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Comprehensive BSL-3 training program at SEBLAB is managed and implemented by biosafety professionals with expertise in biosafety and high-containment laboratory practices. 

Biosafety Program coordinates SEBLAB access process. contact biosafety@uab.edu to get started with access process. Trainees are required to fulfill all the pre-requisites to get started with access process.

• Enroll in Employee Health to ensure trainee received required vaccines, TB skin testing, and respirator clearance.
• Complete courses in Campus learning (Basic Biosafety; Chemical Safety; Bloodborne Pathogen; Hazard Communications; Use of Biosafety Cabinet and PPE; Animal use, Shipping of biological agents (Hyperlinks to Campus learning system).
• Submit SEEBLAB access checklist document and proficiency questionnaire.

If your work involves “Select Agents” or your lab share space registered for select agent work, then trainee needs to Fill FD-961 for background clearance.

Roadmap for SEBLAB Access and Containment Work

After completing Phase 1 requirements, trainees are provided with comprehensive BSL-3 online training material containing following 8 modules:

• Biological Risk Assessment
• Containment Controls
• Laboratory Associated Infections
• Biosafety Levels
• Engineering Controls
• Administrative and Workplace Practice Controls
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Agent Specific Training

This course enriches the trainees understanding of biosafety practices and principles and provide a greater sense of confidence in high containment work. Upon course completion, competency will be assessed via a written exam with a pass score > 85% required to complete phase 2.

Online BSL3 Training Shared Access

In phase 3, biosafety representatives provide hands-on training on SEBLAB-specific SOPs on the following aspects:

• Donning/ Doffing of PPE during entry/exit of SEBLAB suites.
• How to respond to fire in lab, medical emergency, system failure ( such as power, HVAC, BSC, or PAPR units), inclement weather alarm, Alarms in laboratory while working
• Needle puncture/exposure and reporting procedure
• Spill response procedures
• Waste handling procedures etc.,
• In addition, trainees are provided with checklist of BSL-3 practices and procedures in SEBLAB.

After hands-on demonstrations and discussions, trainees are scheduled for practical assessments by biosafety representative to determine if the trainee understood and familiar with above procedures.

After completing Phase 3, trainees are provided with limited access to containment. Trainees can start onboarding with mentors on agent specific SOPs.

SEBLAB Facility Specific Training

In the final phase 4, the trainees are provided with hands-on mentoring on laboratory-specific and agent-specific SOPs by senior researchers. If required, trainees can also receive cross-training from another research group within SEBLAB.

• Hands-on Mentoring on Agents specific SOPs
• Laboratory Specific SOP’s
• Agent Specific SOP’s
• Agent specific disinfection and decontamination

Trainees are divided into two groups, based on their prior BSL-3 work experience:
Group 1: Trainees with prior BSL-3 work experience need to fulfill 10 entry/exists into BSL-3 and a minimum of 20 hours of hands-on mentoring requirement.
Group 2: Trainees without prior BSL-3 work experience need to fulfil 10 entry/exists into BSL-3 and a minimum of 40 hours of hands-on mentoring requirement.

Trainees record their time spent with their mentor in the BSL-3 by entering the details in a Mentoring Schedule Form.

After the trainee fulfills the requirements, and upon the trainee’s request, biosafety representatives (for BSL-3 work) and/or a SEBLAB veterinarian (for ABSL-3 work), will evaluate the trainee’s proficiency in performing agent-specific SOPs.

After completing phase 4, the trainee is provided with independent access to the specific containment laboratory to which they are assigned.