Biocontainment laboratory risk assessment: Perspectives and considerations

Abstract

The ability to respond to public health emergencies involving infectious diseases as well as our ability to adequately prepare for as yet unknown or unrecognized emerging infectious diseases requires suitable facilities within which scientific investigations can take place. To ensure the safe conduct of such investigations so that laboratory workers and the general public are protected from potential consequences of accidental or intentional release of high consequence pathogens, special containment facilities have been designed and constructed. Evaluation of the adequacy of containment for these types of investigations requires a risk assessment (RA) as part of the overall construction project for these types of laboratories. A discussion of the RA process along with considerations that impact the design of such studies and the overall results is presented. © 2014 Federation of European Microbiological Societies712 July 2014 10.1111/2049-632X.12162 MiniReview MiniReviews Published 2014. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.