Biosafety and Biosecurity Month 2021

This year’s theme celebrates innovation in the biosafety and biosecurity. This October, we have chosen to honor this theme by encouraging labs to participate in either the My Green Labs Ambassador Program or the My Green Lab Certification Program. Or both! Labs are historically wasteful spaces. My making everyday practices and procedures more sustainable within the lab, we can make a real difference.

My Green Lab Ambassador Program

The My Green Lab Ambassador Program is designed for scientists and laboratory professionals who are motivated to encourage their lab to be more sustainable. This free, online learning program will provide you with a quick introduction to lab sustainability and ideas for how sustainable actions can be implemented at your organization. By becoming a My Green Lab Ambassador you will be able to jumpstart your lab’s journey into sustainability. 

Who should become a Green Lab Ambassador?

The My Green Lab Ambassador program is designed for people working in or supporting a laboratory who wish to start implementing sustainable practices in the lab. The program serves as a crash course in lab sustainability with an emphasis on behavioral changes that promote greener laboratory operations. There are no prerequisites to becoming a My Green Lab Ambassador, and this program serves as a good first step for anyone who is interested in improving the sustainability of scientific research.

What does the My Green Lab Ambassador Program Cover?

The My Green Lab Ambassador program consists of four Smart Science training videos which follow a single lab’s journey towards sustainable research. The videos cover four main topics of lab sustainability: Energy, Waste, Water, and Green Chemistry & Community.

Furthermore, through the Ambassador Program you will have the ability to network, learn, and discuss laboratory sustainability with other Ambassadors as well as My Green Lab staff, through a dedicated Microsoft Teams channel and organized virtual discussions.

This course is designed to be a high-level overview of lab sustainability and is a stepping stone to becoming a My Green Lab Accredited Professional (AP). The My Green Lab AP Program provides a more in depth look into specific needs, issues, and solutions for implementing lab sustainability best practices. The My Green Lab Accredited Professional (AP) Program is still in development as of May 2020, and we will let Ambassadors know when it becomes available.

What are the benefits of becoming a My Green Lab Ambassador?

• Earning a My Green Lab Ambassador Certificate showcasing your leadership
• Insight into how to introduce, apply, and develop sustainable changes within your lab
• Distinguish yourself amongst the lab community as a sustainability ambassador

My Green Lab Certification

Whether you are a lab manager, graduate student, postdoc, scientist, sustainability program manager, or anyone else who works in or supports labs, now is the time to get on your journey towards a more sustainable laboratory. Using a multi-step approach, our Green Lab Certification Program is designed to give laboratories actionable ways they can improve their environmental performance. 

How to Become Certified

1. Baseline Assessment
   • Using an online self-assessment, members of a lab answer a series of questions on the equipment they use, the practices they employ and how they purchase, use, and dispose of products. This responses are used to make recommendations on steps the lab could take to adopt sustainability best practices.
2. Implement Changes
   • Using the recommendations as guidelines, labs are encouraged to take some time (usually ~6 months) to make changes in their laboratory.
3. Certification
   • Members of the lab retake the online self-assessment, and the answers are once again used to see what best practices the lab has adopted. The lab is then given an overall score and certification level. Also, the lab is given new recommendations for further improvements to make before they seek recertification.
4. Implement More Changes
   • After the initial certification, labs are encouraged to take 1-2 years to maintain the best practices they have adopted and work on further improvements. This time period is not strictly set, and when a lab is ready to seek re-certification, they are encouraged to do so.
5. Re-Certification
   • When labs are ready for recertification, they retake the self-assessment to see what best practices they are still implementing and where they might make future changes. By making this a continuous improvement process, labs are allowed to make continual change and also gauge how well the sustainability best practices are being passed on to newer members of the lab and thus how much sustainability has become part of the culture of the lab.

Topics Covered

The self-assessment and results you get from My Green Lab provides labs with specific ideas on ways laboratory personnel can take action as individuals in the lab as well on larger projects that might involve facilities or EHS (such as changing out lights, for example).  While the focus is on behavior change and tasks scientists can do themselves, it is also recognized that there are bigger changes to the space or maintenance of equipment that can have a significant impact. 

National Biosafety Month 2020

Portland State University continues to demonstrate a commitment to the responsible and safe conduct of research by joining institutions across the globe in observing National Biosafety Month this October. National Biosafety Month is an opportunity for institutions to highlight the importance of biosafety and proactively undertake activities to strengthen their biosafety programs.

This year, on the 7th anniversary of Biosafety Month, the theme for 2020 is “The Role of Biosafety and Biosecurity in Mitigating Emerging Risk.” The goal of this initiative is to ensure that all researchers in our biological labs have the essential skills, knowledge, and abilities required to evaluate and respond to any potential emerging risks.

To assist Principal Investigators (PIs) in key competency domains, we strongly encourage labs to:

• re-examine and re-evaluate the risk assessment portion of their Biosafety Manuals (BSM)
• organize and conduct a lab team exercise analyzing and discussing the current risk assessment.
  • What can go wrong?
  • How likely is it?
  • What are the consequences?

For a biosafety risk assessment, risk varies with:

• The properties of the biological agent, the at-risk hosts, and the specific laboratory processes, including any mitigation measures already in place.
• The severity of the consequences to a lab worker or to the environment if there is an exposure and infection

1. Define the situation
   • Identify the hazards
     • What can go wrong?
     • Determine the biological characteristics of each agent in order to determine how hazardous the agent is.
   • Consider hosts
     • Limited to laboratory staff or is there a wider host range?
   • Define the work activities and laboratory environment
     • Define and document the laboratory processes, including locations, procedures, and equipment used.
     • Identify procedures involving biological agents where there is the potential for the generation of aerosols, as well as those utilizing sharps.
     • Evaluate the concentration and volume of cultures or suspensions of biological agents.
2. Define the risks
   • Review of the possible exposure routes individuals inside and outside the laboratory may encounter if they come in contact with the hazard(s). 
3. Characterize the risks
   • Hazard Assessment
     • Consider the biological properties of the hazard that would influence its potential (or likelihood) to cause an infection.  
       • Identification of the routes of infection of the biological agent in the laboratory and the natural environment as well as the agent’s infectious dose.
       • Review the properties of the disease(s) caused by the biological agent if an infection occurs or the consequences of the disease.  
   • Host Assessment 
     • Consider what may happen if individuals who have a medical condition or are susceptible to disease due to a weakened immune system come into contact with the biological agent.
     • Consider factors which might influence an individual’s potential (or likelihood) of developing an infection, or would influence the potential (or likelihood) of the biological agent establishing a reservoir within the community (environment).  
   • Work Activities and Laboratory Environment Assessment
     • Review the types of laboratory processes performed and identify any potential areas where an exposure to the hazard (biological agent) might occur.   
     • Document the potential sources of an exposure separately from existing mitigation measures. 
   • Overall Risk Characterization
     • To characterize the overall risk, the overall likelihood would need to be considered as well as the consequence of infection.  
4. Determine if the risks are acceptable
   • Determine if the assessed risk is acceptable to the institution, individuals working in the institution, and the community.  
5. Implement risk mitigation measures, as needed
   • The results of the risk assessment will allow an institution to determine the relative level of safety and security risks they face and help guide risk mitigation decisions so they are targeted to the most important risks.  

References

Laboratory Biosafety and Biosecurity Risk Assessment Technical Guidance