ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY

AND BIOHAZARD
 BIOHAZARD

 Biological hazards, also known as biohazards, refer

to biological substances that pose a threat to the health
of living organisms, primarily that of humans.

 It refers to organisms or organic matters produced by

these organisms that are harmful to human health. These
include parasites, viruses, bacteria, fungi and protein.

 The term and its associated symbol are generally used as

a warning, so that those potentially exposed to the
substances will know to take precautions. The biohazard
symbol was developed in 1966 by Charles Baldwin, an
environmental-health engineer working for the Dow
Chemical Company.
biohazard
Biohazardous waste include
 Infectious agents (to human, plants, animals)
 Biological toxins
 Materials derived from humans and primates (blood, body fluids, tissues)
 Human and primate cell lines (including recombinant)
 Recombinant animal cell lines
 Recombinant microorganisms
 Transgenic animals (vertebrate and invertebrate)
 Materials derived from transgenic animals (body fluids, tissues)
 Transgenic plants
 Recombinant materials such as plasmids, DNA/RNA
Levels of Biohazard

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
categorizes various diseases in levels of biohazard, Level 1 being minimum risk
and Level 4 being extreme risk.

Biohazard Level 1: Bacteria and viruses including Bacillus

subtilis, canine hepatitis, Escherichia coli, varicella (chicken pox), as well as
some cell cultures and non-infectious bacteria. At this level precautions against
the biohazardous materials in question are minimal, most likely involving gloves
and some sort of facial protection.

Biohazard Level 2: Bacteria and viruses that cause only mild disease to humans,
or are difficult to contract via aerosol in a lab setting, such as hepatitis A, B,
and C, some influenza A strains, salmonella, mumps, measles, scrapie, dengue
fever.
 Biohazard Level 3: Bacteria and viruses that can cause severe to fatal
disease in humans, but for which vaccines or other treatments exist, such
as anthrax, West Nile virus, SARS virus, MERS
coronavirus, tuberculosis,typhus, Rift Valley fever, Rocky Mountain spotted
fever, yellow fever, and malaria. Among parasites Plasmodium falciparum,
which causesMalaria, and Trypanosoma cruzi, which causes trypanosomiasis,
also come under this level.

 Biohazard Level 4: Viruses and bacteria that cause severe to fatal disease in
humans, and for which vaccines or other treatments are not available, such
as Bolivian and Argentine hemorrhagic fevers, Marburg virus, Ebola
virus, Lassa fever virus, Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever, and
other hemorrhagic diseases.
In context of Nepal
 NHRC & WHO published: National guidelines for Health
care waste management in 2002 on behalf of ministry of
health.
 Kathmandu Metropolitan City also have initiated an action
plan in association with USAID for management of health
care waste
 Kathmandu Metropolitan City and ENPHO have organized a
study on biomedical waste in hospital located in
Kathmandu.
Biohazards,the greatest threat to humankind
Biohazard outbreaks from pathogens and infectious diseases occur every day
throughout the world from Avian Influenza virus, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis
viruses,Salmonella bacteria, Mycobacterim tuberculosis bacteria, Vibrio cholerae
bacteria (cholera), MRSA superbugs, Plasmodium parasites (malaria) and
hundreds of other microorganisms.
Bacteria, viruses and parasites are responsible for the bulk of the 18.4 million
deaths worldwide from communicable diseases in 2004 estimated by the World
Health Organization plus additional deaths from non-communicable diseases and
cancers.
The world record holder for human deaths is Yersinia pestis. This disease-causing
bacterium killed as many as 75 to 100 million people during the Black Plague, or
roughly 20% of the world’s 450 million population in the 14th century.
Influenza virus. One strain, the Influenza A H1N1 virus or Spanish Flu killed as
many as 50 million people in 1918.
the Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV currently infects 33.2 million people
around the world
Environmental safety procedures
The Environmental Health and Safety Center (EH&S) has implemented a
comprehensive program for the management of hazardous materials.
Microbiological laboratories, and procedures involving micro-organisms in
general laboratories, pose special safety problems, so the following policy and
procedures must be followed rigorously,

1.Risk
2.Warning signs
3.Separate areas
4.Protective clothing
5.Safety cabinet
6.Decontamination
7.Levels of containment
1.RISK:
Pathogens must be handled with great care in order to avoid infection of staff, the
general public and animals outside the laboratory. The safest procedure is to regard
all micro-organisms as potential pathogens and treat them accordingly.
• Protecting people from infection
• Preventing cross-contamination of results

2.WARNING SIGNS:
A biological hazard must be clearly indicated by standard biological warning signs
giving the type and degree of risk and the person responsible. Immediately adjacent
to the symbol, a sign shall also be displayed stating: Danger - infectious material.

3.SEPARATE AREAS:
Separate areas should be set aside for preparation of media,holding of
materials,sterilization,storage of sterile articles,collection of specimens from
patients,receipt of samples – spill trays should be provided.
Animal rooms must be segregated from laboratories and should contain separate areas
for infected animals, for non-infected animals and post-mortems.
4.PROTECTIVE CLOTHING:
5.SAFETY CABINETS
• Laminar flow
• Biosafety cabinet

6.DECONTAMINATION:

• Sterilization:Whenever possible, decontamination should be achieved by

sterilisation in an autoclave (steam heat under pressure).
• Disinfectants: should only be utilised where sterilisation is not
possible.Commonly used disinfectants are ethyl or isopropyl alcohol, 80 per
cent aqueous solution,chlorine as hypochlorite solution,iodine in aqueous or
alcoholic solution (Formalin),phenolic disinfectants – Lysol, Chloroxylenol.
• Waste disposal
LAMINAR FLOW HOOD AUTOCLAVE
7.LEVELS OF CONTAINMENT:
Level of the biocontainment precautions are required to isolate
dangerous biological agents in an enclosed laboratory facility. The levels
of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 (BSL-1) to the
highest at level 4 (BSL-4).