Biosafety Policies, Standard Operating Procedures,
Guidelines and Factsheets
Biosafety Policies
The University of Utah Biosafety manual specifies the practices, procedures and requirements for the safe handling and use of biohazardous materials for research, clinical and teaching activities. Biohazardous materials and organisms include all infectious agents (bacteria, chlamydia, fungi, parasites, prions, rickettsia, viruses, etc.) that can cause disease in humans or cause significant environmental or agricultural impact, acute biological toxins, recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid molecules, animal cell cultures and work with animals known to be reservoirs of zoonotic diseases.
Anyone working with human and non-human primate blood or tissue samples, including cell lines developed from these sources, needs to meet the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Bloodborne Pathogen Standard (codified in 29 CFR 1910.1030). The University of Utah Exposure Control Plan (ECP) describes the requirements for working safely with human blood, tissue and other potentially infectious materials.
University of Utah Biosafety Policies
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
The University of Utah IBC and the Department of Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) have developed templates that can be edited to serve as laboratory-specific Biosafety manuals or laboratory and facility-specific Exposure Control Plans.
Guidelines and Fact Sheets
The University of Utah IBC and EHS have developed Guidelines and Fact Sheets to assist investigators in developing safe laboratory practices. These can be found here. Direct links to a selection of the most commonly requested are provided below.