Instructional Teaching

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We in the Biosafety Office at Oklahoma State University continue to strive to build upon, improve, and expand the Biosafety program with the intention of ensuring that all research and instructional activities involving the use of biohazardous materials and the facilities used to conduct such work are in compliance with all external regulations, laws, and guidelines, as well as applicable university policies. We hope to accomplish this in a way that also meets the needs of all OSU employees with minimal hindrance while providing a safer working and learning environment. As we review our program, we see tremendous achievements toward this goal. However, we also find areas still in need of improvement. One of our current goals is to formalize a process by which all Instructional/Teaching laboratories that fall within the purview of the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC) are formally registered through our office. We realize the time and effort required to prepare for such courses, and it is our intention to assist in any way we can in this process to ensure proper registration of these activities and spaces.

 

The registration form and introductory information for registering a teaching laboratory is available on our Forms page. The supplemental material may be useful in preparing some required standard operating procedures for teaching laboratories that require Biosafety level 2 Containment (BSL-2). Please make note that these supplemental documents will require modification to address the specific risks associated with course activities, and explain the specific procedures and practices to be applied in the teaching lab exercises. The IBC will approve instructional activities according to biosafety containment levels as follows:

 

Biosafety Containment Level Approval Term

Continued approval for the terms noted above will be contingent upon completion of the Annual Protocol Review questionnaire.