Risk assessment

Containment facilities

Biological laboratories are special work environments and it is therefore very important to consider, right from the design phase, all necessary measures to protect both the personnel working there and the people, animals and plants outside. It should also be borne in mind that, however well-designed a facility might be, if it is used inappropriately this may cause the safety measures to fail.

Both Spanish Royal Decree 664/1997 (biological agents) and Spanish Royal Decree 178/2004 (GMOs) define minimum biosafety levels for working with each one of the risk groups. There are also other measures that should be taken into account depending on the result of the risk assessment, though they are not compulsory under the regulations.

Why do we have to keep our laboratory doors closed?
There are numerous reasons that doors to labs should be closed:

Work at all biosafety levels requires limited or restricted access to the lab when work is in progress.
Some laboratories are designed to be under negative pressure to surrounding rooms and corridors (air flows into the lab) and building ventilation systems are balanced when doors and windows are closed. Keeping doors open causes the pressure differential to drop and makes the directional airflow negligible and easily disturbed.
Closed doors help contain chemical vapors and aerosolized infectious agents and confine flames and smoke.
Closed doors help deter thieves.

Containment facilities

FAQs

Additional information