biohazard. These airlocks must be clearly identified as others are often used for transportation of equipment and other materials and contain hazardous disinfection systems. 

Parts 58.41 through 58.51 cover the physical facihties of the laboratory. The inspector must determine whether or not the facilities are of adequate size and design for completed or in-process studies. The physical parameters and systems of the facilities as they are used to accommodate the various operations employed in the GLP studies are examined. Investigators also deal explicitly with the environmental control and monitoring procedures for critical areas, especially the rooms used for animal housing, the test article storage areas, and the laboratory areas in which biohazardous material is handled. The procedures and methods for cleaning equipment and areas critical to study conduct as well as the cur-... 

The secondary barrier against biohazard release is generally considered to be a back-up to the containment provided by the primary barriers. Secondary barriers comprise facility layout and design, and are intended to prevent the escape of the agent from the laboratory... 

The basic facility usually consists of a general laboratory with certain design features and operational practices intended to limit the possibility of exposure to and release of biohazardous agents. However, no containment equipment is required and specialized ventilation systems are unnecessary. The facility must be checked to be certain that it does indeed provide for sufficient control and containment of any agent to be used. 

A typical partial containment facility is a specially engineered laboratory designed to handle moderately hazardous materials without unnecessary exposure or release of biohazardous agents. Various government agencies have published specific guidelines for... 

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