About Occupational Health and Safety
There are risks associated with research involving laboratory animals. Potential hazards include animal bites, exposure to allergens, chemical cleaning agents and zoonoses. List of experimental hazards can include biologic agents (infectious agents or toxins), chemical agents (carcinogens and mutagens), radiation (radionuclides, X-rays, lasers), and physical hazards (needles and syringes).
Health and safety policy at work covers control and prevention strategies, medical evaluation, risk assessment and identification of hazards, training for personnel, personal hygiene and personal protection.

Main components of the risk management are:
– engineering control – appropriate design and operation of facilities, use of appropriate safety equipment
– administrative control – standard operating procedures (SOP)
– individual control – provision of personal protective equipment (PPE)
PPE recommended for use in rodent facilities depending on risk level assessment include: dedicated facility clothes or street clothes covering, gloves, face masks and face shields. Pre-exposure immunization is offered to people at risk of exposure to specific agents like hepatitis B virus (if working with human blood or human tissues, cell lines, or stocks) or rabies virus.
All personnel with direct or indirect exposure to laboratory animals is requested to complete online
training on Occupational Health and Safety.
– Principal investigators
– Research staff
– Animal care staff
– Maintenance and service workers
– Other employees and students accessing animal facilities
Personnel with frequent or long-term contact with laboratory animals should complete health
screening questionnaire.