Aerobiology is the study of the behaviour of microorganisms in the air, whilst bio-containment is the control of these organisms within laboratories. Independent commercial testing of equipment such as microbiological safety cabinets and centrifuges, plus a wide range of microbiological air filters and air disinfectuions systems is provided by our Biosafety Unit .

The Biosafety Unit has a unique capability of measuring and quantifying the effectiveness of this equipment and these procedures in reducing exposure to micro-organisms. This expertise is not limited to the microbiological laboratory but has also been used in the pharmaceutical industry and in healthcare.

The Biosafety Unit also offers its expertise on a commercial basis to interested parties in the following areas:

Containment Equipment

The Biosafety Unit tests containment equipment to ensure that they give an adequate degree of protection to the users. This testing is either carried out to international standards or testing protocols can be developed. The following equipment is regularly evaluated and tested.

• Laboratory centrifuge rotors and buckets
• Microbiological Safety Cabinets
• Negative Pressure Isolators
• Fluorescent Antibody Cell Sorters
• Mail Handling Units
• Novel Containment Equipment
• Respiratory Protective Equipment

Gaseous Disinfection

Gaseous disinfection is used in many industries to ensure a sterile working environment and for the decontamination of equipment and facilities. It can also be used to deal with accidental contamination of indoor environments. The Biosafety Unit have decades of experience in carrying out gaseous disinfection and in assessing the effectiveness of gaseous disinfectants. This expertise is utilised in the following commercial services.

• Formaldehyde fumigation training
• Off site formaldehyde fumigation
• Testing of novel gaseous disinfection systems

Air Filtration and Disinfection

Air filtration is important to reduce the levels of airborne micro-organisms for hospital patients, to prevent release to the environment and to produce clean environments in the pharmaceutical, food and other industries. The Biosafety Unit offers a testing service to quantify the performance of these filters against a range of airborne microrganisms from commonly used surrogates, Bacillus atrophaeus (formerly Bacillus subtilis var niger ), MS2 phage, Brevundimonas diminuta and Staphylococcus aureus to pathogenic micro-organisms such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and MRSA. A range of test rigs are available allowing filters to be tested at flow rates from 6.5 to 25,000 litres per minute. These rigs can also be adapted to test air disinfection systems.

• Medical Air Filters
• Pharmaceutical Cartridge Filters
• Aircraft Filters
• Filter Materials
• Plasma based disinfection systems
• Novel air disinfection equipment

Air Sampling

The Biosafety unit has extensive experience in monitoring environments using biological air sampling techniques and has a collection of more than 10 microbiological air samplers including, including specialist impactors, impingers and cyclonic samplers.

Environmental Air Sampling

• Workplace sampling for Occupational Exposure
• Physical Efficiency Testing of Microbiological Air Samplers
• Biological Testing of Microbiological Air Samplers

Consultancy

The Biosafety units wide knowledge and experience in the above fields uniquely qualifies us to proved consultancy over a broad range of Biosafety including:

• Laboratory Equipment Design
• Laboratory Design
• Laboratory Commissioning
• Risk Assessments

 

For more information about The BioSafety unit contact us at: biosafety@hpa.org.uk or for the full range of products and services offered by the Agency speak to one of our business development managers click here (hyperlink: contacts page)