BMS533

Biorisk Management

CASE STUDY FOLIO

Welcome to BMS533 Biorisk Management.

BMS533 is about biosafety and biosecurity – how to keep yourself safe and protect the
environment and people around you from potentially dangerous biological agents that may
be present in the laboratories.
In this document, you will find the case studies designed to teach and assess the ‘P’
Performance in our AMP model for biorisk management
i. For this semester, we are in hybrid mode, so T & L will be conducted via a series
of lab briefings, videos, guided self-learning and face-to-face where permitted
ii. You will begin with a video and then perform certain tasks to reinforce your
learning on using assessment, mitigation and performance to manage and
improve risk situations
iii. You may write all your observations and thoughts in this Folio.
iv. At the end of Week No 10 (or depending on your tutor) submit the completed
Folio for assessment and marking.
v. The outcomes of this Folio addresses CLO8 - ability to apply managerial decision
for improving the biorisk performance in the lab; and contribute 20% to your
Final Marks

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Playlist of videos
The youtube link is provided. This is the prefer option.
Where the video no longer exist on youtube, or you cannot access, the link to a copy of the video in
google drive will be given. You can watch is there.
Please do not download.
Practic Title You tube link
al
1 A Biosafety Risk assessment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QwJB1sH3Oc
2 A BSL 1 & BSL 2 Safety Intro to the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge8I4fSdbPM
Lab Bench
B Lab Safety Training BSL2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtDiZB8FqIQ
C Biosafety mistakes
3 A Biosafety Cabinet Training at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_C6xq7j-kg
Arizona State University
B Biological Safety Cabinet https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96-aZLom340
4 A Donning doffing lab biosafety https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORhUis-0TSA
B Donning and doffing of PPE step by https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WISzaCdJSQg
step
C Gloves donning and Doffing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWrhmp3YAc0
D N95 mask donning and seal check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoxpvDVo_NI
Case
Study
5 A Biological Spill Response Texas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKIBNz4fHoU
Tech U
B Biological Spill Clean-up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6uJvEQ-J9A
6 A In-office biological monitoring https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHj0rXxBulw
B Failed Spore Test What do you do https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1576ElGWRRo
C 3M™ Attest™ 490M Auto Reader https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCQ8dFXwtoM
7 A Laboratory inspection exercise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ge8I4fSdbPM

*you will be given links to videos on a google drive for videos which are no longer on youtube.

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 BMS533
Biorisk Management

GROUP : AS244 2B1 TEAM : 1

Case study 5 : Emergency Response Plan -

Biohazard spill clean-up

LEADER :

Member :

Date : 12 MAY 2022

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 BMS533 PRAC#5 : Emergency Response

Objective

To identify improvements for clean-up of biological spillage

Outcomes

I. Know - how to clean up a low-risk biological spill

II. Know - identify possible improvements
III. Do - analyse the performance of spillage incident reports
IV. Feel - confident in managing biohazard spills

Exercise
1. Watch video 5A on cleaning up a small low-risk biological spill
(Also watch video 5B in your free time)
2. Take note that all spillage, big or small, low risk and otherwise, must be reported to
the proper authority.
3. Study the Biohazard Incident Report Form on Page 6. This is an example of a
incident form that you may need to fill up when a spill occur.
What are the important information to capture so that such incidents can be better
prevented in the future?
According to the video on cleaning up a small low-risk biological spill, the first thing
that we need to do whenever encountering a biological spill is to check the gloves.
By this, the gloves should be checked for contamination, and it should be replaced
once found contaminated. The contaminated gloves should be removed and placed
in the infectious waste. Following, fresh gloves should be donned before addressing
the spill.

Next, in order to quickly clean-up a biological spill, a spill kit should be prepared
handy. subsequently. fresh disinfectant should be prepared on hand as part of the
spill kit. By this, the biological spill kit should include fresh disinfectant, absorbent,
tool to pick up glass and biological solidifier. We should notify the personnel of the
spill in the laboratory before starting to address the spill and potentially evacuate
the space for about 10 mins to allow any aerosolized material to settle down.

The spill area should be covered with absorbent material by starting to cover way
out from the large area of the spill as the droplets travel out from the spill and form
a radius around the primary spill. In this situation, any large glass pieces should be
removed using tongs and should be placed in a waste container. Make sure when
handling broken glass, it is placed in a rigid container instead of a bio bag. Then,
the disinfectant should be gently poured over the absorbent material starting at the
perimeter until the area is saturated. Make sure to not spray the disinfectant on the
spill.

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After the area is saturated with disinfectant, the gloves should be removed, and the
disinfector is allowed to sit for the required contact time as recommended by the
manufacturer. In this context, the contact time refers to the duration of exposure
required for disinfectants to effectively destroy a biological agent.

Following, the spill clean-up materials should be collected by using tongs if broken
glass is involved. The clean-up materials should then be placed in appropriate
waste receptacles. Waste can be placed in the biological waste bin if bleach is not
involved. Do not place waste that contains bleach in the biological waste as it cannot
enter the autoclave because it can corrode the inside of the unit

The next step involves the decontamination of vertical surfaces like cabinets,
equipment and such which was contaminated during the spill. Make sure to allow
an adequate contact time for the disinfectant to work. After addressing the spill, a
thorough mopping must be done on the floor as they might be drops that are
overlooked.

In order to prevent the situation of biological spillage from happening, we should be

aware of the hazards of each operation within an experiment alongside following
the SOPs and rules designed to minimize the potential for a laboratory accident.
Therefore, an individual should have enough knowledge about the hazards related
to the experiment before conducting it and carefully plan each step of the
experiment.
Moreover, it is extremely crucial to know how to respond to a spill or lab accident.
In order to quickly clean-up a biological spill, a spill kit should be ensured available
and accessible to everyone in the lab. Lastly, it is important to wash both hands
after dealing with a biological spill.

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Below is the example of Biohazard Incident Report Form:

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4. Anne the biosafety manager is looking worried as she stared at the reports on her
desk. In the first six months of this year, there has been 4 spillage accidents in her
laboratories. The department has four labs and provide diagnostic and antibiotic
resistance testing for the hospital. They have a low record of spills. The sudden
increase in frequency of incidents points to the possibility that something they are doing
is not right.
Anne dived deeper into the reports, looking for similarities and noticed a pattern where
all the accidents happened near the shaker-incubator that is used to grow bacterial
cultures prior to antibiotic resistance test. As a result of a change in the test protocol
six months ago, the technicians are now required to inoculate three flasks of medium
instead of one, bring them to the shaker for incubation and take them back to the BSC
after the 24 hours growth period. All the reported incidences involved accidental
dropping of a flask of cultured bacteria. Anne interviewed the technicians involved in
the spills, and in all cases, the technicians were carrying 3 flasks of cultures as they
open the incubator door, and dropped one of the flasks.
Suggest two improvements that can help to reduce similar incidents in the future.

Based on the spillage accidents that occurred in Anne Laboratories, she as a

biosafety manager has analysed the increasing number of incidents in her lab. This
incident may be due to the change in the test protocol where the technician is
required to inoculate 3 flasks of a medium at once. Thus, these spillage accidents
happened because of human error during handling the procedure in the laboratory.

Furthermore, after having an interview with all the technicians involved in this
accident, Anne stated that the technicians held 3 flasks of cultures which one of them
dropped while they were opening the incubator door. This is happening due to the
lack of the right attitude during working in the lab such as carelessness. It also may
be due to a lack of knowledge on how to handle the procedure.

After 4 spillage accidents that happened, the two improvements that can help to
prevent the same case from happening in the future are the utilization of a lab trolley
during a transfer of the flask into the incubator. Hence, this enables the technician
to bring all 3 flasks at once which will prevent carelessness from happening.
Besides, make sure to use a suitable cart or trays during the transfer of multiple
containers, especially the glassware as it could break and cause injury.

Moreover, the next thing to improve is all technicians in the lab should follow the
standard operating procedures (SOP). When washing glassware, use gloves that
are slip-resistant or cut-resistant, safety glasses with side shields, and a lab coat.
Other than that, when carrying glassware outside of the laboratory or transferring it
to another place make sure to wear safety glasses with a side shield. Then, secure
the flask or any glassware and make sure it is free from scratches or broken parts
which may cause harm to the people that hold it. Lastly, during spillage accidents, it
is necessary to have spill kits, which include items like fresh disinfectant, absorbent,
a tool to pick up a glass, and a biological solidifier. Everyone must always follow the
SOP to prevent any unwanted injury and incident.

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