About EBSA21 - Course L - Sharing experiences on the implementation of a biorisk management programme

Course description
Breaches of biosafety and biosecurity have emphasised that management failure is normally the root cause of accidents and incidents with biological agents and toxins. The CWA 15793:2011 "Laboratory Biorisk Management” is an internationally recognized management document to specifically address hazards associated with laboratories where biological materials are handled at all containment levels. It is a compendium of all biosafety issues which defines key requirements and can help organisations to manage these risks by integration into the P-C-D-A-cycle driven management system(s) in place or to be developed in an institution. This 1-days-course will be the platform for discussion of the 16 components of a biorisk management programme and how participants have started the implementation of these elements at their home institution:

1. Biorisk management system (e.g. roles and responsibilities)
2. Risk Assessment
3. Pathogen and Toxin Inventory
4. General Safety
5. Personnel and Competency (e.g. training and briefing)
6. Good Microbiology Technique
7. Clothing and personal protective equipment
8. Human Factors
9. Healthcare (e.g. post exposure prophylaxis)
10. Emergency response and contingency plans
11. Accident and incident investigation
12. Facility physical requirements
13. Equipment, maintenance and calibration
14. Disinfection and decontamination
15. Transport procedures
16. Biosecurity

To optimize the individual benefit, the participants will be contacted in advance and will be asked to give a short presentation on their experience with implementation of one of the listed elements.
Target audience
The target group for the 1-day course are advanced biosafety professionals who are willing to share their experience during implementation of a biorisk management for their respective home institutes and who want to learn from the experience of others to continuously improve on their program
Learning objectives
The course participants will get a deeper insight on:

• How other institutions have implemented a biorisk management system and which problems they have encountered during the process
• Alternative implementation strategies in the different environments
• How to assess the progress of implementation in their home institution

Main topics

• Intent of the CWA 15793:2011 for Implementation of a biorisk management system
• Implementation strategies for a biorisk management in different environments
• Evaluation of implementation strategies for effectiveness

Citation of the respective sections of CWA 16335:2011 Biosafety professional competence
This course refers to competence 7.2.17 and training specifications C.2.1.2.15 of CWA 16335:2011 Biosafety professional competence.