Biosafety Laboratory Inspection Program

Types of Biosafety Inspections

• Initial inspection - The initial inspection is intended to be consultative; however, compliance with the inspection checklist is required before initial BUA approval is granted. Eligible spaces for initial inspections include laboratories with enough infrastructure to follow the proposed path of biological agents – from entry into the lab, through experimental work, and out via their respective waste streams. The outcome of a research group’s initial biosafety inspection is for reasonable safety measures to be implemented based on the specific experiments and agents used in the laboratory.

• Annual inspections - In addition to the initial inspection, biosafety staff will visit each research group annually to verify that it is continuing to work safely and to provide any guidance that may be needed or requested.

• Change in containment level or location - If a research group intends to add work with new agents that will change the approved biosafety level designation (e.g., BSL-1 upgrading to BSL-2), a biosafety inspection will be required before work can begin. Additionally, if a research group intends to change the location of their work with biohazardous agents, that new location will need to be inspected before work can begin. Information on changing locations or adding new agents to a research group’s BUA can be found on the Biological Safety webpage.

What to Expect

EH&S biosafety staff will reach out to each research group to schedule annual and initial inspections. Inspections may align with a research group’s BUA renewal dates, but ultimately can be scheduled anytime of the year. Contact the campus biosafety officer at bso@berkeley.edu with any questions or concerns about the EH&S biosafety inspection program.

After the Inspection

EH&S biosafety staff will create a report through the Risk and Safety Solutions (RSS) Inspect application documenting any issues from the inspection. The PI and lab safety coordinator will receive an email with a link to the report. It is the lab’s responsibility to correct issues, mark them as resolved, and provide proof of corrective action in the inspection report online within the noted correction time frame. For further instructions on how to resolve findings, see How do I access my inspection report and resolve findings?

Outstanding inspection findings will be compiled on a routine basis and escalated through the Institutional Biosafety Committee. This escalation may result in correspondence with department chairs and deans of the appropriate academic units, depending on the severity of the noncompliance and potential risk it poses to university employees.

Biosafety Inspection FAQs