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If you’re working in a lab that harbors biologic materials, then the cabinets you’re using to store any of your dissectible animals and bacteria trays are definitely biosafety grade. If that’s the case, then you’ll want to be sure that you’re obtaining a biosafety cabinet certification for each cabinet in your lab as needed. There are a few key times when biosafety cabinet certification is absolutely essential, and other times when it’s not. Yearly Inspections A biosafety cabinet is like a car—it needs a proper safety inspection once a year just to make sure all the parts are in working order. You have to re-certify your cabinets each year for the safety of your lab team, and the integrity of the work done involving your biosafety cabinets. You want to make sure nothing is lingering in the cabinets or dysfunctional that’s causing contamination to your specimens or risk for your employees. General Use Perhaps you’re using your biosafety cabinet, but not for biologic materials. That’s a bit like using a dog leash to walk a cat, but it does the job. You can certainly use your cabinets this way, but you still need to have them certified as biosafety cabinets by a professional. Any biosafety cabinets in use, no matter the type of materials they’re being used for, are required to get certification. Once again, this is for the safety and quality of the materials contained therein and maintaining the safety and integrity of your staff. Storage Do you have a biosafety cabinet that you’re not using tucked away in storage? That’s understandable, and you don’t necessarily need to get this cabinet certified, but you do need to register it as inactive. This will help you avoid any unwanted fines or penalties in your labs. New Cabinets Before you start using a new cabinet, you’ll need to get it surveyed and certified too. It’s safe to assume that a new product will be in excellent condition, but you’ll want that official stamp of approval first. If you start using it before getting it certified and something with the cabinet isn’t working just right, that could lead to extra repairs down the road that you’d rather avoid. After a Move When moving to a new lab and hauling all that equipment with you, it’s very possible for seals on the biosafety cabinets to break and for filters to be infiltrated with outside contaminants. Getting cabinets re-certified assures you that there was no damage. After a Repair Let’s say there was a kink in your cabinet, though. Once the repairs have been completed, you’ll need a re-certification of the biosafety cabinets once again just to make sure that the repairs were done safely and correctly. If you’re ever unsure about biosafety cabinet certification in your own lab, then it’s wise to contact a professional certification team so that they can verify your requirements, make sure you’re operating within your legal guidelines, and make sure that you're team and materials are safe.
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