Biosafety in TB Laboratory: Risk Assessment Process

Risk assessment is the process that enables the appropriate selection of microbiological practices, safety equipment, and facility safeguards that can prevent laboratory-associated infections (LAIs). 

The figure below shows a flowchart that presents the risk assessment process for a biological hazard.

Figure: Risk assessment process for a biological hazard

Risk assessments for TB laboratories should consider:

• Bacterial load of materials (such as specimens and cultures)
• Viability of the bacilli
• Whether the material handled is prone to generate infectious aerosols during different procedures
• Laboratory’s workload and procedures; it is important that laboratories working with drug resistant strains should establish higher level precautions and biosafety measures
• Epidemiology of the disease and the patient population served by the laboratory
• Health/immune status of laboratory workers
• Experience and competency of laboratory staff in using good laboratory practices while handling infectious agents
• Equipment biosafety features required to prevent spill/breakage/aerosol generation when handling potentially infectious material
• Maintenance of equipment
• Biomedical waste management

Resources

• Tuberculosis Laboratory Biosafety Manual, 2012, WHO

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