Proper Biological Safety Cabinet Use
All Biological Safety Cabinets (BSC) that are used with infectious materials must be certified annually and after repairs/being moved/maintained. Certifications and repairs are performed by a contractor coordinated through EHS.
Purpose
- Product Protection
- Personal Protection
- Environmental Protection
Operating Procedure
- Load BSC with all needed supplies.
- Turn BSC on and allow to run for 10 - 15 minutes.
- Check inward airflow with a piece of tissue.
- Enter straight into cabinet and perform work in a slow, methodical manner.
- At end of work, decontaminate all items to be taken out of cabinet.
- Decontaminate interior of BSC.
- Allow cabinet to run for 10 - 15 minutes before shutting off.
- Review owner’s manual for additional instructions.
Safe Operation
- Always enter straight into cabinet — no sweeping motions.
- Place materials well within the cabinet — never on front or back grill.
- Place discard pan within cabinet.
- Watch for disruption of laminar air flow.
- Decontaminate materials before removal from cabinet.
- In general, not designed for chemical use.
- May use for non-volatile toxic chemicals or low-level radioactive materials.
- May use for minute amounts of volatile chemicals.
- Ensure annual calibration.
- Place all work materials into cabinet before starting.
- Work from clean side to dirty side.
Cautions
- Chemical may damage HEPA filter.
- Volatile chemicals not retained by HEPA filter (exposes personnel if not exhausted).
- BSC fans not spark proof — chemical use may result in a fire or explosion.
- Avoid use of Bunsen burners or other flames — can affect airflow and damage HEPA filters.
A typical layout for working “clean to dirty” within a Class II BSC. Clean cultures (left) can be inoculated (center); contaminated pipettes can be discarded in the shallow pan and other contaminated materials can be placed in the biohazard bag (right). This arrangement is reversed for left-handed persons.
One method to protect a house vacuum system during aspiration of infectious fluids. The left suction flask (A) is used to collect the contaminated fluids into a suitable decontamination solution; the right flask serves as a fluid overflow collection vessel. A glass splarger in flask B minimizes splatter. An in-line HEPA filter (C) is used to protect the vacuum system (D) from aerosolized microorganisms.
References
CDC BioSafety Training Course.
