October is Biosafety and Biosecurity Month

October 11, 2024 - J. Willard

MSU is proud to join the American Biological Safety Association (ABSA) International in welcoming the 11th Annual Biosafety and Biosecurity Month.

The purpose of the yearly designation is to highlight safety stewardship and engagement and to enhance the positive working relationships between safety professionals and the MSU research community (or collaborators) as well as supporting responsible and ethical research.

illustration of earth, biohazard symbol, and researchers wearing PPE

Safety Highlights for 2024

Training

  • Biosafety/biosecurity training, medical/biohazardous waste, autoclave safety, bloodborne pathogen safety, infectious substance shipping, respirator use, non-human primate safety are all important trainings provided by EHS.
  • Principal Investigator/Supervisor/designate led site-specific training is the systematic review of safety requirements associated with the actual work location.

We would like to remind researchers/supervisors, etc. that safety training (including bio, chem, rad, waste, occupational, etc) and site-specific training are required by both federal and state regulatory agencies. Protect your laboratory staff by requiring training to occur prior to conducting laboratory work.

Biohazardous and Hazardous Waste

  • EHS staff, especially the inspection team, frequently observes non-compliant regulated wastes in the laboratories. This not only creates a safety concern, but also potential monetary fines and additional scrutiny by federal and state regulatory agencies.

We recommend that PIs/Supervisors review the waste regulations in a lab meeting at least annually. Feel free invite an EHS representative to join for any questions!