Laboratory Biosafety: Introduction to Risk Assessment and Managing Biohazards

Discover the importance of biosafety in laboratories with Universiti Malaya

Biosafety ensures the safe handling and containment of hazardous biological materials and infectious microorganisms. It is an essential best practice to avoid harmful effects on both the environment and human health.

On this three-week course, you’ll gain an understanding of the importance of biosafety as you learn how to recognise biohazards and biorisks.

You’ll learn to describe the controls in managing biorisks in laboratories inline with the updated WHO’s Laboratory Biosafety Manual, 4th Edition, which serves as a de facto global standard in biosafety.

Learn how to ensure safety before conducting laboratory research

Before initiating any study in laboratory research, you should have basic biosafety knowledge.

This course will help you gain that knowledge and conduct research in accordance with laboratory biosafety standards to ensure the safety of personnel, community, and environment.

Understand how to perform a risk assessment

You’ll develop your understanding of the hazards and risks found in the laboratory environment. With this knowledge, you’ll learn how to take a risk-based approach to biosafety in laboratories.

Next, you’ll learn when a risk assessment should be performed. Exploring a biorisk assessment process, you’ll learn how to gather information, evaluate risks, and develop a risk control strategy.

Explore control measures and a standard operating procedure

Finally, you’ll learn how to select and implement control measures to successfully review risks and risk control measures.

You’ll also learn how to use standard operating procedures and personal protective equipment to further minimise risks.

By the end of the course, you’ll have the knowledge and skills to define biosafety controls and manage biorisks in laboratories.

This course is designed for students, researchers, lecturers, laboratory technicians, and clinical laboratory scientists.

• Introduction to biosafety in the laboratories
• Getting Started
• Definition of biosafety
• Biohazards in laboratory
• Controls for mitigating laboratory biohazards
• Weekly wrap-up
• Biorisk assessment
• Hazards and risks in the laboratory environment
• Biorisk assessment and mitigation
• Weekly wrap-up
• Biosafety laboratory requirements
• Biorisk control measures
• Core requirements
• Heightened control measures
• Maximum containment measures
• Weekly wrap-up