Canadian Science Centre For Human and Animal Health - Safety

Safety

CSCHAH was designed for safety; it was built to meet or exceed all national and international standards. The construction, engineering controls and sterilization systems are geared toward the highest level of safety.

Safety is of paramount importance to everyone working in the facility. Extensive Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are in place and everyone is well-trained for the specific area they work in. A Safety and Environmental Services (SES) team provides numerous "hands-on" demonstrations and presentations on biosafety and occupational health and safety throughout the year and provides 24/7 response to biological or chemical issues.

Any material exiting the level 3 or 4 laboratories must be sterilized or decontaminated in some manner. Air is drawn into the laboratories through the use of negative air pressure before being filtered out through High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters. Laboratory waste such as gloves, test tubes, and pipette tips are removed via an autoclave, a piece of equipment that sterilizes materials with steam and pressure. Any liquids leaving the high-containment space go through a biowaste system that operates like a large autoclave to sterilize it. The high-containment labs are built as a box-in-a-box; they do not border exterior walls and there are mechanical spaces above and below them.