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Biosafety FAQs

Frequently asked question about biosafety regulations, trainings and procedures.

Biohazards vs. Other Laboratory Hazards

Biohazards are agents of biological origin that may be associated with infection and/or disease. Examples of biohazards include bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, biological toxins, and prions.

Human source materials and human cell lines are included as biohazards because of the potential to carry agents such as HIV, Hepatitis B virus, and Hepatitis C virus, but there are many more examples of pathogens found in human materials.

Note: Infectious is not synonymous with pathogenic. We have many microbes that infect us but do not normally cause disease (i.e., commensal organisms). However, even work with microbes that are not normally associated with disease can be subject to regulatory oversight. Moreover, even some commensal organisms can cause disease if given the opportunity, so it is important to recognize under what circumstances an organism can cause problems.

To learn more about working safely with biological hazards, please check out these links:

If you have any questions about working with biohazards, please contact the Biosafety Office.

Aside from biohazards, there are other hazards encountered in the laboratory environment. Examples of other hazards include chemical, fire, and radiation.

  • To learn more about working safely with these and other types of laboratory hazards, please check out the Laboratory Safety website..
  • If you have any questions about chemical, fire, radiation, or other types of hazards, please contact the Laboratory Safety Group at LabSafety@tufts.edu. 

Training

Work with biohazards is regulated by multiple agencies, and therefore multiple trainings may be necessary depending on the type of biohazard.

  • If you are working with human source material or human cell lines then you will need to take the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Training. This training is required by the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard and must be taken annually. The training is provided by the Biosafety Office and is available online. There are several different types of Bloodborne Pathogens training, and determining which training is appropriate will depend on your job duties. For more information, see the training descriptions. If you are not sure which training you should take, contact the Biosafety Office.
  • If you are working with microbes, biological toxins, or recombinant/synthetic nucleic acids then you will need to take one of the Basic Biosafety Training modules. These modules provide an overview of the NIH Guidelines as well as general BSL1 or BSL2 practices. Both modules are available online. Note: the BSL2 training now includes Bloodborne Pathogens training. Additional specialized training may be required, depending on your work. For more information, see the training descriptions. Also, be aware that the training requirements for a particular project are listed in the approved IBC registration for that project, so be sure to check the registration and/or talk to your supervisor. If you are not sure which training you should take, contact the Biosafety Office.

The Biosafety Office has developed NEW training modules that cover basic biosafety for bloodborne pathogens and working at BSL1 or BSL2. These new modules are online and can be taken at your convenience.

Now that the trainings are available online through the Tufts Learning Center, your training records will be available in the Transcript section of the Learning Center. Simply log into the Learning Center and then click on the Transcript icon to see those records. In addition, once you have taken the new training in the Learning Center, you will automatically receive an email reminder when the refresher is due. If you have taken a training and it does not appear in the Learning Center transcript, please contact OVPR Knowledge & Development for assistance.

Please contact the Biosafety Manager to discuss the need for a specialized training session. To ensure that training requirements are met and that consistent information is delivered to all individuals taking a particular training, we encourage everyone to take the online trainings. These are interactive trainings designed to engage the person in a way that is not achieved in traditional lecture-based training session. We can assist in arranging for the training of groups by reserving computer labs, which allows each person to log in and complete the online training, and a Biosafety Officer can be available to answer questions during the group session.

Biosafety Contacts & Support

Yes, the Biosafety Office should be consulted at the earliest stage of planning. This is necessary to ensure that required safety features are incorporated into the design. Some spaces cannot easily accommodate work with biohazardous materials, so the Biosafety Office should be notified of the type of work to be conducted in the proposed space in order to advise on the feasibility of the proposal. Note that the wider expertise of the Laboratory Safety Group and Industrial Hygiene Group should be consulted in addition to the Biosafety Office, since our offices oversee different areas of safety. If safety requirements are not met, then it is possible that the space cannot be approved for work with biohazardous materials without expensive and time-consuming renovations.

Remember that before you can use any new space for work with biohazards, it must be registered for use and inspected by the Biosafety Office. Please contact us as soon as you know you are moving into a new space so that we can evaluate the space, assist with getting it registered for use, and schedule the inspection.

There are a few ways to find out:

UV light is easily blocked by the sash of a biosafety cabinet, so as long as the sash is closed, the light poses no hazard to those standing nearby. The light should be shut off before using the cabinet.

The Biosafety Office has prepared a small poster to answer these and related common questions. Click here to download the poster from our Resources page.

Some of the factors that preclude the use of UV as a disinfection method:

  • UV light is easily blocked by a thin layer of dust on the light bulb, so unless you clean the bulb daily, chances are that the light is not reaching the work surface of the cabinet.
  • The power output of the light bulb decreases over time, and this is not visible to your eye. So even though you still see the light turn on, what you are seeing are the visible wavelengths, and it is possible that the bulb is not delivering effective UV wavelengths.
  • UV light only works on surfaces that it illuminates; it cannot penetrate through objects to reach shadows or the bottom/sides of an object. That means many areas or objects within a biosafety cabinet will remain contaminated after exposure to UV light.

Collectively, these reasons make UV light unreliable as a method of disinfection. At Tufts, you must choose another method of decontaminating your biosafety cabinet; UV lights should only be used as a supplemental method.