25/11/2008Exposition to biological agents in the laboratory

By Nuria Batet, with a Degree in Chemical Sciences and Product Manager of Telstar's Laboratory Division, and Roser Dalmau, Chemical Engineer and Commercial Director of Telstar's Laboratory Division.

Doctors, researchers, healthcare personnel, military personnel, firemen and many other professionals require high levels of protection when handling materials that could pose a biological threat or hazard.  Moreover, there are a great number of processes in the industry, research and agriculture that require protection in order to guarantee both its sterility, traceability or the integrity of the affected samples.  There a great number of systems which provide biological protection, be it personal, to environments or samples.  "Safety barriers" is generic name given to these systems and, depending on the biological risk level, one or more safety barriers must be used.   Primary Safety Barriers are those used to eliminate or minimize the exposition to biological materials. These include, for example, biological safety cabins, insulators, protective suits, breathing apparatus, masks and safety glasses. This article deals with primary safety barriers, or more precisely with biological safety cabins, its classifications, norms and applications.

Article published in the magazine TECNICAS DE LABORATORIO (Laboratory Techniques) issue number 335 (October 2008).