天堂视频

The purpose of this document is to define 天堂视频’s (LU) standards on the procurement, use, storage, handling, transportation, and disposal of biological materials in line with legislation, including:

• Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002
• Genetic Modification Organisms (Continued Use) (GMO(CU)) Regulations 2014

Schools who use biological materials must create their own local rules and procedures to implement these standards.

The scope of this document is limited to the facility, equipment, and procedural requirements of containment level 1 and 2 laboratories. For further information on containment level 3 laboratories, contact the University’s Health and Safety Service (UHSS).

Please note there are additional policies and procedures for biological material that falls under the Human Tissue Act 2004 and ethical approval.  Please see the University Human Tissue Authority (HTA) Licence Compliance Quality Manual and University Ethics guidelines for further information.

Any laboratory where work with biological material or biological agents is carried out is considered a biological laboratory.

Biological materials are defined as any materials or fluids from or produced by a biological organism. These can include but are not limited to:

• Tissue samples,
• Blood,
• Bone marrow,
• Biopsy samples,
• Environmental samples including food, water, soil, air, sewage and
• Plant material which poses a risk of infection, allergy or toxicity or has a detrimental effect on the wider environment.

Under the COSHH Regulations, biological agents include:

• Microorganisms
  • Bacteria,
  • Viruses,
  • Fungi,
  • Microscopic parasites,
• Cell cultures, and
• Human endoparasites which may cause infection, allergy, toxicity, or poses a risk to human health

The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) categories biological agents into four hazard groups using the following criteria:

• The likelihood of the biological agent causing disease or toxicity in humans.
• The likelihood of the infection spreading to the wider community.
• The availability of prophylaxis or treatment.

Table 1 below describes the four hazard groups. The containment level of the laboratory dictates the facilities, equipment and procedures that must be in place to work with a given hazardous agent.

The ACDP maintains the approved list of biological agents which provides the official classification of biological agents. The classification system considers the potential ill-health effects of an otherwise ‘healthy individual’. Vulnerable groups such as immunocompromised workers and new and expectant mothers are more at risk of serious ill-health affects, and so additional considerations should be made.

Not all biological agents are included in the approved list. Before working with an unlisted agent, it must be assigned a hazard grouping using the criteria previously described. Under the COSHH regulations, the person responsible for the work must classify the unlisted agent by reviewing available evidence and selecting the most appropriate hazard group. If choosing between two hazard groups, the higher group should always be selected. Further information on classifying an unlisted agent can be found in the ACDP’s Approved List of biological agents.

Only hazard groups 1 and 2 biological agents can be used at 天堂视频.