The appropriate BSL to be assigned to a project is determined by institutional biosafety committees (IBCs) or professionals, and reflects the specific combinations of specially designed buildings, safety equipment and safe work practices that laboratory workers must use..
Four classifications of biosafety levels (BSLs) exist.
Each level contains specific recommendations for a clinical microbiology laboratory with a focus on laboratory practices, safety equipment, and facility construction.
As each level progresses, it includes additional biosafety considerations from the previous level..
Biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) is applicable to clinical, diagnostic, teaching, research, or production facilities where work is performed with agents that may cause serious or potentially lethal disease through inhalation, to the personnel, and may contaminate the environment..
A biosafety level (BSL), or pathogen/protection level, is a set of biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed laboratory facility.
The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) to the highest at level 4 (BSL-4)..
Essential components of the biosafety guidelines contain some or all the following, depending on the facility: bio-risk assessment and identification; specific biosafety measures, which cover the code of practice, physical plant such as laboratory design and facilities, equipment acquisition and maintenance, medical .
Definition/Introduction
Biohazard levels, more commonly referred to as “biological safety levels” or “biosafety levels,” are classifications of safety precautions necessary to be applied in the clinical microbiology laboratory depending on specific pathogens handled when performing laboratory procedures..
BSL-4.
BSL-4 builds upon the containment requirements of BSL-3 and is the highest level of biological safety.
There are a small number of BSL-4 labs in the United States and around the world.
The microbes in a BSL-4 lab are dangerous and exotic, posing a high risk of aerosol-transmitted infections..
Definition/Introduction
Biohazard levels, more commonly referred to as “biological safety levels” or “biosafety levels,” are classifications of safety precautions necessary to be applied in the clinical microbiology laboratory depending on specific pathogens handled when performing laboratory procedures..
Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3)
BSL-3 laboratories are used to study infectious agents or toxins that may be transmitted through the air and cause potentially lethal infections.
Researchers perform all experiments in a biosafety cabinet.
BSL-3 laboratories are designed to be easily decontaminated..
Safety measures in laboratories where pathogenic micro-organisms were handled were firstly implemented in North America and the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 1970s..
United States
Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3)
BSL-3 laboratories are designed to be easily decontaminated.
As an additional safety measure, these laboratories must use controlled, or “directional,” air flow to ensure that air flows from non-laboratory areas (such as the hallway) into laboratory areas..
For each BSL-3, TSS' Technical Writing team will generate a facility-specific Testing, Certification, and Performance Verification protocol to ensure compliance with guidelines by USDA, NIH, OSHA, and the CDC..
Stanford University follows the categorizing of infectious agents into levels as described in Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories (BMBL), 6th edition (https://www.cdc.gov/labs/BMBL.html), written and published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and NIH..
