Past EBSA events

It is known that human reliability and behaviour have a major impact on an individuals ability to work safely in a laboratory; and yet these same factors can be overlooked when assessing the risks in that laboratory. This pre-conference course will take your risk assessments to the next level through ensuring that human reliability is accounted for in risk assessments and introduce the concept of safety critical task analysis.

This pre-conference course is aimed at those individuals who are already risk assessors or understand the risk assessment process and provide attendees with the skills and knowledge to complete safety critical task analysis. It will not only consist of theory sessions on risk assessment and human reliability but also a visit to teaching laboratories at ITM and so taking the biological risk assessment process from paper to practice.

Mastering BSL-3 Laboratory Operations Throughout Its Lifecycle: Overcoming Challenges at Every Stage.

After presenting the major risks encountered when working with insects that may carry pathogens or parasites, the course will address the characteristics of laboratories dedicated to their containment (ACL1-3). In addition to the structural elements of these specialized laboratories, the course will also describe best practices and appropriate protective equipment to use. The presentation will be completed by a visit to an ACL. Participants will also be involved in an interactive exercise (carried out in groups of 3-4 participants) of risk assessment for the proposed study cases.

Biosecurity impacts all biosafety professionals to varying degrees. As biosafety professionals we also have to give guidance and advise on biosecurity issues. How can one determine the potential for misuse within a laboratory setting? What biosecurity measures help preventing misuse? What elements need to be considered in a biosecurity concept? 

It is a basic course for biosafety officers, biosafety professionals and other interested persons who also have biosecurity responsibilities. This course will provide participants with an overview about the main elements of a biosecurity program and concrete examples from practice covering the veterinary as well as the human side.

Biosecurity impacts all biosafety professionals to varying degrees. As biosafety professionals we also have to give guidance and advise on biosecurity issues. How can one determine the potential for misuse within a laboratory setting? What biosecurity measures help preventing misuse? What elements need to be considered in a biosecurity concept? 

It is a basic course for biosafety officers, biosafety professionals and other interested persons who also have biosecurity responsibilities. This course will provide participants with an overview about the main elements of a biosecurity program and concrete examples from practice covering the veterinary as well as the human side.

This online course is designed to provide attendees with a basic knowledge and requirements to complete risk assessments of laboratory activities.

One of the requirements of the 'contained use' legislation is the use of validated methods for inactivation of these GMOs and pathogens, the decontamination of work tables, etc. This is where the biocidal products regulation (BPR) comes in. However, for certain applications (e.g. inactivation of parasites, disinfection of water baths to heat up laboratory reagents), there are currently no authorised biocidal products available on the market.  

ISO35001:2019 Biorisk management for laboratories and related organizations is the well-known ISO management system standard supporting you in organizing biosafety and biosecurity in your organization and helping you to address all biorisk management issues that need to be addressed in a concerted manner. It builds on the continuous improvement plan- do-check-act-cycle to keep your biosrisk management system up to date and under control. ISO35001 was designed by biosafety experts like you form different countries around the globe, being a truly international standard, within the context of the International Standardization Organization, ISO, Technical Committee TC212, Clinical laboratory testing and in vitro diagnostic test systems

A 2,5 hour online course (including a break and question session)

Instructor: Dominic Muyldermans

Description: The principles of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) were first recognised under the Convention on Biological Diversity, refined in the Nagoya Protocol and are further implemented in national ABS laws. In EU an additional compliance regulation applies.

EBSA members can join a part of the 20th Workshop of the International Veterinary Biosafety Working group online.

During this workshop you will first get an introduction on the topic ‘commissioning and decommissioning’. In the afternoon there will be plenty of opportunity to share your experiences during our round table discussion. Focus will be on BSL2 facilities.

To end the day, you will get an insight into the ITM’s history and get a tour at this unique location. 

Instructors: Adam Stevenson and Wendy Shell

Aim: To be aware of human factors and how to take account of such in a laboratory or in vivo containment facility.

There are a variety of investigational human and veterinary medicinal products consisting of or containing GMOs. GMOs for human medicines may include the following: human cells modified ex vivo; vaccines; recombinant virus-based vectors, including those containing genome editing nucleic acid sequences (which may also be delivered non-virally) and bacterial vectors.Medicinal products based onmRNA are on the rise. One need to define which constructs are still GMOs or not, which constructs are less or more hazardous than the wildtype virus, they are derived from, and which might serve as agent to harm others. How are people and the environment protected when they are widely used, also outside controlled laboratory settings. There is guidance and regulation. Which ones to apply is the one hundred Euroquestions.

The role of a biosafety professional (BSP) within an institution is a challenging position. In addition, a BSP very often plays the interface between different activities within a facility including animal handling, engineering, maintenance and cleaning.

2 days of EBSA pre conference courses on Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 April 2023

2 days of EBSA conference on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 April 2023.

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• Essential elements of and metholodolgies to perform risk assessment
• Assessing the risk of biological materials (microorganisms, cells, tissues)
• Evaluating the risk of procedures/activities
• Defining measures to control/minimize the risk (containment, GMT, PPE, training)

The application of appropriate decontamination methods is the key element in reducing surface contamination in the laboratory to prevent laboratory-acquired infections and cross contamination in the laboratory.

Working with an animal model of infection means introducing an additional risk into the infection chain.  

Not only the animals need to be handled appropriately to reduce a potential risk to the scientist, the equipment also plays a major role in minimising risk during individual infection experiments. 

Infection models with obligate pathogenic human germs must be treated carefully and calmly. The 3Rs of laboratory animal science are not only a guarantee for ethically sound experiments, but also serve the safety of the researchers. 

This course is rated as advanced. Therefore basic knowledge of Biosafety is a prerequisite as well as initial knowledge in working with animals.