Most Wanted Answers to Facility Issues: Current Biological Containment Design Standards and Their Applications in Medical Examiner Facilities

• NCJ Number: 211810
• Journal: Forensic Magazine Volume: 21 Issue: 5 Dated: October/November 2005 Pages: 25-29
• Author(s): Lou Hartman P.E.; Ken Mohr
• Date Published: October 2005
• Length: 5 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Technical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article uses biocontainment and biosafety standards and guidelines for research facilities as the basis for recommendations in designing medical-examiner procedures and facilities to provide protection from biohazards.

Abstract

Unlike researchers, medical examiners work with unknown infectious hazards that may be present in human bodies that cannot be examined inside a biological safety cabinet. The medical examiner must assume that all bodies brought to the facility are infected and must be moved into containment; vehicles that delivered the body must be disinfected; and bodies must be disinfected before their disposal. Fundamental to biological containment design is establishing the secondary containment barrier and providing a method of controlling and safely moving personnel, gurneys, bodies, samples, utilities, equipment, information, and supplies through it. Good facility design considers the proper flow of personnel and materials to maintain biological containment. Operations, training, and safety equipment are also important for effective containment. This article suggests procedures and design for personnel and materials flow that facilitate biological containment, followed by a description of decontamination procedures for everything and everyone that comes into the containment area. Engineering controls are also described. These encompass ventilation systems that properly condition and control ventilated air brought into the containment area, filtration to remove any airborne hazards before air is exhausted from the building, and a design that allows the system to be maintained from outside the containment area. Also, piped utilities brought through the containment barrier to supply the containment area must be effectively sealed. One section of the article describes published resources that discuss currently recognized standards and guidelines for the design of biological containment in research facilities.